Find Your Greatness is an athlete recruitment programme ran by UK Sport, in collaboration with Team GB and ParalympicsGB, from July to November 2024.
The campaign was aimed at sporty and active 16–24-year-olds, searching for potential Team GB athletes for Climbing, Cycling, Handball, Modern Pentathlon, Rowing, Shooting, Skeleton, Volleyball and Weightlifting; and for ParalympicsGB athletes for all parasports.
The application window closed with 1500 applicants applying to the Olympic campaign, and over 450 applicants to the Paralympic campaign.
Of those who applied for the Olympic campaign we invited over 1000 to sign up to a Regional Assessment Day, during November and December. Prospective athletes were put through their paces to test their physical boundaries.
What does an Assessment Centre Session look like?
Athlete performances from the Regional Assessment Days were reviewed by UK Sport and a team of coaches, with 376 athletes being taken forwards to the next stage of the campaign, a sport-specific assessment day.
Sport specific assessment days take place within the training environment of the sports, where additional physical and psychometric data will be collected, as well as offering individuals the opportunity to try the sport.
From this point the sport will select athletes for development programmes or encourage others to enter a club to develop their skills further.
Why are these campaigns needed?
A healthy performance pathway has multiple entry points, not only the well-trodden grassroots to elite pathway.
Some people may have faced barriers to access the grassroots pathway and so this is a way to encourage and invite people to have a go at accessing elite sport without some of those barriers.
Another reason is that some sports may have gaps in their pathway, for example when a new discipline is introduced, or they don't have a grassroots pathway, therefore this is how we recruit for those sports.
Where can I go to find out more information about these sports?
If you are interested in taking part in a future athlete recruitment campaign, please keep an eye on the National Governing Body website of your favourite sport. Links to National Governing Body websites can be found on the Sport pages of this website.