Niels de Vos is a British

Great Britain

Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

 sports businessman and chief executive. He attended King Edward's School, Birmingham

King Edward's School, Birmingham

King Edward's School is an independent secondary school in Birmingham, England, founded by King Edward VI in 1552. It is part of the Foundation of the Schools of King Edward VI in Birmingham, and is widely regarded as one of the most academically successful schools in the country, according to...

. De Vos came to prominence as the Chief Executive of Sale Sharks

Sale Sharks

Sale Sharks are a professional rugby union club who play in England in the Aviva Premiership.The club is an offshoot of Sale FC, which is based at Heywood Road in Sale, Greater Manchester, but Sharks currently play in Stockport at Edgeley Park, ground sharing with Stockport County F.C.Part of the...

, a professional rugby union

Rugby union

Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...

 club. De Vos helped the club move to a larger stadium in 2003, leaving Heywood Road

Heywood Road

Heywood Road is a rugby union stadium in Sale, Greater Manchester. It has been the home ground of Sale F.C. since 1905. It was the home ground of spin-off professional club Sale Sharks until 2003, when the club moved it's matches to Edgeley Park, Stockport. It's capacity was 5,400 in 2003. Sale...

 in favour of Edgeley Park

Edgeley Park

Edgeley Park is an association football and rugby union stadium in Stockport, England. The stadium was initially built for the rugby league club Stockport in 1901, but by 1902, the rugby club was defunct and in the same year, Stockport County Football Club, who were looking for a bigger ground,...

. In January 2007 he became the Chief Executive of the sporting governing body UK Athletics

UK Athletics

UK Athletics is the governing body for the sport of athletics in the United Kingdom. It is responsible for overseeing the governance of athletics events in the UK as well as athletes, their development, and athletics officials....

. De Vos modernised the athletics body, cutting jobs and aiming to move sponsorship money away from headquarters costs and towards training centres athletics club. De Vos also cut down the number of athletes going to the 2008 Beijing Olympics, minimising the number to those who would still be young enough to perform at the 2012 London Olympics. He has a strong anti-doping stance, favouring a life-time ban for athletes caught using banned substances. After attempting to ban Dwain Chambers

Dwain Chambers

Dwain Anthony Chambers is an English sprinter of Afro-Caribbean descent. He has won medals on the international stage numerous times and is one of the fastest European sprinters in the history of recorded athletics. His primary event is the 100 metres sprint, in which he has the second...

 from an athletics comeback, he underlined the damage Justin Gatlin

Justin Gatlin

Justin Gatlin is an American sprinter. He is an Olympic gold medalist, with a 100 m personal best of 9.85 seconds. He served a four-year ban from track and field for testing positive for a banned substance; Gatlin had appealed the ban in 2009, but it was later denied.- Biography :Gatlin attended...

caused to United States athletics as an example for his reasoning.

External links

• UK Athletics official site