Olympian and New Zealand 5000m record holder Adrian Blincoe has been given the task of talent spotting future sporting champs for High Performance Sport New Zealand (HPSNZ).
Blincoe, 32, was named HPSNZ's high performance athlete development adviser on Friday.
He will work with athlete development consultant Vanessa Paun.
"I'll be working with targeted sports on both specific initiatives and their overall athlete development systems so we can find individuals who may one day stand on the podium for New Zealand," Blincoe said.
Blincoe has spent the past 12 years living in Philadelphia, in the United States, where he spent nine years running professionally and seven years coaching at Villanova University, where his role focused on identifying and developing young talent.
As well as being a professional runner on the international circuit, Blincoe has competed for New Zealand at Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games and World Championships.
He holds the New Zealand record in the 5000m in a time of 13:10.19, set in July 2008. A Commonwealth Games finalist he also ran in the 5000m at the Beijing Olympics.
An ankle injury meant he could not compete in London this year.
HPSNZ chief executive Alex Baumann said that as a smaller country, New Zealand needed to continue a more systematic approach to finding and developing athletes.
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