London 2012

Weir returns to coach Britain's heavy throwers

Bob Weir, one of Britain's best field athletes of recent years and a leading coach in the United States, has been lured back home with a mission of finding a successful thrower for the London Olympics in 2012.

Weir, a double Commonwealth Games gold medallist, has been named as the UK Athletics "heavy throws" coach, the first appointment in the sport since the Dutchman Charles Van Commenee took over a fortnight ago.

Britain had just two competitors in the heavier throwing events in Beijing - Philippa Roles in the discus and Zoe Derham in the hammer - and neither made the final. Weir, who has been based in America for 20 years, said: "This is an amazing opportunity and a challenge. We are prepared to raise the level of our performances to really compete.

"We saw in Beijing that an unheralded Stephanie Brown Trafton [an American of English parentage] could give the performance of her life to win the Olympic discus title, so we must believe that anything is possible in London 2012."

Weir, 47, who will take up his new position before the end of the year, had previously been linked with top coaching jobs in Britain but UKA have finally managed to bring him back to his native Birmingham, where the national federation is based.

A three-times Olympic discus thrower, Weir won the Commonwealth hammer title in Brisbane in 1982 and the Commonwealth discus gold in Kuala Lumpur 16 years later but made his name at Stanford university in California where he is head coach of track and field. In 2000 he guided Adam Nelson to the Olympic shot put silver and was the United States' throws coach at the last two world championships.

Van Commenee said: "I am delighted to have someone of Bob's calibre on board. He will enable us to fast-track our young heavy throwers on the path to 2012."

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