By David Gold

Patrick_Roux_in_British_tracksuitSeptember 28 - Head coach Patrick Roux is the latest casualty of British Judo's shake up of its operations as they look to ensure they reach their medal targets at the London 2012 Olympic Games.


Performance director Margaret Hicks and senior women's coach Jane Bridge had already lost their jobs in the shake up and British Judo then confirmed that Roux would also follow suit.

The rest of the teams will remain as they were, the organisation confirmed, but they decided to take the decision to let the trio go after a review of its operations.

Daniel Lascau was recently appointed as the new performance director and British Judo are confident that the former world champion can help deliver success.

"In view of recent results and after a careful review of all High Performance operations, we have decided to make personnel changes to ensure the British Team has the best chance of meeting, or exceeding, the medal target of two at the London 2012 Olympics," said Densign White, the chairman of the British Judo Association.

"It is never easy to change the leadership in mid-cycle, but we are confident this difficult decision is the right one for British Judo."

Roux, a 49-year-old Frenchman who had finished fifth in the men's extra-lightweight category at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, was appointed in September 2008, having previously worked at the University of Bath where he had been a teaching and coaching fellow in Judo Performance.

He was previously the assistant technical director at the French Judo Federation, a position he held for seven years, where he was responsible for the development of the coaches for of the national regional training centres.

During this time he oversaw the framework for the French regional judo training centres [Poles Espoirs], defining different concepts and processes for the development, coaching and training methods of cadet, junior, senior players.

Between 1991 and 1998 he was the national coach of the French men's junior team.

Based at INSEP, the French National Sports Centre, he coached players including Darcel Yandzi, Gylsain Lemaire, Frederic Demontfaucon and Larbi Benboudaoud, who went on to win world, European and Olympic medals.

Roux has also been the personal coach to competitors such as Christophe Gagliano, the 1996 Olympic bronze medallist, and Yacine Douma, the 2002 European champion.

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September 2011: Hicks and Bridge depart as British Judo wield the axe
September 2011: German named as new British Judo performance director
August 2009: British Judo launch new performance centre for 2012
September 2008: Frenchman to oversee British Judo for London 2012