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.