Frontline solutions
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The UK Talent Team works side-by-side with Olympic and Paralympic sports to identify and develop exceptional sporting talent, leading to more medals being won at Olympic and Paralympic games.
Since 2007, the UK Talent Team has worked in partnership with 20 Olympic and Paralympic sports and over 100 World Class coaches; run seven National athlete recruitment campaigns, and assessed over 7000 athletes. Previous campaigns are listed below:
- Sporting Giants (2007)
- Girls4Gold (2008)
- Pitch to Podium (2008)
- Tall and Talented (2009)
- Fighting Chance (2009)
- Paralympic Potential (2009)
- Power2Podium (2011)
The purpose of the frontline solutions work is to answer questions like:
- How do you create a talent profile capable of predicting future Olympic/Paralympic potential?
- How many athletes do we need in the pipeline now to achieve our medal ambitions in Sochi 2014, Rio 2016 and beyond?
- Is it possible to transfer sporting talent from one sport to another? How old is too old and what sports transfer best?
- What does an exceptional development environment look like and how can we create, replicate and sustain it?
- How can we accurately measure an athlete’s future ‘headroom’ to develop?
- What role does the art of science and coaching play in identifying and developing extraordinary talent?
Eleven identified athletes from our campaigns represented Great Britain at the 2012 London Olympic and Paralympic Games. Athletes included Helen Glover and Victoria Thornley (GB Rowing) and Angela Hannah and Richard Jefferies (GB Canoeing) and Louise Jukes, Kathryn Fudge, Bobby White, Dan McMillan, John Pearce and Mark Hawkins (Men’s and Women’s Handball).
In summary:
- Over 100 newly identified athletes entering the World Class system across 17 sports
- 293 international appearances
- 102 international medals from over 25 athletes
With International Medal success at major championships currently standing at:
- 2 Olympic medals (one gold and one bronze)
- 1 Paralympic silver medal
- 15 World Championship medals: eight at junior level and seven at senior international (three gold)
- 30 World Cup medals at senior level (13 gold)
- 8 Senior European Championship medals
- 18 European Cup medals at senior level (seven gold)
