Charles Grice has been backed to recover after the disappointment of finishing fourth in the 1500m at the Commonwealth Games.
The Twickenham athlete competed at Carrara Stadium Track on April 14 at Gold Coast 2018, and his former coach believes Grice can go on to achieve more global success.
Born in Brighton, Grice trained at club Brighton Phoenix from a young age, and still visits regularly.
Chairman Mike Townley said: “I think everybody knows the truism that fourth in the worst place to finish, he’ll be disappointed not to have got a medal I think.
“It was a very tough race with a high level of athletes and I think fourth place is probably not what Charlie wanted, he wanted a medal.
“Look at many of the legendary runners, they have a lot of disappointments before they started winning big.”
His next competition is the European Championships 2018, and Grice is targeting the Olympics Games with Tokyo 2020 Paris 2014 on the horizon, where Townley believes he can win a medal.
Grice, 24, joined Brighton Phoenix after being spotted by a coach as a schoolboy.
Townley said: “He’s been a member of ours since he was 11 years old, he was actually spotted by one of our coaches at a school event, who really saw the talent he had at a very early age.”
“He hasn’t just listened to what coaches have told him to do, he’s come up with a lot of ideas himself and he’s always had a strong sense of what he wants to do and how he wants to do it.
“I’ve never seen an international athlete who didn’t look like an athlete when they were younger.”
Townley pinpointed his first ever Youth Olympics at Singapore 2010 as a big turning point, where Grice won a bronze medal in the 1000m.
“From that point onwards, he was an international athlete with a career to follow and a dream to pursue.
Brighton Phoenix was formed in 1981 by Olympic champion Steve Ovett and Matt Paterson, who had a different approach to most clubs, according to Townley.
He said: “A lot of clubs say this is the way to do it, this is how we’re going to race, this is how you’re going to do it.
“This club isn’t like that and Charlie was perfect for that.
“He is very much a Phoenix athlete, he’s involved with the club and he’s in Brighton now.
“If he’s not racing internationally then he races with us, he’s very committed to the club still.”
