The United Kingdom has leapfrogged Canada to move up to third in Sportscal’s Global Sports Nations Index for 2013, with China retaining number one position and Russia moving up to second.
The UK climbs up the index boosted by the recent successful bids for the 2016 UCI Track World Championships and the 2018 Women's Hockey World Cup which form part of UK Sport's Gold Event Series.
The UK continues to work hard to retain its place in the top three nations, having established the Gold Event Series, which is aiming to secure 70 World Class sporting events to help build a strong legacy from the London Olympics in 2012.
Simon Morton, Director of Major Events at UK Sport said: "We have worked incredibly hard to ensure a strong major events legacy following the success of London 2012. Since the Gold Event Series was officially launched in November 2012, International Federations have shown that they want to continue bringing their major events to the UK, and I am pleased to see that reflected in our position on the Global Sport Index.
“The UK has a compelling mix of world class facilities and technical skills combined with our passionate spectators and a dedicated volunteer network, and this has been recognised internationally with recent successful bids including the Hockey World Cup in 2018 and the World Track Cycling Championship in 2016 both of which will be staged on the Olympic Park.”
The November 2013 edition of the Global Sports Nations Index shows China – boosted by the large number of events it hosted between 2008 and 2012 - maintain a narrow lead over Russia and the UK. The May 2013 edition had China first, Canada second and Russia third.
Although China hosted only a single counting event – badminton’s BWF World Championship - in 2013, it can look forward to next year’s Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing and the return of athletics to the Bird’s Nest stadium in Beijing with the 2015 IAAF World Athletics Championships.
The Global Sports Nations index is based on a rolling 12-year cycle, looking six years back and six years forward, and covers over 700 major multi-sport games and world championships. The next edition of the index – to be published in Spring 2014 – will move the timeframe forward to 2009- 2020; with 2008 dropping out of the index and 2020 coming in. As a consequence, China will lose over 10,000 points on the index and, very likely, its number one spot.
Over 41 nations have hosted multi‐sport events or world championships in 2013, the highest total since 2008 when China hosted the Olympic Games. A total of 78 nations have hosted major sporting events covered by the Global Sports Nations Index.