Dame Katherine Grainger has sensed an “incredible hunger” among a new generation of athletes to write the next chapter of British Olympic success.
Team GB returned from Paris this month with an overall haul of 65 medals – one better than Tokyo in 2021 and the fourth successive Games, stretching back to London 2012, in which they have exceeded 60.
This achievement is tempered by the fact the number of golds dropped to 14, the nation’s lowest return for 20 years, and the team had to settle for a disappointing seventh place in the medal table.
Yet Grainger, chair of UK Sport, the government agency responsible for distributing funding to elite sports, believes the feelgood factor generated by the home Games 12 years ago is still very much in evidence.
The former rower, a five-time Olympian herself and gold medallist in London, told the PA news agency: “I’m not one of the people who find it, in any way, a bad result.
“You’ve got 65 medals across 18 sports, and that was the real aim. The medal range was 50-70, so to end up with 65 is fantastic.
“There are only three nations that have produced over 60 medals in the last four games, and that’s GB, USA and China. To be in that group of nations is amazing for a relatively small country.
“In 2012 there was such an incredible build-up to the home Games and there was a sense of, once we’ve done that, will we be finished with sport?
“Then what you’ve seen is this incredible hunger and desire for a very new generation of athletes to build their own part of the story, and to write another chapter – and to see there’s more success to come.
“The ambition is still there. You never think we’re going to finish this golden period of sport because it just keeps continuing.”
Grainger was speaking in Salford at the launch of ‘Find Your Greatness’, a new campaign to unearth future Olympians and Paralympians.
The nationwide initiative, aimed at 16-24-year-olds, hopes to introduce young athletes to new sports or match their skill sets to disciplines they may not previously have considered or had opportunities to try.
Grainger said: “These recruitment campaigns are to make sure that we are trying to find all the brilliant potential we have in this country, so that when the big superstars of every sport retire they’re replaced with another wave of new superstars.”
Back in the present, Grainger is hoping for another strong British showing as the focus returns to Paris with the Paralympics starting next week.
She said: “I always feel before a major event there are athletes and stories we already know and we’re excited to see how they will deliver.
“And there’s other athletes and stories that haven’t been told yet, and they’ll break through at these games. It’ll be over far too soon but, at the end of it, we’ll look back and think it’s been another really special summer.”