British Fencing Appoint Newton as Performance Manager

British Fencing have confirmed that Alex Newton has been appointed as its Performance Manager, apoplectic making her the first person to take on the role full time.

In the past, Newton has headed up the World Class Programme for Sport England in the build up to the Sydney Olympics before assisting in establishing the English Institute of Sport network.

She later took on the role of ensuring that the 2002 Manchester Commonwealth Games provided a legacy to the North West through its Regional Institute.

Newton worked alongside both cycling and disability swimming during the latter part of the Athens Olympic/Paralympic cycle to ensure world class science and medicine support before moving to UK Sport as Performance Manager.

Newton was selected following an extensive process by a panel which included Chief Executive, Piers Martin, who stated: “I am very pleased that Alex is joining British Fencing, where her experience and knowledge will undoubtedly help our World Class Programme to achieve our full potential and win a medal in 2012”

Newton took up the post on May 3, describing her appointment as “an opportunity to lead and turn around a sport that has a group of talented athletes but who are not consistently performing on a world stage”.

Newton’s immediate focus will be ensuring that everything that needs to be in place to deliver medals in 2012 is there, adding, “I will be reviewing the whole programme including science and medicine, competitions and training programmes to ensure the focus is on the right things and importantly the right athletes.

“My long term goals are to move the sport to a position where it can consistently win medals on the world stage.  This will be done by putting in place a comprehensive performance structure to support both the current cohort and future generations of world class fencers.”