CHRISTIAN Malcolm's former coach Jock Anderson, pictured, has lashed out at the state of British and Welsh athletics, weeks after predicting the Commonwealth Games would end in huge disappointment.

While England and Wales enjoyed highlights during the showcase in Melbourne with medals aplenty, on the track they were an absolute disaster.

For the first time since 1953 not one male member of the Welsh team won a track or field medal.

Julie Crane won silver in the high jump and Hayley Tullett took bronze in the 1500m for team Wales, but elsewhere things were dreadful.

Wales' best sprint hope Malcolm, pulled up injured in the 100m heats and didn't participate in his favour-ed event the 200m.

But it has now emerged that Malcolm didn't get a chance to complete his training schedule ahead of the games, it had already been decided that Anderson wouldn't be part of the coaching team going to Melbourne and he resigned on the spot.

After watching the catalogue of disasters unfold from his home in Newport, Anderson is demanding that something is done to halt the slump.

He explained: "The state of British athletics is an absolute shambles, I knew this a month ago but now it is plain for everybody to see.

"Not only is not enough being done to help the athletes, but not enough is being done at grassroots level and that means we don't have any prospects coming through to make things better.

"Christian is a classic example of all that is wrong in athletics.

"Without question he represented Wales' best chance of a medal on the track out of all the male athletes, but he was treated shabbily.

"As Wales' best chance of a medal he should have had his coach with him, but I am not part of the clique that make up part of the elite group of coaches and Christian suffered as a result.

"But the organisation is crazy throughout British athletics. Look at the relay situation, the English sprinters dropped the baton, hardly surprising considering they had not practiced even once this year, but they're the Olympic champions!

"In team Wales they were equally badly prepared, Christian was asked to be part of the 4x400m squad, when he got injured they had to pull out of the event.

"What chance do these athletes have with such dreadful preparation? Christian has never run a 400m race in his whole life.

"Christian should have continued his preparation with me monitoring and helping him in Melbourne, we were a team and taking me out of the equation did nothing to help our best sprint star."

Anderson also bemoaned the lack of quality at grassroots level.

"We have money available through lottery funding to improve things, but what efforts are being made, more must be done at school level," he said.

"You find the stars of the future bombing round running tracks aged 14 or 15, but in Wales the kids are taught rugby first and also football, athletics just isn't a priority and the quality isn't there as a result."

Sports Council for Wales performance director Graham Davies has admitted Welsh athletics is in the doldrums, but is confident the situation will change.

He explained: "The performance of the Welsh athletes in Melbourne was not very positive, but it wasn't a shock either.

"We have a number of long-term problems that need solving and with massive investment going into UWIC, one of the best training facilities in Britain, it is a real shame to see Wales performing so badly.

"But we are entering a period of change with restructuring affecting the hierarchy and coaching side of Welsh athletics and we do need to be patient.

"There is a good level of investment going into athletics and sport in general in Wales, which I think has paid dividends in other sports where we have enjoyed success.

"But perhaps the great performances by individual athletes such as Colin Jackson have papered over the cracks that have been evident for many years, Welsh and British athletic failure is not an overnight problem."