Team GB aiming to turn Olympic glory into public participation using athletes as influencers

The hope is that Britain’s range of talented, diverse and forthright Olympians can engage with their followers in a way that politicians and sporting governance simply cannot

Women's 470 gold medalist Eilidh McIntyre (centre) of Team Great Britain pose with other Team GB medalists (Getty Images)

Great Britain enjoyed another great Games in Tokyo, finishing fourth in the medal table with 22 golds and 65 in total. They did it without single positive Covid test among athletes in Japan, too, the result of stringent bubble measures and a rigorous testing programme.

Those bare statistics point to a successful Olympics. The question now is what can be achieved on the back of the athletes’ glory?

Sports participation remains a serious problem across the UK. The most recent data gathered by Sport England found that more than 50 per cent of children do not achieve the recommended 60 minutes of physical activity per day, and that 2.1 million British children (29 per cent) do fewer than 30 active daily minutes.

Ever since John Major’s government of the mid-90s introduced National Lottery funding, British Olympic performance has skyrocketed. Team GB had less than £60m to work with before Sydney 2000; that figure was £345m before Tokyo and will exceed £350m ahead of Paris 2024.

However there remain serious doubts about the impact on society beyond a morale-boosting couple of weeks of summer success every four years. London 2012’s ‘legacy’ was meant to be an entire generation inspired to take up sport, the data suggests more fundamental issues like the lack of accessible pitches and facilities have caused a decline.

“I think all of us would agree that the legacy from previous Olympic success has not necessarily translated into grassroots participation in the way that we would all want it to,” said Andy Anson, the British Olympic Association’s chief executive.

Anson believes the way to engage the public and inspire youth into action is to use the athletes as influencers.

“We’ve got to do a lot more. I’ve had several conversations with GB athletes. They want to help. They are actually passionate about driving participation. They believe it is part of their role. I think it’s incumbent on us. We’ve got to work with these athletes to help them influence people to participate in sports. We’re looking at turning our Team GB into a 24-7, 365-day brand using athletes to really interact and drive the health agenda. We’ve got to make it happen this time.”

There have been many well-intentioned statements like this in the past, of course, and the proof will eventually be revealed in how society responds to the latest drive for participation. The hope is that Britain’s range of talented, diverse and forthright Olympians can engage with their followers in a way that politicians and sporting governance simply cannot.

“Team GB this year feels like the team of trailblazers,” said UK Sport chair Katherine Grainger. “I really think they have just set new standards, in so many different ways, and burned their names into Olympic history in ways we didn’t expect. This team have gone above and beyond their own sport. We have got the most memorable role models and people who speak out on issues close to their heart.

“We had Adam [Peaty] on mental health, Tom [Daley] on LGBTQ rights, Hannah [Mills] on sustainability and Alice Dearing on diversity. These athletes are more than just athletes, they’re incredible people who are examples to us. They are trailblazer in different ways and will continue to be for a long period of time.”