Brian Cookson's recent election to the presidency of the UCI is an important moment for British sport. Whilst the last decade has seen Great Britain secure a strong position on the medal table, it has taken longer for Britain to regain its position around the board table of international sport. There are however encouraging signs that this is starting to change.
Re-building influence in international sport takes time, not least because the top jobs simply don't come around that often. There have only been two presidents of FIFA in the last 40 years, and only five presidents of the IAAF in its 101 year history. With his successful election last month, Brian Cookson became the first person from this country for over 20 years to be elected as international president of a core summer Olympic sport. The last Briton to lead such a sport was the Princess Royal, who stepped down as president of the FEI in 1994.
Many have noted the decline in British influence from the previous century when our sports administrators led many International Federations, but a return to those days is neither possible nor desirable. International sport has moved on and the Federations are now much more geographically diverse - a case in point being the 25 current Presidents of the core Summer Olympic Sports, who come from 21 different countries.
There are other positive signs that Britain is once again becoming a credible and valued member of the international sporting community. Influence is not just about taking the top positions and, since London 2012, 15 out of 17 British candidates have been successful in securing positions on the Boards of the international governing bodies of their Olympic and Paralympic Sports.
Having a strong voice in the international governance of sport is not just about advocating national interests. It is also about helping to make those International Federations as strong and credible as possible. If the public lose faith in the integrity of these international bodies to govern fairly and effectively, then the investment that UK Sport makes into national high performance success and hosting major events is severely compromised. This is a key reason why UK Sport, working in partnership with the BOA and BPA, is providing support to sport’s National Governing Bodies (NGBs) to develop and implement their own international relations strategies.
An important part of UK Sport's support to NGBs is about identifying and developing the next generation of British leaders that can play an active role in their international sporting organisations. It is hugely encouraging to see a number of our ex-athletes step forward, and in the last year alone Beth Tweddle has been elected to the Athletes Commission of International Gymnastics (FIG), Sarah Gosling to the Athletes Commission of International Sailing (ISAF), Emma Mason to the Council of International Badminton (BWF), and Sarah Stevenson to the Council of World Taekwondo (WTF).
We have also recently launched the sixth year of our International Leadership Programme which helps British representatives involved in the international governance of their sports to operate more effectively. It is great to see some of the alumni from this programme securing key positions that will help shape their sports internationally, such as Chris Atkins elected as Vice-President of International Sailing (ISAF), Sue Catton elected onto the Executive Board of International Hockey (FIH), and most recently Martin Gibbs appointed as Chief of Staff for International Cycling (UCI).