The London 2012 Olympic legacy is under threat due to a coaching shortage, according to a new report.

The report, released by Sportnation – an independent sports think-tank – based on research carried out by Loughborough University, said that even on conservative estimates, the UK could face a shortfall of up to a quarter of a million full-time and part-time paid professional sports coaches.

The study, called Are we missing the coach for 2012?, found that 69 per cent of the 1.2 to 1.5 million sports coaches in the UK are unpaid volunteers and that in performance athletics, there are as few as 12 full-time salaried coaches in the UK.

It calls for between 160,000 and 233,500 additional paid, professional coaching positions by 2016, which is more ambitious than the proposed 42,000 new positions to be created in the same period under Sportscoach UK’s UK Coaching Framework.

Steve Cram, chair of the Sportnation – which is supported by the Lucozade Sports Science Academy --– and former world champion athlete, said: “The report highlights that unless we can break the culture of ‘gentleman amateurism’ in UK sport, we will struggle to become best in the world.

“As long as we continue to rely on an army of grass-roots volunteers, with no clear career progression for home grown coaches, we will tend to look to superannuated foreign coaches to fill the top jobs in UK sport. If we don’t act now to stem the endemic culture of volunteerism in UK sport, we may have already missed the coach for sporting success at London 2012.” Details: www.thelssa.co.uk/lssa/sportnation/