The British Olympic Association today outlined the next steps for Sir Clive Woodward’s proposed programme to support elite athletes. Sir Clive stated that it designed to put the athlete, coach and Performance Directors of sport at the centre and to help deliver the aspirational goal of fourth place in the medal table at the London 2012 Olympic Games.
At its launch today, the BOA confirmed that the programme will be available as a complement to the existing UK Sport funded World Class Performance Programme of each Olympic sport, with the decisions on which athletes take part taken by the Performance Director through UK Sport’s ‘Mission 2012’ performance management system. Clive Woodward is a member of the Olympic Expert Panel for Mission 2012, which also includes Steve Cram and Rod Carr, CEO of the RYA.
Sir Clive has spent the past year developing the programme with an elite young golfer, and his initial introduction into Olympic sport will be focused around a pilot scheme over the next few months in Judo. The impact of the programme on that sport will then be assessed by BOA and UK Sport through the Mission 2012 panel, as a means of determining how the programme might then be taken further forward.
Commenting on the programme, John Steele, CEO of UK Sport, said:
“We have always said that having Clive involved in the fight for medals in 2012 could add tremendous value to our existing activities. The key now is to ensure that everything focuses on maximising the opportunity for our Olympic athletes and builds on the real progress already being made. Through his involvement in Mission 2012, and the fact that Performance Directors will be responsible for athletes chosen to be part of the programme through our Mission 2012 process, I believe this can be achieved. The pilot scheme with Judo will help to confirm this.”
Sir Clive Woodward said:
“My brief from the BOA was to look at how we might provide talented young athletes, coaches, PDs and their NGBs with a service that could add value and compliment the excellent work already being delivered by UK Sport and our Olympic Governing Bodies.
“I would like to thank UK Sport for their support in allowing me to have a really good look at Olympic Sports and I see the future of this programme working side by side with them. The next step will be a pilot programme with an Olympic sport over the coming months, where its impact can be assessed by the BOA and UK Sport through the Mission 2012 Expert Panel.”