Decathlon legend Daley Thompson has expressed his belief that athletics is "turning the corner" following a lull after the London 2012 Olympics.

The 56-year-old is hopeful that the younger generation will find the sport more appealing in the run-up to the Rio Games next year.

"Despite the success of London 2012, I think athletics has been in the doldrums for a while and not on people's priority list like it once used to be," Thompson told Athletics Weekly. "But hopefully it's turning the corner. It has some great people and I'd love to see it take off.

"To do that, I feel it needs to change more and try to become more appealing to kids. I'm not an expert, but I see all these fun runners and wonder why we're not getting more of them into clubs."

Thompson won decathlon gold for Great Britain in 1980 and 1984 and also broke the world record four times.