Homepage

We use cookies to track and analyse visitors to our website

These cookies help make the website usable by enabling basic functions like page navigation. They are necessary for our website to function and cannot be switched off.
These cookies gather information to understand how visitors interact with the website, such as how many people are using our website of which pages are popular to help us improve user experience. Switching off these cookies will mean that we cannot gather information to improve the user experience.
These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by a third party provider whose services we have added to our website. Switching off these cookies mean that areas of our website cannot work properly.

Cookies are small text files that can be used by websites to make a user's experience more efficient.

The law states that we can store cookies on your device if they are strictly necessary for the operation of this site.

For all other types of cookies we need your permission.

This site uses different types of cookies. Some cookies are placed by third party services that appear on our pages.

You can at any time change or withdraw your consent from the Cookie Declaration on our website.

Learn more about who we are, how you can contact us and how we process personal data in our Privacy Policy.

Skip navigation
  • About us
    • Our Directors team
    • Our Board and panels
    • Strategic plan 2021-31
    • Annual reports
    • Our funders
    • Who we work with
    • Tenders
    • Contact us
  • Our work
    • Investing in sport
    • Investing in events
    • Powering positive change and social impact
    • International relations
    • Learning and development
    • Protecting and Transforming Olympic and Paralympic sport
    • Leadership and governance
    • Coaching
  • Events
  • News
  • Sports
    Olympic sports
    • Archery
    • Aquatics
    • Artistic Swimming
    • Athletics
    • Badminton
    • Baseball
    • Basketball
    • Bobsleigh
    • Boxing (Amateur)
    • View all
    Paralympic sports
    • Boccia
    • Goalball
    • Para-Archery
    • Para-Athletics
    • Para-Badminton
    • Para-Canoe
    • Para-Climbing
    • Para-Cycling
    • Para-Equestrian Dressage
    • View all
  • Resources
    • A Code for Sports Governance
    • Organisational Health
    • Para performance strategic framework
    • Board minutes
    • Complaints and whistleblowing
    • Eligibility
    • Fraud, corruption and bribery
    • Transparency and open data
    • HR policy templates
    • Pregnancy guidance
    • Reports and research
    • The Whyte Review
  • Jobs in sport
    • Working at UK Sport
    • Explore career pathways
    • Find jobs in sport
    • Advertise sport jobs
  • About us
    • Our Directors team
    • Our Board and panels
    • Strategic plan 2021-31
    • Annual reports
    • Our funders
    • Who we work with
    • Tenders
    • Contact us
  • Our work
    • Investing in sport
    • Investing in events
    • Powering positive change and social impact
    • International relations
    • Learning and development
    • Protecting and Transforming Olympic and Paralympic sport
    • Leadership and governance
    • Coaching
  • Events
  • News
  • Sports
    Olympic sports
    • Archery
    • Aquatics
    • Artistic Swimming
    • Athletics
    • Badminton
    • Baseball
    • Basketball
    • Bobsleigh
    • Boxing (Amateur)
    • View all
    Paralympic sports
    • Boccia
    • Goalball
    • Para-Archery
    • Para-Athletics
    • Para-Badminton
    • Para-Canoe
    • Para-Climbing
    • Para-Cycling
    • Para-Equestrian Dressage
    • View all
  • Resources
    • A Code for Sports Governance
    • Organisational Health
    • Para performance strategic framework
    • Board minutes
    • Complaints and whistleblowing
    • Eligibility
    • Fraud, corruption and bribery
    • Transparency and open data
    • HR policy templates
    • Pregnancy guidance
    • Reports and research
    • The Whyte Review
  • Jobs in sport
    • Working at UK Sport
    • Explore career pathways
    • Find jobs in sport
    • Advertise sport jobs
Popular content on our site
Prepare to “Find Your Greatness” as search for UK's future athletes gets underway The National Lottery operator Allwyn launches ChangeMakers fund for athletes as they make a difference back home Breadth of success targeted as British Olympic and Paralympic performance aspirations confirmed for Paris Investing in sport Strategic plan 2021-31
News

Lottery takes sport to a new level

Published 4 November 2004

Sport in the UK is at a new level thanks to the National Lottery. That was the simple verdict from UK Sport as it reflected on the difference that funding had made in the last seven years to our top sportsmen and women.

While the National Lottery has being supporting good causes for a decade and celebrates its 10th Birthday this weekend, a change in legislation was required before money could be invested in people rather than bricks and mortar. This meant that Olympic and Paralympic sport didn’t begin to benefit from Lottery money until May 1997, when Athletics and Rowing were among the first seven sports to gain awards.

A quick look at the Olympic medal tables shows the impact that the Lottery has made. A solitary gold medal in Atlanta in 1996 meant 36th place in the medal table. The two summer Olympics since - which have benefited from a total Lottery investment of £167m - yielded 20 gold medals and have seen Team GB become a fixture in the top 10. Britain also has a series of heroes in Ben Ainslie, Kelly Holmes, Matthew Pinsent and Tanni Grey-Thompson to inspire future generations, whatever their background, towards a dream in which they could be competing at a London Olympics in 2012.

"Every athlete who has received Lottery funding will have a story to tell of the difference that it has made to their Olympic dream, but the bottom line is that the Lottery has helped us take sport in the UK to a new level", said Sue Campbell, UK Sport’s Chair.

"But the Athens Games proved that there is no longer any margin for error if you want the top prize. If you put the winning margins of Kelly Holmes in the 800m, Chris Hoy in the track cycling, the Men’s Coxless Four and 4 x 100m relay team all together, the collective total is still only just over two tenths of a second. The power of our Lottery investment is in its ability to seek out those tenths, hundredths or even thousandths of a second, wherever they exist, and make sure that if there’s a close call, British athletes emerge on the winning side."

And the results haven’t just been about Olympic success. Great Britain finished second in the Paralympic Games medal table for the second Games in succession in Athens. In addition to that, the four years prior to the Athens Olympics saw an incredible 340 medals won at major sporting championships by British athletes.

UK Sport has also been able to invest the more modest sum of £11m in another area that makes a big difference, not just for our athletes, but also for sports and communities, by bringing major sporting events to the UK. The World Class Events programme has seen world championships staged across the UK from the World Indoor Athletics Championships in Birmingham, to the World Amateur Boxing Championships in Belfast.

Staging events at home has given British athletes the benefit of home advantage, but has also given local economies a massive boost and provided opportunities for the public to see their heroes at first hand, providing inspiration for future generations of sportsmen and women.

"The National Lottery has allowed UK Sport to do some special things over the last seven years, but our task now is to make that money work even harder and to ensure that we deliver sustained success in sports that matter to the British public. The funding has allowed us to compete on a level with the world’s leading sporting nations, now we need to apply our world famous ingenuity to give us a competitive edge", Sue Campbell added.

Details of Lottery awards to sports and events can be found on UK Sport’s web site.

Share
  • X
  • LinkedIn
  • Email

News

Participants of the UK Sport Athlete To Coach programme taking part in a fireside conversation
UK Sport launches new programmes to support coaching across the high-performance community
21 May 2025
Headshot of Professor Nick Webborn CBE
Professor Nick Webborn CBE appointed new Chair of UK Sport
19 May 2025
Decoration image with the logos of UK Sport and Weirdo
Transforming fan experience: UK Sport introduces new engagement strategies for Olympic and Paralympic sports
15 May 2025
Looking to work in sport?
Find or advertise sports jobs in the UK
Search now
Our funders
  • Funded by UK Government
  • TNL partners
Who we work with
  • British Olympic Association
  • Paralympics GB
  • Logo of the UK Sports Institute
  • Sport England
  • Sport Northern Ireland
  • Sport Wales
  • Sport Scotland
  • Logo of the British Elite Athletes Association
  • Logo for UK Coaching
  • Logo of Sport Resolutions
Sitelogo
Sitemap
  • Homepage
  • About us
  • Our work
  • Events
  • News
  • Sports
  • Resources
  • Jobs in sport
  • Website terms and privacy policy
  • Editorial policy
  • Cookies policy
  • Accessibility
  • Freedom of Information
  • Welsh language scheme
  • FAQs
Contact
UK Sport
6th Floor
10 South Colonnade
London
E14 4PU
E: info@uksport.gov.uk
T: +44 (0) 20 7211 5100
Follow us
Twitter Youtube Instagram LinkedIn

© Copyright UK Sport 2025