Laura Williamson: Don Valley stadium fiasco is a kick in the teeth for the next Jess Ennis

/li> 0 shares 4

comments

In the run-up to the London 2012 Olympic Games, Sportsmail visited Jessica Ennis at Sheffield’s Don Valley Stadium.

‘This is where it all started,’ said Ennis, remembering how she turned up for an athletics taster day when she was 10 and won a pair of trainers. ‘I got some good things from coming here.’

Her coach, Toni Minichiello, who guided a quiet 12-year-old to Olympic heptathlon gold, also spoke warmly about a place that has certainly played its part in shaping Ennis’s success. Her natural talent and work ethic are without question but her ‘incredibly supportive network’ should not be underestimated, either. ‘The facilities in Sheffield are second to none,’ said Minichiello. ‘The standard is fabulous. It’s all here for her.’

End of an era: Jess Ennis will have to find a new training base as the Don Valley stadium is to be closed

      More from Laura Williamson...   LAURA WILLIAMSON: Dingley won her battle but the war on bigotry is not over 02/06/13   LAURA WILLIAMSON: How Miss Moneylegs is battling back from adversity after missing London 2012 through injury 26/05/13   Last 12 months have been a 'whirlwind' for Houghton as Arsenal Ladies look to add another FA Cup to packed trophy cabinet 25/05/13   LAURA WILLIAMSON: Peacock hopes to cut a dash and avoid blade row 19/05/13   Laura Williamson: Save me from the swirling madness as Fergie goes viral 12/05/13   Laura Williamson: The battle against doping should also include arrogant ball sports 05/05/13   Laura Williamson: British Athletics needs to seize the moment and cash in... just like Jess, Mo and Co 22/04/13   LAURA WILLIAMSON: Arsenal struggle to keep Wolf from the door as Germans earn first-leg advantage 14/04/13   Laura Williamson: Looking for some exposure? Maybe try exposing yourself 07/04/13   VIEW FULL ARCHIVE

Just a year later, those heartfelt words feel empty. Don Valley Stadium will shut in September after Sheffield City Council opted to save £700,000 a year as part of £50million of cuts. 

A further £400,000 annual subsidy for Stocksbridge Leisure Centre has been withdrawn. So much for London 2012’s bid to ‘inspire a generation’.

Minichiello has declared the decision a ‘hefty, hefty blow’ for the chances of Ennis defending her Olympic title in Rio in 2016.

Mukhtar Mohammed, the British 800m runner who won a European indoor bronze medal yesterday, said the stadium is what ‘brought him into the sport’, but the former Sheffield Wednesday midfielder will now have to train in Loughborough.

These athletes have every right to feel let down, but so do the youngsters who have flocked to become the next pin-up of British athletics.

So, too, the 1,600 people who regularly visit Don Valley and have started an online petition to protect it; the people who train on the track at Carn Brea Leisure Centre in Cornwall, which is also facing closure; or members of Belgrave Harriers. One of the country’s oldest athletics clubs had to withdraw their men’s team from the British Athletics League because they are struggling for volunteers.

If that sounds like a hotchpotch, then that is exactly what has become of the Olympic legacy for its marquee sport: a disintegrated mess.

Don Valley, the country’s second largest athletics arena, has become a shell, with faded posters remembering Tina Turner concerts while lucrative Diamond League meetings are held at Crystal Palace or Birmingham.

Multipurpose: The Don Valley stadium has also been used to host Rotherham football matches

Disappointment: It has brought through many British athletes and will be a major loss to the sport

For all this country’s quangos and committees, there was not one single, nationwide organisation that realised the future of this £29m stadium would be in jeopardy if the council had to choose between social care and sport. Not one. The Government must have been too busy scrapping the stunningly successful Schools Sports Partnership to notice.

As usual, we just relied on luck. We tend to do this when it comes to so-called sports governance.

Think of the good fortune in Sheffield, Minichiello and the prodigiously talented Ennis combining, or that Mo Farah’s PE teacher was Alan Watkinson, who taught the future double Olympic champion the names of farmyard animals to help improve his English as they drove to races.

Devastated: Britain's Mukhtar Mohammed was brought to athletics through the Don Valley stadium

But it’s just not good enough now. Not after a year that showed how much sport matters, and after Olympic and Paralympic Games that were so successful because nothing was left to chance.

There will be future stars who succeed in spite of the system but fewer and fewer who thrive because of it. And in Sheffield, at the very least, there will be no chance for a skinny 10-year-old to go to her local track with her sister and ‘fly’ over a flight of hurdles at her first attempt.

What they said

A 28-year-old called Lauren Silberman made history when she became the first woman to try out at an NFL regional scouting event. ‘For me, what’s important is to finally have a chance to fulfil my dreams by trying out to play in the world’s most competitive football league,’ she said. The former university soccer player apparently has ‘no experience at any level’.

And this is what I've been doing this week

Got exasperated by the way athletes constantly consulted their coaches between throws or jumps at the European Indoor Championships. It happened so often it almost became the stuff of parody: ‘What you need to do...is jump further.’

Was disappointed the Italian media largely overlooked the racist abuse suffered by Mario Balotelli during the Milan derby. But then, the victim gets fined £8,600 for a ‘vulgar gesture’ while inflatable bananas are sold alongside scarves outside the stadium...

Issues: Mario Balotelli has suffered ongoing racism prejudice since returning to Italy

Dodged Dwain Chambers’ spikes and vest when he threw them to the ground after being knocked out of the 60 metres in Gothenburg. I thought his reaction perfectly understandable; he ran an abysmal race and was thoroughly disgusted with himself.

Dismayed: Dwain Chambers was inconsolable after going out in the first round in Gothenburg

Performance of the week

Lisa Mason, a 31-year-old mother who last competed at the Sydney Olympics, won gold in the vault at the English Gymnastics Championships.

She has her eye on the Glasgow Games next year having deciding to return after watching London 2012. Perhaps this is the real message behind ‘inspiring a generation’, then?

Golden oldie: Lisa Mason competed in the 2000 Sydney Olympics for Britain

  More... GB men disqualified and then REINSTATED as 400m relay winners... and Shakes-Drayton brings baton home for another gold EXCLUSIVE: Ennis' coach told to leave the Village by 6pm the day after gold medal... by text message! Laura Williamson: Sickening response of UEFA to plight of travelling Spurs fans Laura Williamson: It might all be finished for Pistorius but the Paralympic movement will survive