Traerup joins exodus from British game
Author: Daily Telegraph
Date: 27 Jan 2005
Category: Comment
Finn Traerup, the performance director
of the Badminton Association of England who did much to help Great Britain to
the only two Olympic medals they have gained, is quitting more than a year
earlier than expected
His departure in April will continue a sudden
exodus of top talent from the BA of E, with chief executive Stephen Baddeley
having gone to Sport England in November and national men's singles coach Steve
Butler, who suffered a life-threatening scare from thrombosis, set to go in
March
The blow of Traerup's return to his
native Denmark to fill a similar role is the heavier for his not having
completed an important task - the setting up of a national league which would
have created performance training for players who are not part of national squads
"I would have preferred to go after
the Commonwealth Games [in Melbourne next year]," Traerup admitted.
"I'm sorry to leave with the job only part done, but I might not get the
chance again to return home.
Besides playing a part in the bronze
medal won by Simon Archer and Joanne Goode in Sydney and the silver medal by
Nathan Robertson and Gail Emms in Athens, Traerup laid a wider pathway for
juniors to develop and created better soil for home-grown coaches.
Now though, with the world championships
not far ahead, England have some worryingly large holes to fill.
