• UK Sport seek input into strategic direction beyond Rio 2016, to deliver maximum impact from investing in high performance sport
• Consultation open to all UK sports, partners and the British public to help inform review
• 2017-2021 investment principles to be finalised ahead of the Rio 2016 Games to ensure UK Sport maintains momentum, as world looks to emulate Great Britain’s sporting success
UK Sport, the nation’s high performance sports agency, is undertaking a strategic review to determine the way it will invest in sports beyond Rio 2016.
To help inform the review, UK Sport has today begun a wide ranging consultation with all its key partners in British sport as well as the public.
Since its inception in 1997, UK Sport has helped Great Britain move up from 36th on the Olympic medal table at the Atlanta Games in 1996 to third in both the Olympic and Paralympic medal table at London 2012, amassing a record breaking 185 medals across 30 Olympic and Paralympic sports and in turn creating 213 Olympic and Paralympic medal winning athletes to inspire the nation.
Likewise, at the Sochi Winter Games earlier this year, Great Britain equalled its best ever performance in the winter Olympics and delivered its best in 30 years in the winter Paralympics, creating 21 medal winners.
Much of this success has been attributed to UK Sport’s targeted approach to investment and technical expertise, ensuring the right resources are channelled towards the right athletes where there is the greatest chance of medal winning success.
Ahead of every new investment cycle (every four years), UK Sport reviews its funding principles to ensure they are fully aligned with targets agreed in consultation with Government.
UK Sport Chair, Rod Carr, said: "The UK Sport Board wants to ensure all those who care about the future of British high performance sport, and the wider impact British medal success can have on our nation, have the opportunity to engage and input meaningfully to this consultation. All feedback will be carefully considered by UK Sport’s Board and any proposed changes will be discussed with Government."
UK Sport CEO, Liz Nicholl, said: "Other nations are looking at the UK high performance system, trying to understand how we have achieved such success and how they might replicate it. If we are to remain one step ahead of our closest rivals, we must continue to evolve.
"We have proven that we know how to deliver world class success but we also know we can do more to build a stronger, more sustainable high performance system. We are committed to building on this success, and driving the greatest possible impact from those medal winning moments.
"UK Sport invests public funding, from The National Lottery and the Exchequer, and so it is right for us to consult on the extent to which the nation values Olympic and Paralympic medal success, and what other factors might inform our future investment strategy.
"There will always be the challenge of managing finite resources and prioritisation to focus on the most valued outcomes. We are hoping that the consultation will enable the UK Sport Board to develop a range of options for discussion with Government.”
The consultation, facilitated by independent market and opinion research consultancy ComRes, is open until 10 December 2014 and can be found on our consultation page.
Findings from the consultation will be presented to the UK Sport Board in February, ahead of the 2017-2021 Investment Principles being finalised and agreed with Board and Government over the spring of 2015. Sports will be invited to start work on their business cases for investment in the 2017-2021 funding cycle in the summer of 2015.