Frank Dick

Frank Dick served as the British Athletics Federation’s Director of Coaching from 1979 to 1994. During this period, he led the British Athletics team through a highly successful phase, known as its “golden era.” He worked with Olympic gold medalists such as Daley Thompson, Steve Ovett, and Sebastian Coe. Frank personally trained Daley Thompson and developed training programs for other prominent athletes, including Gerhard Berger, Katarina Witt, and Boris Becker. His leadership brought a new level of professionalism to the management of the team, as noted by Sebastian Coe.

In 2016, Frank Dick took on the role of strategic planning consultant for the England Rugby Leadership Team, preparing them for the Rugby World Cup 2019 in Japan. Concurrently, he was the High Performance Director at SASCOC (South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee), where he consulted South Africa’s top coaches and athletes for the Rio Olympics and Paralympics. Under his guidance, South Africa achieved 10 medals, including 2 Gold, 6 Silver, and 2 Bronze, with four of these medals coming from athletics.

His expertise extends beyond direct coaching. Frank is President of the European Athletics Coaches Association, a Member of the IAAF Coaches Commission, and Chair of the IAAF Academy. His contributions to coaching and coach development were recognized with an Honorary Doctorate from Loughborough University and an Honorary Professorship from the National Sports Academy of Bulgaria in 2011. He was awarded an OBE in 1989, inducted into the UK Coaches Hall of Fame in 1999, and named a “UK Sporting Hero” by Sport UK in 2001. Frank is also the author of four publications: ‘Winning Matters’, ‘Sports Training Principles’, ‘Winning’, and ‘Winning Lines’.