Jump to it: David Hemery coaches hurdler David Martin at Scotstoun Picture: Stuart Maxwell

Gold medal-winning Olympian David Hemery visited Glasgow recently to give a masterclass to some of Glasgow’s aspiring sprinters, 400 metre hurdlers and coaches at Scotstoun Stadium.
David, 64, is one of Great Britain’s greatest hurdlers and a vocal supporter of athletics. Aged 24, he won a gold medal in the 400 metre hurdles event at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico, shattering a world record.
He also holds gold medals from the 1966 and 1970 Commonwealth Games and enjoyed bronze and silver successes in the Munich Olympics of 1972.
David’s visit followed a seminar at Pitreavie Athletics Centre in Fife last year, when Glasgow athletes heard him speak on ‘how you recommend coaches work now and how you engage the enhanced self-awareness and self responsibility of the athletes’.
David said: ‘You’ll get far more from athletes when they learn from their own experience as well as from the coach. It’s a partnership.
‘It’s important they’re not utterly coach dependent because when they get into the heat of competition they have to be independent. So, if you can help them generate that level of self-awareness you’re helping to grow them and they engage their minds and focus and grow as people.’
David has a warning for parents, teacher and young people after years of observing athletics.
‘Sport is sliding off young people’s agenda,’ he said. ‘That, I think, is a great shame. Now I hear that physical education is sliding off the primary school agenda. I think there needs to be a balance, especially with young people.
‘Athletics is a basic run-jump-throw environment and I’d like to see that, and perhaps the ability to swim, in every school so the youngster can choose different activities.
‘It doesn’t have to be traditional sport, it can be mountain biking, dance, it doesn’t matter what it is but as long as it’s something they have a passion for and can work on to achieve their fitness level.
‘The cost to the country is going to be huge if children never get fit.’
He has a simple philosophy in spotting hurdling talent. ‘Some people enjoy jumping over things. It’s more fun than running in a straight line-  but again, it’s important people try things.’
David added: ‘I was lucky that I had two coaches who really cared about me. If we could encourage coaches in this era to be on the children’s agenda as much as they are on their own agenda, that is something I would love to see.
‘We have to ask children what they enjoy doing more of and give them a spectrum of things to try.’