It is being billed as a post-Olympic knees-up, but the party is already over and the gathering of medal-winners in Gateshead tomorrow will represent the death throes of an old regime. Now, as UK Athletics (UKA) prepares to appoint Charles van Commenee as its chief alchemist, the question is how many of Britain's underperforming elite would the Dutchman have branded wimps.

Van Commenee famously reduced Kelly Sotherton to tears by giving her that moniker when he felt she won the wrong medal - a bronze - in Athens. Four years after being snubbed by UKA, it seems that his bloody-minded pragmatism will finally get the chance to turn talent into titles. “It was neither a triumph nor disaster,” Ed Warner, UKA's chairman, said as he summarised Britain's athletics performance in Beijing. Nevertheless, the failure to meet the target of five medals will be the catalyst, if not cause, of regime change.

Dave Collins, the performance director, will meet senior officials next week and is likely to be told that his contract will not be renewed when it expires next March. Van Commenee, the technical director of the Dutch Olympic Association, is the No 1 target, but no announcement is likely until after he completes his duties at the Paralympics next month.

Van Commenee was interviewed when Collins was given the job, but some feared he was too much of a maverick. With London firmly on the horizon, Warner and Niels de Vos, his chief executive, know they can ill afford to make the wrong call.

Van Commenee could find out what he is inheriting by looking to the North East tomorrow. All Britain's Olympic medal-winners are competing in the Aviva British Grand Prix, while rising starlets such as Jeanette Kwakye and Perri Shakes-Drayton will also be there. The job remains a tall one, as Collins said when he left Beijing with a parting shot about the need for culture change. Van Commenee might also take note of the deeper problems, with Jim Cowan, founder of the Race for Life and member of the Association of British Athletics Clubs, pointing out that coaches are leaving the sport in droves.

“A full and proper review is needed into the way athletics is governed in this country, not just a kneejerk, panic reaction which makes Collins the scapegoat,” Cowan said.

He believes that Collins should go, but added: “His appointment and subsequent poor performance are symptoms of a sick organisation.”

Collins said he should be judged on more than medals and it was a fair plea, given that Holland fell short of their target of a top-ten placing in the overall medals table. However, there is a feeling that someone else might have been able to get the best out of athletes such as Sotherton, Nicola Sanders and Marilyn Okoro.

In such a state of flux, it would be daft to deem Gateshead a party for returning heroes. Of Britain's medal chances, only Christine Ohuruogu met expectations. She did it brilliantly, peaking perfectly and rendering judgments of her early season meaningless. “You train nine months to race three months and, out of those three months, you have three days to really put your mark down,” she said. “What's the point in training all year round if you cannot get it right for those three days?”

Times pale alongside titles, although the promoters in Gateshead might be alarmed by such talk. “I don't train for GPs,” Ohuruogu added. “You can't just tell me to go out and run. I'd need a pretty good motivation.”

Ohuruogu's attitude cannot be faulted given its rewards. Patrick Magyar, director of last night's Weltklasse meeting in Zurich, was clearly unhappy that Ohuruogu had opted out of a rematch with Sanya Richards, but the champion said: “Zurich hurt me last year.” For her the season is a case of “job done”, whereas Richards merely wanted to paper over the cracks.

Phillips Idowu, Germaine Mason and Tasha Danvers will also line up in Gateshead, along with global stars such as Tirunesh Dibaba, the 5,000 and 10,000 metres Olympic champion from Ethiopia, and Shelly-Ann Fraser, the 100 metres champion from Jamaica. Asafa Powell and Tyson Gay, the fallen sprint heroes, are also on the bill, albeit in different events.