Former Olympians Kate Howey MBE and Chris Bowles will help nurture the new generation of stars after being appointed to British Judo’s Elite Coaching Programme.
Howey, who won bronze and silver at the 1992 and 2000 Games respectively, led the women’s team to Olympic success during London 2012 with Gemma Gibbons’ silver medal and Karina Bryant’s bronze.
Bowles, 55, represented Great Britain in the 1980 Moscow Olympics and is a double European medallist. Eight years ago, he took up a support coach role as part of the GB performance pathway and has developed elite athletes such as Ashley McKenzie, Sarah Adlington and Katie-Jemima Yeats-Brown.
Howey and Bowles will now take the position of lead coach for the women’s and men’s squads respectively, working in partnership with performance director Nigel Donohue and director of elite coaching Neil Adams to deliver the association’s Great Britain performance programme.
Donohue, said: “Securing Kate and Chris is great news for the programme, bringing the skills and knowledge we require for success in Rio and beyond.
“Kate has a fantastic track record at delivering at the highest level and I feel very positive in this Olympic cycle that she will continue to build on the success of London 2012 and fully develop into a truly world class coach.
“Chris has a wealth of experience and knowledge and is also a hard task master, which I believe will strengthen our men’s programme to enable us to deliver going into Rio. His attention to detail in profiling our men’s team against the World’s best will be instrumental in driving the team forward to perform at the 2016 Olympic Games.”
© Sportsbeat 2013