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

UK Sport blog: Making our athletes better, thanks to the brains of Britain

Published 11 May 2012

Much of our work in the Research and Innovation team at UK Sport is about margins. Ultimately it’s about winning margins that make the difference between gold, silver, bronze and ‘the rest’, but over a four year Olympic and Paralympic cycle, some of the most crucial marginal gains are found in the daily training environment as opposed to equipment innovation; an hour less analysing performance data, a tweak in the order or content of a training regime or the desire to try something different, the use of modern technology to communicate and influence in a different way, two weeks less training missed through illness, a skill learned two months ahead of schedule to allow more time to perfect.

“Learning faster than the opposition”, the mantra of business strategist Arie de Gues, who I have been known to plagiarise on occasion, is key to every aspect of making our athletes better, through better support of the coach

Whether it’s faster, more accurate and meaningful data feedback, a sounder knowledge and understanding of the causes of injury and illness or optimising the training equipment or nutritional demands of the modern athlete, our job is to cut through the wealth of literature and ‘popular science’ out there these days, which quite frankly can be overwhelming in the ‘Twittersphere’, and deliver evidence based guidance and performance solutions to our coaches, practitioners and athletes so they know they are operating at the cutting edge of their sport.

This is an area in which I believe the UK has really capitalised on ‘home advantage’. Since the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games were announced, the heightened interest in British sport has allowed us access to some of the best expertise in British science and engineering through British academia and industry. The UK has a proud heritage of excellence in science and innovation, and to this day is second to only the USA worldwide in terms of our standing in the scientific sector, despite much less investment. Our industrial strengths in defence, automotive, aerospace and IT all have real application to our athletes everyday lives, in training and competition, and are helping us, along with our partners at the BOA, BPA and EIS, ensure our athletes will be among the best prepared in the world come London 2012.

For every £1 invested by UK Sport in this area of work over the current Olympic cycle, we have secured match funding or value in kind to the value of £2 to help us make our work go further, but of course the real benefit is in the much wider network of expertise to create a truly ‘blue sky thinking’ environment. Over this period we have managed to deliver 140 research and innovation projects across 25 different Olympic and Paralympic sports. In doing so we believe we will have impacted on over 95% of potential British medallists at London 2012 and hopefully made them better prepared through greater knowledge on their own performances; better coached, better equipped, better fuelled,  and better than the opposition.

UK Sport would like to thank our partners in industry and academia for their support. We couldn’t possibly name everyone – there are more than 25 different academic groups that have contributed at some point in the past four years and more than 100 different companies from sole traders and SMEs to large organisations - but their expertise, insight and approach to supporting British athletes needs to be acknowledged .

For the inside track on some of the Research and Innovation projects behind British athletes’ performances this year and a view on the future, you can follow Dr Scott Drawer, Head of Research and Innovation at UK Sport, on Twitter @ScottDUK or visit our website www.uksport.gov.uk

This blog was first published on Inside the Games

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