Newton's sports performance background dates back over three Olympic cycles and Piers Martin, the chief executive of British Fencing, admitted he was delighted following an extensive selection process by a panel.

"I am very pleased that Alex is joining British Fencing, where her experience and knowledge will undoubtedly help our World Class Programme to achieve its full potential and win a medal in 2012," said Martin.

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

During the latter part of the Athens 2004 Olympic and Paralympic cycle, Newton worked alongside both cycling and disability swimming, ensuring world class scientific and medical support, before moving to UK Sport as performance manager.

Most recently Newton had acted as a consultant to professional sports such as cricket and rugby league.

Newton, who took up the post on Tuesday (May 3), said: "This is an opportunity to lead and turn around a sport that has a group of talented athletes but who are not consistently performing on the world stage.

"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."

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


Related stories
December 2010: British Fencing replaces performance director