I’m old enough to remember a time when Olympic gold medals could be counted on one hand.
I especially recall Atlanta 1996; I had been living there for a period a couple of years before. That year, we came 36th in the medals table: 15 medals in total including a solitary gold.
Jump forward to 2024 and our athletes have won an incredible 65 medals, more than four times the 1996 tally. Three medals won in rowing in one morning, plus success in and on the water, on the track, in the velodrome and on the trampoline. And wonderful to celebrate local success with East Hampshire’s very own Harry Charles emulating his father, Peter.
So what has happened to British sport in the intervening years to effect such a transformation? This was a topic of debate in my time on the Culture, Media & Sport select committee. The experts we heard from agreed it was about an awful lot of dedication, hard training and of course underlying talent – but sustained investment has played a vital part, too.
Back in the 1990s, with parts of British sport seemingly at a nadir, John Major launched UK Sport to try to reverse our fortunes. The National Lottery, launched around the same time, started allocating funds to UK Sport to help elite athletes reach their full potential. Those that had the talent were given access to the best training and the full support package of physio, nutrition and sports psychology to ensure both physical and mental peak fitness.
Sport of course is a whole ecosystem, with elite sports the top of a big pyramid, and each layer interacts with the others.
Grassroots, community sport also received a big helping hand with funds being made available to local clubs to broaden their appeal and participation, and help the stars of the future emerge. Many clubs across East Hampshire have benefitted in the past from funding from UK Sport, such as Alton Trampolining Club, Petersfield Rugby Club and Holybourne Cricket Club.
In addition, Energise Me, the charity that champions physical activity across Hampshire, has received £3.69 million from Sport England over the last five years, for local sport and activity programmes.
So, the successes we are seeing today come from the talent and the dedication of the participants – but also from 30 years of the National Lottery and everybody who has ever bought a ticket.
But perhaps something else has happened in the years since 1996. The Atlanta games came shortly after a football World Cup (also in the US) where we failed even to qualify – whereas now we’ve just seen England in consecutive international tournament finals.
Confidence and success breed confidence and success. In the mid-1990s expectations were low, but today, it’s a different story. The “thirty years of hurt” we all sang about at Euro 1996 doesn’t ring true for youngsters now. Our default expectation is for British sportsmen and women to do well – even at Wimbledon. And national governing bodies, including the Lawn Tennis Association, but several others too like England Hockey and the Rugby Football Union do a great job encouraging wide participation and helping the cream rise to the top and stay there.
Hopefully the successes in this Olympics will help many feel inspired to try something new, or go the extra mile.
Now onto the Paralympics!
