Team GB boss is backing Woodward

Woodward's first year in the job has been met with a mixed reaction - 18 of the 35 Olympic sports told BBC Sport he had made no impact on them so far.

But BOA chief executive Simon Clegg said: "I am extremely comfortable with what Clive is doing.

"He has not charged into every sport telling them how to do their business."

Clegg added that Woodward is now ready to launch the elite-performance programme he has been working on for much of the last year.

"It has taken us 12 months to get to a position where Clive can deliver something tangible"
Simon Clegg
BOA chief executive

That programme, which is based on 19-year-old golfer Melissa Reid, will be presented to all the Olympic sports in early November.

Woodward's boss also denied suggestions that the former England rugby union coach was now duplicating work being carried out elsewhere and pointed out that the critical comments in the BBC story had come from anonymous sources.

"If you speak to sports like judo they will tell you he has fundamentally changed the whole approach of their governing body to elite performance sport," said Clegg.

"What we need to do is develop a system that is equally applicable across all Olympic sports. We are not in the business of duplicating anyone's role - this is about bringing added value."

British Judo's former performance director Colin McIver told BBC Sport that Woodward had already been a huge "catalyst for change".

606: DEBATE

BBC Sport's Matt Slater

"I wouldn't just give Woodward a green (light) so far, I'd give him a gold," said McIver.

In an earlier interview with BBC Sport, Clegg said: "It has taken us 12 months to get to a position where Clive can deliver something tangible that is going to have a direct impact on performance.

"He has gone about this in a highly sensitive way and that sort of impact has the potential to be rolled out across all 35 sports."

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