The move kicks off a process that will determine the future of the programme, whose funding has only been agreed until the end of this year.

However, it appears unlikely that any decision to discontinue it would lead to Sir Clive departing the BOA.

The World Cup-winning former England rugby coach has recently had his job title changed to Director of Sport from Olympic Performance Director, reflecting an increase in the range of his responsibilities at the body.

Andy Hunt, BOA chief executive, told Insidethegames in an exclusive interview that he was unsure if the decision on whether the programme continues or not would be taken next Wednesday.

Hunt said: "The findings of the detailed work that Deloitte have done both on consultation with sport and the development of the business case around the next stage of the Olympic Coaching Programme is the work they have just undertaken for us - and they present that at our board next week.

"Whether that will lead to a definitive decision at this stage…on the future of the programme, given it’s funded through to the end of 2010, I don’t know."

Sir Clive has been working with shooting, but Hunt said that this work "has largely completed".

"At the moment we have just been doing some work on the underlying platform for the Olympic Coaching Programme," Hunt said, adding that there had not been "any work with additional sports over the last couple of months".

The BOA chief executive took pains to underline the breadth of Sir Clive’s responsibilities, however, saying that his role - which has also included leading planning for this month’s British Olympic Ball, featuring the likes of music acts Mark Ronson and the Sugababes - was "way broader than just the Olympic Coaching Programme".

Sir Clive had effective responsibility for all the BOA’s engagements with sport, across performance services, sports engagement and athlete engagement, including liaison with the BOA’s Athletes’ Commission, Hunt said.

"In the overall scheme of things, [the Olympic Coaching Programme] is one service in three vertical streams of responsibility that Clive has.

"It’s a third of a third of the total area that Clive works at."

There must also be a strong chance that Sir Clive - who acted as Deputy Chef de Mission for performance for Team GB at this year’s Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver - will play a leading role in the team assembled to support British athletes at London 2012.

Hunt told insidethegames that "the announcement of [the] team leadership element of our delegation is likely to come before Christmas".

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


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