Great Britain's men’s artistic gymnastics team pose for a picture along with their coach Eddie Van Hoof and President of Qatar Gymnastics Federation Ali Al Hitmi in Doha yesterday. Pic by Salim Matramkot/The Peninsula
Eddie Van Hoof, coach of Great Britain's men’s artistic gymnastics team, says the squad will be looking to replicate or better their record-breaking Olympic Games performance in Rio last year.
Team GB won seven medals - 2 gold, 2 silver and 3 bronze - at the Olympic Games in the Brazilian capital five months ago.
"We are in a good place going forward to Tokyo Games in 2020. We will try and match that. It is important that we achieve better targets," Van Hoof, named UK Coach of the Year in November, said yesterday.
Excerpts from a detailed chat with Van Hoof
Q: Tell us something about your training camp in Doha?
A: We have the senior men's team from Great Britain here. We wanted to come down here and experience the facilities. That's part of our long-term plans considering that the 2018 World Championships will held here. We wanted to have a feel of the environment and the country in general so that when we come here, we get a familiar feeling (in 2018).
Q: Do you think after 5 or 6 days into your camp, you made the right move?
A: Yes, of course. The hospitality has been fantastic. The food has been great. We are very comfortable. Gymnasium and facilities (are) first-rate. Everybody is going away with a good experience.
Q: In terms of form and fitness, how happy are you with the drills in Doha?
A: It's early in the new cycle. This is a year with competitions for individuals. There are no team events. We are actually trying to develop the fitness and the new skill levels so that they have a chance to shine in the European Championships later in the year.
Q: You have a group of how many gymnasts in Doha and do you have new boys in this group?
A: We have a group of 11 gymnasts here. Mostly the same group of boys who have been with us for sometime.
Q: Any of these boys will be here for the FIG World Challenge Cup this March?
A: Unfortunately not. We have a calendar clash. We have a very important event at the same time of the Doha event. We will have the National Championships in Liverpool at a much bigger arena. Because of our commercial deals, they (the gymnasts) really have to do that.
Q: You won seven medals at the Rio Games. That was a great performance, wasn't it?
A: Very much so. There were some remarkable performances. The men's team got five medals while the trampoline and the women's team got one each. Overall it was hugely successful. From the men's perspective, we were thrilled with the success we got. We were above Japan, China and Germany. We had two medals at the London 2012 Games. To beat that tally was a strong performance. We are in a good place going forward to Tokyo Games in 2020. We will try and match that. It is important that we achieve better targets.
Q: How did you manage to improve so drastically?
A: We started in 2006 on the back of London winning the 2012 Olympic Games bid. We knew we had strong seniors but I was adamant that we invest in the junior programme. We had a very strong junior programme. We have all these boys coming from the junior programme. They have all been successful with the junior team. They have done well at the European Championships - in the team or individual classes. We managed to keep that going as they progressed to the senior level. That's given them a lot of confidence and understanding that success is possible. We keep building on that.
Q: Basically what we saw in Rio was 10 years of hard and planning, yes?
A: In summary, yes, but it goes back further than that. It's been on the cards for many years. We put impetus on the first medal Lewis Smith won on the pommel horse at the Beijing Olympic Games was crucial because that gave everybody a real belief that it was achievable. Then we knew winning an Olympic medal wasn't just a dream. We weren't expected to be successful in London, in all honesty. But the team medal in London was an amazing achievement. That showed the depth of programme. We didn't rely on Lewis Smith. Everybody who was in the team was able to contribute. The depth of the programme has really come from the junior programme.
