A report released today by UK Sport, the lead body for high performance sport in the UK, shows encouraging signs that Team GB is making Post-Beijing progress in its lead up to London 2012.
Through Mission 2012, sports that are funded through UK Sport assess their activities across three core areas of work - Athletes; System; and Climate. A traffic light rating is provided for each area, along with their World Class Performance Programme as a whole.
This analysis takes place three times a year with the outputs plotted on a Mission 2012 Tracker Board housed at UK Sport’s HQ in Central London. The whole process is overseen by two Panels (one Olympic, one Paralympic) which look across all sports to identify particular themes that are arising across the high performance system.
With the summer competition season now in full swing, this ‘mid term’ assessment shows that in the build up to London 2012, nine Olympic (including rowing and cycling - the two sports which receive the most funding) and five Paralympic sports are registered as overall ‘green’ on the Mission 2012 Tracker Board, with 17 (including swimming and athletics) and 12 ‘amber’ respectively. Only two sports - handball and sitting volleyball - have a ‘red’ rating that suggests significant change is required if performance is to be maximised ahead of the home Games.
For handball in particular, this is specifically related to the challenges faced as a result of being placed on ‘basic’ funding for the London cycle. Handball’s Mission 2012 submission also highlighted the key issue of facilities with a lack of suitable training and competitive venues hampering its progress.
Commenting on the results, John Steele, UK Sport’s Chief Executive, said:
“By the end of the month there will be only three years to go until the London Games and I think we can be satisfied with where we’re at.
“Mission 2012 provides an invaluable snapshot of how each sport is performing in all aspects of their operations. It allows sports to identify any particular challenges and issues they are facing which in turns provides us with the opportunity to provide or help find solutions before they take hold.
“This is key as time is flying by and London will be here before we know it so any barriers to optimum performance must be removed.”
The next Mission 2012 update will occur in November in the shape of a thorough end of year review. This will include an assessment of achievements against the annual medal targets set in April.
Louise Hudson, Sportsister
The Women’s Sports Magazine
