UK Athletics chief blindsided by shock sacking nine months before Paris 2024
- Stephen Maguire left UKA on Tuesday 16 months into job
- Dina Asher-Smith criticises ‘incredibly short-sighted decision’
The UK Athletics chief, Stephen Maguire, who guided Britain to a record-equalling 10 medals at the recent world championships in Budapest, was left completely blindsided by his shock sacking on Tuesday.
Multiple sources have told the Guardian that while there had been months of simmering tensions with the UKA chief executive, Jack Buckner, as well as rows over budgets before the Paris Olympics next year, Maguire had gone into a meeting at Loughborough expecting to discuss UKA’s worsening financial crisis. Instead he was told his services were no longer required.