UK Athletics head coach backs Phillips Idowu's decision to skip Commonwealth Games
UK Athletics head coach, Charles van Commenee, has announced that he is behind Phillips Idowu’s decision not to attend the Commonwealth Games in Delhi.
Idowu won the silver medal at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing for England, and is the defending Commonwealth Games champion in the triple jump. On Wednesday, he announced that he is withdrawing from the Delhi Games due to concerns for his safety.
"All the press about bridges collapsing and 23 plus people being hurt, floods and uninhabitable living conditions...getting my daughter ready for school this morning and seeing all of that put me off,” said Idowu.
Idowu has been challenged publicly because of his refusal to attend the Games in Delhi, as he is the highest profile athlete to drop out due to safety concerns.
His concerns are well warranted. Aside from the bridge collapse, and the terrible condition of the athlete’s village (where the athletes will be living during the duration of the games), there is also an outbreak of dengue fever, and two tourists were shot
on Sunday. The tourists did not have life threatening injuries, but there is a growing concern that the Commonwealth Games will be a target for terrorist attacks.
It will come as a surprise to some that van Commenee is backing Idowu’s decision. This is the same man that made Kelly Sotherton cry after she won the bronze medal in the heptathlon for England, at the 2004 Olympic Games, by telling her she was a wimp for
not winning the silver.
“He's always been a very cautious father. He doesn't want to spend too much time away from home because of his kids, he's always been like that," said van Commenee.”It's not a lame excuse that comes in handy at this particular moment, it fits the pattern
of how the man is. I just respect the individual thought process that leads to a certain outcome.”
He did go on to say that were Idowu dropping from a major competition, his opinion would be vastly different.
“I will be devastated if these things [would] happen when it comes to an Olympic Games or World Championships, then I [wouldn't] take a passive stance,” he said.
Van Commenee has no formal role in the Commonwealth Games, as the countries that make up the United Kingdom are all competing as separate nations. Wales and Scotland have already stated that they will be attending the Games.
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