- 20 Olympic and Paralympic sports with an overall rating of green as sports begin focus on final 15 months of journey to the Games
- New Mission 2012 Panel finds that positive momentum from 2010 maintained into 2011
British sporting success at London 2012 is still firmly on track as sports begin to focus their minds towards the final 15 months of preparation before the Olympic and Paralympic Games. That is the message coming from the latest Mission 2012 updates from UK Sport which were revealed at its Headquarters in London today.
The latest analysis of Britain’s summer Olympic and Paralympic sports shows a high performance system in the UK that is aiming high in 2011 and that is firmly focused on preparations for when the Olympic and Paralympic Games come to London in just under 500 days time. The findings, which are published shortly after UK Sport confirmed the 2011 medal targets for each sport, show that ‘established’ medal winning sports such as Rowing, Sailing and Cycling are continuing to deliver, whilst sports such as Canoeing, Tae Kwon Do, Gymnastics and Hockey have maintained the momentum they gained from a positive year in 2010.
Of the 27 Olympic sports assessed, 11 are now rated as green overall, with 16 rated amber and no sport given an overall rating of red. Paralympic sport told a similar story with Disability Athletics, which won 38 medals in the recent 2011 World Championships including 12 golds, remaining on a green rating overall and being joined by eight other sports. The remaining nine sports were rated amber and, again, no Paralympic sport rated as an overall red.
Commenting on the most recent set of results, UK Sport Chief Executive Liz Nicholl, said: “Our Mission 2012 tracker boards show us that British Olympic and Paralympic sports are maintaining the momentum gained in 2010 and are clearly moving in the right direction as we head towards our Home Games next summer. 2011 has already started well with Para-Cycling and Disability Athletics both exceeding their 2011 medal targets and Cycling also having returned from Holland having met theirs.
"It is never wise to look too far into the future in international sport – there are so many external factors that come into play. All we can do is continue to work with our partners every day for the next fifteen months to do everything we can to help get our athletes on the start line in 2012 in the best possible shape and with the best possible chance of a medal. That is what we are focused on, and these Mission 2012 results are testimony to the hard work of hundreds of people across the sporting system.”
Mission 2012 requires sports to think about their performance plans in three dimensions based around their athletes, their system and the climate within the sport. The latest set of reports was analysed by a new Mission Panel, Chaired by UK Sport Chief Executive Liz Nicholl and made up of ten professionals from the high-performance sporting community, each bringing a unique wealth of knowledge and experience.
UK Sport is investing over £100m a year in the four years to London of National Lottery, Government Exchequer and private income from Team 2012, presented by Visa, in Britain’s Olympic and Paralympic sports. Announced in March, the UK Sport medal target ranges are agreed with sports as part of their funding agreement and, alongside the Mission 2012 submissions, are a necessary part of monitoring the progress each sport is making towards London 2012.
As part of the process, today saw the first time that Tennis’ submission as an Olympic sport is included on the Mission 2012 Tracker Boards. Although not funded by UK Sport, and therefore not subject to the same requirements in terms of accountability, Tennis has voluntarily taken on the Mission 2012 process in order to benefit from its performance management processes. At this first stage, the sport has rated itself Amber overall.