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British Sport chair Dame Katherine Grainger, who will leave after ten years, calls it “frustrating” that there won’t be more significant events in the country over the next ten years.
The funding agency’s head told BBC Sport, “We risk public investment, we risk opportunities for athletes,” she said.
After eight years in charge, the former Olympic and Paralympic rowing champion will step down as the most senior athlete.
UK Sport tries to ensure the nation bids for and organizes the biggest events in the world in addition to funding elite athletes.
She said, “We have a great reputation for it.” However, I believe there will be difficulties going forward.
We have scheduled events, they say. However, after 2028, we have nothing secure when it comes to “mega-events.”
Since the start of the decade, there have been fewer significant events being held in the UK.
This year, along with the 2026 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and the European Athletics Championships in Birmingham, Britain will host the women’s rugby union World Cup in England.
The men’s and women’s Tour de France competitions will both take place in Britain in 2027, according to a rumored announcement last week. The 2028 men’s European Championship will be held in the UK and Ireland in football.
However, Grainger claims more needs to be done, despite the home countries’ intentions to submit a joint bid for the 2035 women’s football World Cup.
She said, “We don’t want fallow years.” We don’t really have anything named after 2028. That is a significant gap.
There are still many things happening that are for the taking. Although it is quite obvious why these megaevents are significant to the nation, we may not have made the case clear.
There is something we still could do to ensure that we have consistent eyeballs on this country and what we’re doing in sport, despite the fact that it’s a very difficult time, especially for the government to support financially.
No one can accept their place in world sport without sacrificing theirs, and it will require collaboration. We should still have big goals for what we can do next.
UK Sport is hoping for more financial support to compete in major events despite receiving a record £330 million government funding package for its sports over the next four years to win medals at the LA 2028 Games.
Grainger cited as potential targets the 2029 World Athletics Championships, the 2030 Solheim Cup, and the 2031 Ryder Cup as examples of winning bids that required a lot of campaign time.
She added that there should be “really good conversations” between people with intellectual disabilities and the Special Olympics. The event has never been held in the UK, and it currently falls outside of UK Sport’s funding scope.
We’ve given athletes a voice, they say.
In the midst of a wave of athlete welfare disputes, Grainger’s arrival at UK Sport in 2017 brought the British high performance system, which links funding to medal potential, under intense scrutiny. She asserts that the organization has “huge amounts in place to make sure, as much as we can, it is a place that is safe, nurturing, and supportive” since then.
She continued, “When I came in, the system was a big challenge because, historically, there was such great success in Olympic and Paralympic sport. Was the human price being paid, sometimes too much,” she continued. And I believe there was a genuine investigation into it.
We’ve ensured that athletes are heard and have a voice. We made sure that athletes were valued for who they are and what they contribute to the performance system, in my opinion. I’m very proud of the outstanding performances we’ve seen at the summer and winter Olympics over the past two years.
Under Grainger’s leadership, UK Sport asserted that it would “win the right way” and focused its funding on potential medal winners over a longer 12-year period, with an emphasis on success across a wider range of sports.
Additionally, it mandated funding for the British Elite Athletes Association, “culture health checks,” and insisted that funded sports appointed a director to take the board’s lead on welfare and safety work.
She said, “I believe we’ve invested in a way that’s healthier.”
It will always be challenging and difficult, they say. And while high performance by nature has its flaws, it doesn’t need to be uncomfortable or undoubtedly unsafe for anyone.
Coventry IOC wins “huge” award.
The British Olympic Association will now have Grainger as its first female chair. She calls Kirsty Coventry’s historic election as the first woman to lead the International Olympic Committee (IOC) “huge.”
There is “a lot of ground broken,” which is fantastic because it always raises the question whether or not they are willing to change in the future. And I believe that this was a powerful response,” she said.
She will introduce something unique that is likely unheard of before. What she might do is generating a lot of excitement, in my opinion.
Lord Coe’s election victory, according to Grainger, surprised her.
She said, “We’re used to seeing Seb as a winner in this country.”
