Lord Sebastian Coe believes UK Athletics head coach Charles van Commenee has changed the culture of the sport in Britain.

The British team are currently preparing for the World Championships which get under way in Daegu on Saturday and Coe feels they no longer approach major events as if they were "walking into the Coliseum waiting for the lions to be released".

Asked about the differences between the current squad and previous teams, Coe said: "Chalk and cheese. Absolutely chalk and cheese.

"The most depressing thing about seven or eight years ago was watching the way some of our athletes walked into a stadium like they were walking into the Coliseum waiting for the lions to be released."

"It's a very different mindset now. You can just tell. I always thought that before Charles could tackle some of the technical deficiencies he had to change the culture, and I think he's done that.

"Their body language was hunched. They weren't walking out there thinking, 'This is a stadium that I want to dominate'. They looked like they just wanted to get through it as quickly as possible.

"You now look at the body language out there and it's so different, and what is also good is that they look despondent when they don't do well. There isn't any of this 'Oh it doesn't matter because I've got time on my side'."