
© Copyright – 2020 – Athletics Illustrated
Former UK athletics director Neil Black died on Monday at the age of 60.
UK Athletics said in a release, “Neil loved the sport of athletics and dedicated his life to supporting athletes – as a world-class physiotherapist, as a head of sports science, and then in recent years as performance director for British Athletics.”
He first worked as a physiotherapist for UKA and then served as the organisations sports medicine and science lead. He quit last year as Alberto Salazar was given a four-year band.
Black was a close friend to Mo Farah, a multi-time Olympic and World Championships gold medallist. Farah was once coached by Salazar. Black came under criticism for his relationship with Salazar.
Black apparently died of natural causes.
He was part of Team GB when they won their second-most Olympic medals all-time at Rio 2016, with only the 1908 London Games seeing Britain claim more than the 67 earned in 2016, which was two more than the London 2012 and included 27 golds, 23 silvers and 17 bronze.