‘Rio success all about long-term planning’

GREAT Britain’s artistic coach Eddie Van Hoof believed the youth development programme back home helped them do well at last year’s Rio Games, where they won two gold, as many bronze and one silver medals. 

“The Rio success was all about our long-term planning. We had given our juniors the example of Louis Smith who had won a bronze in pommel horse at the Beijing Games. His case made everybody believe that it was achievable. We weren’t expected to be this successful in London, but the team medal was an amazing achievement. It showed the depth in our programme,” said Van Hoof. 

On the Doha camp, he said, “We wanted to come here and experience the facilities. The camp was part of our long-term plans considering Doha will host the FIG World Championships next year. We wanted to have a feel of the environment in general so that when we come back here, we’ll have that advantage,” said the 60-year-old, who was conferred with the UK Coach of the Year title in 2016.

Asked if his team would compete in next month’s FIG World Challenge Cup in Doha, Van Hoof said, “We’ll have the National Championships in Liverpool. And because of our commercial deals, the team won’t be able to make it.”