Contents

in the UK Sport and the nation

2

Sport and money

4

Sport and the media

6

Sport and the young

8

Sport in the community

10

Sport for the élite

12

Sport all year round

14

Sport on the ball

18

Sport at the Olympics

20

Sport on the water

22

Sport shows its talent

24

Sport and its venues

28

Sport and the future

30

Denise Lewis (left) gave British sports fans plenty to shout about by winning the heptathlon gold medal at the Sydney Olympic Games in 2001. Rugby union and speedway are just two of a multitude of other sports with a strong spectator base in the United Kingdom.

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Chapter 1

and the nation

“Sport matters to us all – to individuals, to families and in bringing people together for a common aim, to communities at every level… We know sport offers friendship, rivalry, challenge and enjoyment. And we know, most of all, that sport isn’t just about being healthy: sport is fun – one of the good things in life.” Prime Minister Tony Blair, 1999 Sport today is a global phenomenon, but it draws deeply on national loyalties and rivalries. England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland all have their own distinctive sporting traditions. At the same time a thriving sports culture exists in the United Kingdom as a whole. Here, in the spiritual home of many of the world’s greatest games, a passion for sport continues to shape the British identity. Twenty seven million Britons of all ages and levels of ability play, watch and support 153 different sports. That really is something to shout about. It has never been the job of politicians to ‘run’ sport in the UK. But along with sports organisers and managers – like local authorities, clubs, governing bodies, and the Sports Councils – the Government aims to provide facilities, equipment and opportunities to ensure a better sporting future for everyone. Prime Minster Tony Blair is personally committed to creating ‘pathways of success’ for all those who have the talent and the desire to rise to the top.

“The British public … are united under the Union Jack when it comes to sport. As a tennis player, I can certainly tell you that there is no greater thrill than performing well on the Centre Court at Wimbledon in front of a home crowd willing you on for every point. When you win your joy is shared, not only with the many fans surrounding you in the stadium, but also with the hundreds of thousands sitting at home watching the match on television.”

Tim Henman, Britain’s Tennis No. 1, 2000

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Three young lions of the England football team: Steven Gerrard, captain David Beckham and Michael Owen.

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Chapter 2

and money

Sport has a central place in the commercial leisure industry. As such, it is inextricably intertwined with market forces. Thanks mainly to the riches generated by sponsorship and the cash that TV stations pay for the right to broadcast events, competitors’ wages have risen in a number of sports, and the value of the prizes on offer has soared. As audiences increase in size, so do opportunities for merchandising, which is now more financially significant for larger, more successful clubs than the admission fees paid by spectators. The modern sports industry is vital to the UK economy, contributing to employment, consumer spending, tourism and economic regeneration. It is hard to give accurate figures for the revenue generated by sport in areas like advertising, media work and transport provision, but the sums involved are huge and growing all the time. The sports tourism market, for example, is believed to be worth over £1.5 billion, with the sports industry accounting for half a million jobs and more than £10.4 billion worth of consumer spending.

Lord’s Cricket Ground in St John’s Wood, London – known as ‘headquarters’ – is the administrative centre of cricket, housing the England and Wales Cricket Board and the International Cricket Council. In 1999 the ground’s Victorian elegance was complemented by the futuristic NatWest Media Centre.

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The central Government has little direct responsibility for the nation’s sporting life. Local authorities – often in partnership with the private and voluntary sectors – are the main providers of sporting opportunities at grass-roots level. But Government policy and legislation, co-ordinated by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) creates the frame within which sport takes place. The Government also provides public funds to support sporting activity, particularly by channelling some of the money raised by the National Lottery.

Sponsorship and Advertising In 1971 sport sponsorship stood at only around £2.5 million. Thirty years later the figure is 15 times higher, with over 1,000 companies listing sponsorship among their activities. At the elite level, leading sponsors include Bass Brewers’ ‘Carling’ branding (the football Premiership, which is broadcast to 162 countries worldwide), Barclaycard (Carling’s successors in the 2001/2 football season), Lloyds TSB (Six Nations Rugby Union) and Dunhill (Formula One motor racing). Tobacco companies were once major sponsors of British sport, particularly cricket and motor-racing. But with the exception of specified ‘global events’, the European Union has banned all tobacco sponsorship in sport from 30 July 2003 – with a fully comprehensive ban to follow by July 2006 – in the hope of reducing the numbers of those whose health suffers from smoking. At the other end of the sporting scale, most primary schools now seek a local sponsor for their kit.

THE NATIONAL LOTTERY The National Lottery, created by parliament to raise money for good causes, has had an enormous impact on sports development in the United Kingdom. In the year after its launch in 1994, an estimated £180 million of ‘lottery money’ found its way into sport, both nationally and at an individual level. By the turn of the century almost £2 billion from the National Lottery was invested in or committed to recognised sports ranging from cricket and rugby union to caving, sub aqua and Gaelic football. Over 3,000 awards, worth £959 million in total, were directed to capital projects while £80.5 million was allocated to the ‘World Class Performance Programme’ (see page 13). Distribution of the Lottery Sports Fund is made by the four regional Sports Councils which, by the Lottery Act of 1997, are allowed to direct lottery funds towards target groups as well as responding to applications for awards. Multi-million-pound grants have thus been made to fund nationally and internationally significant facilities, like those for the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester. Despite many other demands for National Lottery funding, the Government aims to maintain its commitment to sport, which provides lasting benefits in areas like education, health, and promoting social inclusion.

Kit sponsorship is a fact of UK footballing life for the England national squad – shown top at the unveiling of its new shirt for 2001 – as well as for a large and growing number of primary schools, above.

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BSkyB also broke the BBC monopoly of Five (now Six) Nations Rugby Union coverage, and secured exclusive rights to show events ranging from British Ryder Cup golf wins to Frank Bruno’s World Heavyweight Championship boxing victory over Oliver McCall.

Chapter 3

and the media

BSkyB satellite broadcasting and its pay-perchannel coverage has transformed television sport since 1990. It has also had a major impact on some of the sports themselves. Armed with an exclusive Rugby League rights deal, BSkyB created a new ‘Super League’. As a result, British games were switched to the summer to fit in with the winter season in Australia and New Zealand, and so win larger global audiences.

By challenging the BBC’s historic dominance, BSkyB has opened the way for other sports broadcasters to enter the marketplace. As the digital revolution gathers pace, further growth in the amount of TV sport and payper-view will surely follow. Some argue that this process is compromising the ‘national memory’, by ending the common experience of watching major sporting events. But higher TV revenues can also enable sports authorities to fund grass-roots development and maintain facilities.

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Each year since 1954 BBC TV viewers have voted for a domestic Sports Personality of the Year. Three sports stars have won the prestigious award twice – boxer Henry Cooper and racing drivers Nigel Mansell and Damon Hill. In 1984 the ice-skating duo of Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean were joint winners, while in 1971 the people’s choice was a royal, when the honour was won by Olympic horsewoman Princess Anne.

“It is really important that, in a world of vested interests, niche channels and multimedia sports ownership, some events in our lives remain outstanding and shared, like the big news stories – Coronations, state funerals and men on the moon… Consider how the nation was held spellbound on terrestrial television by the Olympic Games in Sydney last September. Would the same be true if the Olympics had been packaged commercially?…” Peter Salmon, Head of BBC Sport, 2001

The Sound of Sport Following Broadcasting Acts in 1990 and 1996, many new independent radio stations have sprung up, hugely expanding the supply of airtime for live sport. This broader coverage has made some relatively obscure sports more popular. The national BBC radio station for live news and sport – Radio Five Live – was launched in March 1994, and won the Sony Radio Station of the Year Award in 1996 and 1998. It offers live commentary on less familiar sports like ice hockey, rowing, and basketball as well as football, tennis, cricket and rugby union. Another new commercial station, talkSPORT, launched in January 2000, broadcast exclusive ball-by-ball coverage of the 2001 Test Series between Sri Lanka and England.

The sport of Rugby League, born in the north of England in 1895, was revolutionised 100 years later by the impact of satellite television.

The People’s Choice

THE ‘CROWN JEWELS’: Ten Must-Sees on Free TV • World Cup football finals • European football championship finals • FA Cup final • Scottish FA Cup final • Rugby Union World Cup final • Rugby League Challenge Cup final • Olympic Games • Grand National • The Derby • Wimbledon tennis finals By Government policy, these ten sporting events (see also the UK Sporting Calendar on page 16) must currently be offered to British broadcasters that charge neither a subscription nor a pay-per-view fee. These ‘Crown Jewel’ events, protected for free viewing, have the power to attract vast armchair audiences. Twentysix million viewers watched England lose on penalties to Argentina in the World Cup Finals of 1998. In the same tournament almost ten million people watched the relatively unglamorous match between the USA and Iran.

The Grand National steeplechase, run over 4.5 miles at Liverpool’s Aintree racecourse, is considered to be the UK’s most demanding horse race. Since the 1839 ‘Grand Liverpool Steeplechase’, it has often been the most thrilling too.

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A New Heart for English Football

Chapter 4

and the young

The Government’s Sporting Future for All strategy focuses closely on sport for the young. “It is in school where most of us get our first chance to try sport,” says Prime Minister Tony Blair, a keen and able sportsman himself. “It is here that children discover their talent and potential. They need the chance to try a variety of sports, to see which they enjoy most. They need quality teaching of basic skills… They need clear pathways into taking part at club and national levels, with the right coaching and right support at every stage.” In this way the UK’s children can acquire a lifelong habit of sport for fitness and pleasure.

A Fresh Sporting Start

Organised sport of a ‘character-forming’ kind played a vital part in the curriculum of the UK’s 19th-century public schools. Former public school boys went on the found the Football Association, the Rugby Union and the Amateur Athletic Association, as well as many of their member clubs.

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To back up its strategy, the Government has made available a £750 million New Opportunities Fund over three years for school sport. By the year 2003, 1,000 school sports co-ordinators will be in place to promote sports competitions between schools, to run extra after-school sports clubs, and to make the necessary link between schools and local community sports groups. Work has also begun on setting up 110 Specialist Sports Colleges – secondary schools with a special emphasis on physical education and sport for élite competitors. By taking initiatives like these, and by slowing down the rate of selling off school playing fields, the Government has once again made the provision of highquality sport and physical education to all young people a high priority. This process has already begun at the vital first stage of education, with up to £130 million provided to rebuild sports facilities in primary schools.

In February 2001 the Football Association announced that a state-of-the-art National Football Centre will be built in east Staffordshire. At a projected cost of over £30 million, the complex is scheduled for completion by summer 2003. Standing on 350 acres of land, it will act as a preparatory centre for the various levels of national representative sides. It will also try to nurture young talent to enhance the full national team in the future. There will be accommodation blocks for young players aged 13 to 16 and plenty of coaches to advise them, with local schools catering for other aspects of their education. A similar, highly successful centre exists at Clairefontaine in France, the country that won the 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000. More than 90% of the boys who pass through it go on to the academies of French league clubs.

Stars like ex-Arsenal and England footballer Ian Wright (pictured below) play a key role in encouraging more schoolchildren to take an active interest in all forms of sport.

SPORTS COACH UK Two hundred years ago, a British trainer might prepare his athlete by filling his own mouth with cold water, blowing it onto the athlete’s back then rubbing him down with a rough towel. If his skin shone after that, he was thought to be fit. Coaching today is both an art and a science, drawing on subjects ranging from biomechanics and physiology to pyschology. The former National Coaching Foundation – now known as sports coach UK – is recognised as one of the world’s leading sources of coaching knowledge. It is dedicated to guiding the development and implementation of a coaching system for all coaches at every level in the UK. Financially backed by UK Sport and Sport England, it works closely with other organisations such as the British Olympic Association, the British Paralympic Association and the home country sports councils, as well as with governing bodies, local authorities and educational institutions. Based in Leeds, it has offices in ten regional training units and in the coaching units of Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

No Age Limit Sports events in the UK attract plenty of older as well as younger participants. In 1999, the World Veterans Athletics Championships were held at Gateshead, England, for women aged 35 and over and men aged from 40 and over, up to 90. Six thousand athletes from 74 different countries competed. 9

DISABILITY SPORTS

Chapter 5

in the community

“Over the next ten years, we want to transform grass-roots sport. Everyone should have the same chance to take part, whatever their background. Through local authorities and the £1.5 to £2 billion that will be invested in local sport, we will renew our sports facilities and fund schemes to reach out to the whole community. We will develop the club structure, to provide a link between schools and elite sport. In doing so, we will widen participation and improve our international competitiveness.” The DCMS blueprint for community sport in the first decade of the 21st century. Sport is the United Kingdom’s most popular leisure activity. Almost half the adult population takes part each week in a sporting activity of some kind. For many years, central Government had little to do with much of this activity.

Golf and (right) bowling, games both firmly rooted in the Scottish sporting tradition, continue to be enjoyed by all age-groups within the UK community.

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Some sports for those with disabilities are adapted from ablebodied versions, others are developed specifically for those with either physical or learning difficulties. Organised disability sport has a long history in the United Kingdom. The Stoke Mandeville Games for the paralysed were first held in 1948, and 50 years later they featured some 450 competitors from 30 different countries. There is no single body that represents disability sports, but local authorities are expected to make sports provision for all those with disabilities, and various organisations offer recreational opportunities and sporting events for people with disabilities to attend. Some of the children encouraged to get more involved in sport might one day reach élite level and break into Britain’s distinguished Paralympics team, which won an astonishing 41 gold medals, 43 silver and 47 bronze at the Sydney 2000 Paralympic Games (see page 21).

of sport in those countries. Each of the four countries also has a publicly-funded Sports Council with responsibility for developing its own sport and recreation, while a UK Sports Council deals with broader issues affecting the entire country.

Improving the Delivery Local authorities have always played a central role in delivering sport to the community. Central Government increasingly ensures that everyone has the same access to sport, whatever their gender, ethnic group or social status. It is also ensuring that a streamlined, professionally-managed club structure is developed, to form a strong link between schools and high-level competition.

How Sport is Organised

Thanks to National Lottery investment in projects like the Velodrome and the Commonwealth Games Stadium, both in Manchester, the UK is building an excellent infrastructure for major sporting events. This will be matched by a development of the multi-use sports facilities, sports centres, parks, tennis courts and astroturf pitches used by members of the public.

Clubs of all sizes still act as important focal points for their communities. Nationwide, there are about 150,000 of them. Most are members of national governing bodies, which in turn are members of the Central Council of Physical Recreation (CCPR). This independent voluntary body calls itself ‘The Voice of British Sport and Recreation’, even though a Welsh Sports Association and a Scottish Sports Association serve as the collective voices for the governing bodies

Sport England – the English Sports Council – is investing 75% of its lottery income in community sport. Already the Sports Lottery Fund has provided around 3,000 new facilities for communities all over the UK. Meanwhile sports development officers in every local authority area promote, develop and manage sporting opportunities for people, making sure that social inclusion is at the heart of everything they do.

BRITAIN’S MOST POPULAR PARTICIPATION SPORTS The three sports which annually attract most people in the UK – as well as large numbers of overseas visitors – are walking, swimming and cycling. To help cater for the last-named of these, a new lottery-funded National Cycle Network currently offers 8,000 miles of continuous routes in the UK. Expansion of this Network will bring it to within 3 km of half of the population.

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So in addition to creating greater sporting opportunities in education and in the community, the Government is committed to creating a sporting environment in which top-class talent will flourish and progress.

Chapter 6

for the élite

Millions of people in the UK take a close interest in the performance of British sports teams and individuals at the highest level. Research among the UK public shows that 88% believe that sporting success generates a ‘feel good’ factor; while in the wake of Sydney 2000, 95% believe that the amount of lottery money invested in sport should – at the very least – not be reduced.

The strategy for excellence – based on the operation of the new UKSI network alongside World Class support programmes – marks a new start for British sport. “It will not deliver overnight rewards,” warns the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. “A successful talent development strategy will only pay dividends over the medium term. The real test of our policy will be our performance in 2012 not in 2001.” Consistent, sustained funding and support for essential planning and preparation can help British sportsmen and women achieve new levels of success in the international arena.

The UK Sports Institute The United Kingdom Sports Institute (UKSI) aims to provide the UK’s best sportsmen and women with a well-structured programme of top-class services and training facilities to enable them to compete and win at élite level. There is a growing network of centres throughout the county, with a 30-strong ‘Central Services’ unit in

London that provides expertise in sports science, medicine, coaching, athlete services, performance planning, personal development training and information technology. Over £130 million in lottery money is available to fund the building of new facilities, while the Government provides more funds to cover some of the running costs. The main beneficiaries are athletes, coaches and performance directors nominated by the governing bodies of specific sports. In the main these are Olympic and Paralympic sports, but other sports like water-skiing and netball can also access support.

WORLD CLASS PERFORMERS World Class performers need World Class support, so British sports can now use World Class Performance Programme money from the lottery to fund: • World Class coaches • Sports science and medicine back-up • Warm-weather and acclimatization training • International competition programmes

The All-Important Coach

• Athlete development programmes

Coaching is central to the development of excellence. “In search of the best possible coaches,” says the DCMS, “… while it is right to draw on the best expertise from overseas, it is vitally important that we support ‘home-grown’ coaches. We need to see a greater investment in the identification and training of coaches from within this country who have the potential to work at this [élite] level.” As a result, the Sports Councils, sports coach UK and sports’ governing bodies are working together to develop a ‘fast track’ system for top class performers to become coaches.

• Performance Directors to co-ordinate all the above

• Training facilities

The programmes cover periods of between four and eight years, to allow for long-term planning but they are reviewed annually. Athlete Personal Awards are also paid to provide substantial help to sportsmen and women, according to their financial circumstances, performance level and world ranking. (See also page 28 for the related World Class Events Programme.)

Three UK sailing successes at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney – gold medal winners Ben Ainslie, Ian Percy and Shirley Robertson, who is also pictured below. Triple-jumper Jonathan Edwards, opposite, was another winner at Sydney. The footballers belong to the England Women’s squad, shown opposite, during a training session at Bisham Abbey, one of the UK Sports Institute’s centres of sporting excellence. The appointment of Swede Sven-Goran Eriksson as the England national team’s football coach – in a bid to improve its chances of qualifying for the 2002 World Cup – marked a significant break with tradition. Only Englishmen had ever coached the side before. But after 30 years of relative underachievement, the FA decided to draw on the expertise of a man with a record of major success in club management in Europe. His appointment was made less surprising by the fact that the English Premiership had already become the most cosmopolitan league in the world, with more than 200 overseas players performing for its 20 clubs.

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Chapter 7

all year round

Each spring, London plays host to the largest marathon in the world. Founded in 1981 by British Olympic champion Chris Brasher, more than 40,000 competitors now take part in the all-inclusive ‘People’s Marathon’, but there are always far more applicants to run than places to be filled. Separate starts are made by élite men, élite women, wheelchair competitors and the general running public, some of whom are over 80 years old. In 2001 a record 41,974 participants entered this hugely popular event, with its 26-mile 385-yard course from Charlton Park in East London to The Mall. The time recorded by winner Abdelkader El Mouaziz of Morocco – 2hrs 7mins and 11 seconds – shows what a serious and fast race it is. Millions of pounds are raised for good causes by sponsored participants and surpluses from the Marathon’s own fee. (Terry Kavanagh of Havering has raised £14,000 for the Parkinson’s Disease Society, while suffering himself from that condition.) Sponsorship income is distributed to recreational schemes through the London Marathon Charitable Trust.

Prime Minister Tony Blair with the wheelchair winners of the 2001 London Marathon, Dennis Lemeunir and Tanni Grey-Thompson.

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“The London Marathon is the highlight of my domestic racing programme. Each landmark is thronged with thousands of visitors who cheer every minute of the race. A great day out!” Tanni Grey-Thompson, paralympic athlete from Wales, and winner of the 2001 wheelchair London Marathon.

At the élite level, sports spectators in the United Kingdom are spoiled for choice from the beginning of the year to its end. The twelve events shown overleaf, one for each month of the year 2001, represent just the tip of a sporting iceberg. In addition, many British sports stars annually distinguish themselves in overseas events at the highest level, often in ‘untraditional’ sports. In the new Olympic sport of trampolining, for example, British girls finished 1st, 2nd and 3rd in the individual event for 11 and 12 year olds at the 1999 World Age Group championships held at Sun City in South Africa. 15

JANUARY Athletics: AAA Indoor Championships

FEBRUARY Rugby Union: Six Nations Championship

MARCH Rowing: Oxford v Cambridge University Boat Race

APRIL Snooker: Embassy World Championships

MAY Football: FA Cup Final

JUNE Tennis: Wimbledon Championships

JULY Cricket: The Ashes Test Series starts

AUGUST Yachting: Cowes Week

SEPTEMBER Golf: Ryder Cup

OCTOBER Rugby League: Super League Grand Final

NOVEMBER Motorsport: Rally of Great Britain

DECEMBER Equestrian: Olympia International Show Jumping

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Chapter 8

on the ball

Many sports were given their modern form in the United Kingdom during the later 19th century. Football, cricket, lawn tennis and golf are just four of them. Today, in the highly-demanding world of international competition, British teams and individuals still win trophies and fame in all four of these sports.

Nasser Hussain is the latest in a line of eminent cricketers – including Len Hutton, Peter May, Ted Dexter, Ian Botham, David Gower and Graham Gooch – who have served as England’s captain in the period since 1945.

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Hussain at the Helm

Glory for Giggs

England cricket captain Nasser Hussain was born in Chennai (then Madras), India, in 1968 but his family moved to England when he was five. Having made his international debut in 1989, the Essex star was appointed captain of his country ten years later. Under his shrewd leadership, and the stern tutelage of coach Duncan Fletcher, a previously uncompetitive England team went on to win three Test series in succession against Zimbabwe, West Indies, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. During this successful run they became the first team ever to beat Pakistan at the National Stadium, Karachi and, against Sri Lanka, came back to win a 3-Test series after losing the opening match for the first time since 1888.

Cardiff-born footballer Ryan Giggs has played for just one club throughout his illustrious career, but for two countries. The Manchester United star was eligible to represent England at schoolboy level then Wales as a full international. His inimitable skills have helped United to win the English championship seven times and the FA Cup three times. His greatest moment came in 1999 when, having already won the Premier League and the FA Cup, United beat Bayern Munich in the European Champions League Final to complete an historic treble. England’s premier club then went on to win the Intercontinental Cup in Tokyo, to become world champions for the first time.

“Test matches are what the game is all about. The whole atmosphere of a packed Lords [London] or Edgbaston [Birmingham] really gets the pulse racing and I’ll be looking to pick players with fire in their bellies to take on the world’s best.”

“I probably realised how famous I had become in the summer of 1993 when United went on a pre-season tour of South Africa. While we were at a function I was approached by a gentleman who said, ‘Excuse me, Nelson Mandela would like to meet you.”

Nasser Hussain looks forward to the 2001 Ashes series against Australia.

Ryan Giggs on his status as a global icon.

Two in the Top Ten

Greatest Golfers

For decades it was rare for British tennis fans to see a fellow-countryman ranked among the top ten tennis players in the world. At the turn of the 21st century they had the thrill of watching two in action – current British Number One Tim Henman from Oxfordshire, and Montreal-born left-hander Greg Rusedski who in 1998 served an ace at 149 mph to set a world speed record. While neither has yet won a Grand Slam tournament, Rusedski was runner-up at the US Open in 1997, and if home support could decide a championship, Henman would be Wimbledon champion every year! The Lawn Tennis Association, capitalising on this ‘Greg and Tim Factor’, is working to maintain Britain’s higher profile at the élite level through community tennis partnerships, a coach licensing scheme and various programmes designed to attract young people into the game.

Coventry-born Laura Davies has rewritten the record books, in both sporting and commercial terms, as Britain’s greatest-ever female golfer. She topped the WGPET Order of Merit in 1985, 1986 and 1996, and won the US Open in 1987. In 1996 she was named Rolex Player of the Year, and in the same year became the first woman golfer to win £1 million worldwide in a single season. Her British male counterpart, Scotland’s Colin Montgomerie, also distinguished himself by leading the European Order of Merit for a record-breaking seven consecutive years between 1993 and 1999.

Henman and Rusedski have never lost a Davis Cup doubles tie together. In September 2001 they secured Britain’s re-entry into the World Group with a victory over Ecuador. “For me,” said Rusedski, “the Davis Cup is the hardest thing all year because I always feel more tight and more nervous. This win goes a long way towards addressing that.”

In 1999 Colin Montgomerie was voted European Golfer of the Year for an unprecedented fourth time – even the great Seve Ballesteros managed to win the award only three times. “I am as ambitious now as I’ve ever been,” said Montgomerie after his achievement. “I don’t think I’ve played my best yet.”

British ball-players supreme (clockwise from above): Tim Henman, Colin Montgomerie, Laura Davies, Ryan Giggs and Greg Rusedski.

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Chapter 9

at the Olympics

The first Olympic Games of the modern era – held at Athens in 1896 – were pioneered by Baron Pierre de Coubertin, a great admirer of the sporting tradition in 19th-century British schools. There were seven British medal-winners at Athens 1896, and competitors from the United Kingdom have continued to win glory at subsequent Games as standards continue to rise.

In recent times, global audiences have saluted British Olympic champions ranging from deacathlete Daley Thompson (both 1980 and 1984) to the men’s hockey team (1988), hurdler Sally Gunnell (1992) and rower Steve Redgrave (see next pages). But at Sydney 2000, athletes from Great Britain and Northern Ireland enjoyed their most successful Games since Antwerp 1920. The TeamGB squad came home with 28 medals in total (11 gold, 10 silver and 7 bronze), which placed them an impressive 10th in the overall medals table. Interestingly, too, women made up 41% of the team and won 42% of the medals.

Second in Sydney The Great Britain and Northern Ireland Paralympic team surpassed even the achievement of the Olympic team. By winning 41 gold medals, 43 silver and 47 bronze, Britain’s Paralympians finished second in the overall medals table.

LAST GASP LEWIS No British champion at Sydney 2000 deserved success more than Denise Lewis, the West Bromwich-born heptathlete. She shot to fame with a shock victory at the 1994 Commonwealth Games, and followed up by finishing 7th in the 1995 World Championships, 3rd at the Atlanta 1996 Olympics and 2nd in the World Championships of both 1997 and 1999. In the meantime she won the first-ever heptathlon at the European Championships in 1998, while retaining her Commonwealth Games title in the same year. She went into the gruelling seven-part event at Sydney 2000 hoping to repeat the achievement of Northern Ireland’s Dame Mary Peters, the Olympic heptathlon champion in 1972 and by now one of Lewis’s staunchest supporters. But the Birchfield Harriers athlete made a slow start, and moved into the lead only after the sixth event, the javelin. By then she was suffering from an achilles injury which almost forced her to retire hurt. But she fought her way through the 800m, to accumulate 6584 points in total. That was enough to win her the gold medal, by just 53 points, from Russia’s Yelena Prokhorova. As she celebrated she paid tribute to her fellow-Britons’ “fantastic crowd support that spurred me on.”

“Denise fully deserves the gold medal. She is a very brave woman and she was absolutely in great pain before the last event but went out there and competed. Her victory will give the British team the much needed kickstart they need in the days ahead and is a great achievement for British sport and UK Athletics.” Lord Sebastian Coe, Olympic gold medallist at the 1980 and 1984 Games.

GOLD-MEDALLISTS AT THE SYDNEY 2000 OLYMPICS Ben Ainslie Sailing (Olympic Laser – Centre-Board Dinghy) Stephanie Cook Women’s Modern Pentathlon Jonathan Edwards Athletics (Triple Jump) Richard Faulds Shooting (Men’s Double Trap) Audley Harrison Boxing (Super Heavyweight) Denise Lewis Athletics (Heptathlon) Iain Percy Sailing (Finn Class – Open SingleHanded Dinghy) Jason Queally Cycling (1 km Time Trial) Shirley Robertson Sailing (Women’s Single-Handed Dinghy Europe) Men’s Eight Team Rowing Men’s Coxless Four Team Rowing

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British Sydney gold-medallists from the left: Jonathan Edwards (top), Jason Queally (below), Audley Harrison, and Paralympians Emma Brown and Lee Pearson who triumphed in the Powerlifting and Equestrian events.

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One of these champions was rower Steve Redgrave, pictured below left, knighted since then for his incomparable achievement between 1984 and 2000. For in the coxless pair and coxless four events, he won gold medals in five successive Olympic Games.

In March 2001 Briton Jim Shekhdar, pictured left with his family, joined the UK’s roll of honour for exploits at sea by becoming the first person to row unassisted across the South Pacific Ocean. This astonishing feat took the 54-year-old nearly ten months, during which time he crossed 8,060 miles of treacherous waters.

Oxbridge Olympians Chapter 10

on the water

With so much sea around them, the people of the United Kingdom have always been at home on the water. In recent times, British rowers and sailors have proved that water can be their true sporting element too – winning five of their country’s 11 gold medals at Sydney 2000.

The University Boat Race (see page 16-17) between crews from Oxford and Cambridge began in 1829. The present course on the River Thames from Putney to Mortlake in South London has been used since 1845. This complex, demanding race requires a high degree of skill, strength and preparation. It has long been a nursery for future Olympic champion rowers, like these five: • Richard Burnell (1948) – double sculls title, 40 years after his father Don, another Boat Race veteran, won gold in the eights at the 1908 Olympics. • Jonny Searle (1992) – coxed pair title, with his brother Greg. • Matthew Pinsent (1992, 1996, 2000) – coxless pair title, with Steve Redgrave at first two Games, then coxless four title at Sydney 2000. • Tim Foster (2000) – coxless four title at Sydney 2000, a former junior world champion, he once jumped into the Amazon to rescue a female cox while competing in Brazil. • Kieran West (2000) – eights title at Sydney 2000, the first British victory in this event since the 1912 Games in Stockholm.

COOPER’S CIRCUMNAVIGATION The seafaring British can be relied on to set themselves big challenges. Between 1577 and 1580 Francis Drake became the first Briton to sail around the world. Four hundred and twenty years later Richard Cooper became the first person to windsurf right the way round the British Isles. 41-year-old Cooper, who had never surfed more than 20 miles before he set off, covered that distance 100 times over on his epic journey. The dangers included being threatened by a jealous bull seal off the north coast of Scotland. “I had a need somewhere deep inside me to step out of normality, to make a mark, give my kids something to be proud of. Also, I really fancied the challenge of it, doing something that had never be done before and pushing myself to the limit physically and mentally.” Richard Cooper, 2001

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“The Greatest Englishwoman since Jane Austen” Clare Francis, Naomi James and Tracy Edwards have all distinguished themselves as fine British yachtswomen. But in February 2001 24-year-old Ellen MacArthur captured the imaginations of millions, whether they loved sport or not. One French newspaper even proclaimed her ‘the greatest Englishwoman since Jane Austen’! Her feat was to become the fastest woman to sail single-handed around the world. Taking part in the Vendée Globe 2000 race, she left Les Sables D’Olonne, France, on 5 November 2000 and returned 94 days and 24,000 miles later to finish a close second to Frenchman Michel Desjoyeaux. By then a third of the starters had dropped out as they raced to the limit on the most dangerous waters on the globe. MacArthur herself had hit a shipping container and once found herself stranded at the top of a 90-foot mast in a storm. But modest, brave and skilful, she came through.

“It is a pretty big thing to find what you believe is your limit and then feel yourself being pushed beyond it. I received an e-mail while I was out there. It said: ‘Courage is not about finding the energy to go on, it is going on when you cannot find the energy.’ Something clicks inside you that makes you fight and carry on even though you know you shouldn’t, you are completely exhausted. That teaches you a tremendous amount about yourself.” Ellen MacArthur at the end of her extraordinary voyage.

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Mark Lewis-Francis, new sprint prodigy

Chapter 11

shows its talent

For a relatively small country, the United Kingdom produces high achievers in a bewildering variety of sports. Just as bewildering, at times, are the ways in which this country is represented at international level. At the Olympics, for instance, athletes from England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales form a united Great Britain team. In football, however, there are four separate sides. Yet the Irish rugby union team draws players from the Republic of Ireland as well as from Northern Ireland – while the England cricket team has been captained in the past 25 years by both a Welshman and a Scot. At any given time dozens of British sportsmen and women stand near the top of the world rankings. The six athletes shown here have either reached the peak in their respective sports already or are working towards this ultimate success. 24

With his eyes on the longer term, potentially word-beating sprinter Mark Lewis-Francis chose not to be considered at just 17 years of age for Sydney 2000. Instead he concentrated on the world junior championships in Santiago where he took the 100m crown. With three other British sprinters of world class too – Dwain Chambers, Darren Campbell and Jason Gardener – the UK seems well-placed to provide ‘the fastest man on earth’ in the near future.

Rising Modern Pentathlon star Georgina Harland Each nation can send only two women to compete in the Olympic Modern Pentathlon (shooting, fencing, swimming, riding and running). Georgina Harland did not make the cut for Sydney 2000, and her fellowBritons Stephanie Cook and Kate Allenby went on to win gold and bronze medals. But the sport is progressing at such a speed in the United Kingdom that within six months two new Britons – Georgina, and Sian Lewis – came first and second at the opening event of the 2001 World Cup event in Mexico City. “Georgina has the potential to go well beyond what we have been achieving and take pentathlon to a different level,” says Stephanie Cook. “If she can put it together she will be unstoppable.”

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England Rugby Union fly-half Jonny Wilkinson Twenty-one-year-old Newcastle fly-half Jonny Wilkinson has been a prolific pointsscorer for England. By the end of the 2001 Six Nations tournament, after only 28 matches for his country, his tally stood at 416 points, eclipsing Rob Andrew’s previous career scoring record of 396. Born in Farnham, Surrey, he played for an all-conquering England Under-18 team in Australia, went on to play for the Under-21s, then graduated to the senior England team in 1998. Having made his first start in a 76-0 thrashing by Australia, he has known disaster as well as triumph as a full international. But he has made a huge contribution to England’s subsequent revival, as the team sets its sights on winning the Rugby World Cup for the first time in 2003.

World Orienteering Champion Yvette Baker In 1999 at the biennial World Orienteering Championships, held in Scotland, 31-year-old Yvette Baker finished more than a minute ahead of reigning world champion Lucie Bohm of Austria to win the UK’s first-ever Short Race gold medal. Hers was by no means the sole British success story, with the UK finishing third in the medals table. “Yvette’s Gold is only the start,” said Performance Director Goran Andersson, paying tribute to the help received from the lottery-funded World Class Performance Programme; the UK, he went on, “will in two to three years catch and overtake the big Scandinavian countries.”

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World No 1 Squash Champion Peter Nicol In March 2001 three Scottish squash players appeared in the Top Ten of the Dunlop PSA Men’s World Rankings: John White, Martin Heath and World Champion Peter Nicol. Inverurie-born Nicol, who was celebrating his 30th month as the world’s No 1 player, first reached this dizzy height in 1995, just two months before he achieved the second major goal that he had set himself: becoming the first Briton to win the prestigious British Open title for 25 years.

Formula One rookie, Jenson Button For over a decade, Somerset-born Jenson Button has been a winner on wheels. In 1991, as an 11-year-old, he won the British Cadet Championship in karting – with 34 victories in 34 races. By 1997 he was the youngest-ever winner of the European Super A title, and on moving up to racing cars he was so dominant in Formula Ford that he was named McLaren Autosport BRDC Young Driver of the Year in 1998. Two years later, aged just 20, he made his Formula One debut in the Australian Grand Prix, finished fourth in his next race, and ended the season in eighth place in the Drivers’ Championship – all extraordinary feats for a rookie racer who took two attempts to pass his driving test!

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Chapter 12

and its venues

In 2000 the National Cycling Centre in Manchester hosted the centenary World Track Cycling Championships, at which 35 countries were represented. This was one of more than 70 events of World, European or Commonwealth status that have been supported by the Government’s ‘World Class Events Programme’ since 1997. UK Sport, based in London, now has the lead role in distributing lottery funds to be used for both bidding for and staging major sporting events throughout the United Kingdom. The Sports Councils in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales also play an important part in delivering major events. For events not deemed to be a priority for UK Sport, consideration is now given by these ‘home country’ councils. Generally the World Class Events Programme supports only one-off events. Its purpose is not to make long-term commitments or to create long-term expectations, since this would require recurrent funding.

Sport Regenerates “Investment from the National Lottery in major facilities like the Commonwealth Games Stadium in Manchester, and the investment we have made in improving the safety of league football grounds, means we are on course to having the best infrastructure for major sports events in the world.” (From the Government strategy A Sporting Future For All.) 28

Staging international sporting events in the United Kingdom does not just add to the ‘feel good’ factor of the British people. It can also have a significant impact on the local economy. When England staged the Euro ’96 football tournament 280,000 overseas visitors came to enjoy the spectacle – and gave the eight host cities a cash injection of around £120 million. One of those cities, Birmingham, has since 1991 staged 23 World championships, 15 European championships, 88 international events and over 200 national events. All this activity has helped to regenerate Birmingham City Centre, as well as raising the profile and image of the region, and contributing to greater local interest in participating at grass-roots level in the sports being staged.

Four shrines of UK sport: the multi-purpose Millennium Stadium in Cardiff (top) hosted the final of the Rugby Union World Cup in the year of its opening, 1999, and has also staged a series of major domestic football finals; Edgbaston cricket ground in Birmingham (left) has proved to be a very successful Test match venue for the England team; Ascot race course in Berkshire (below left), founded by Queen Anne in 1711, now stages 24 days of premier horse-racing each year, while St Andrews on the Scottish east coast (below right) – the venue for the earliest-known professional golf tournament in 1819 – is the UK’s most prestigious links course used for the Open Championship, and is the largest golfing complex in Europe.

BRITAIN AS A SPORTING DESTINATION The British Tourist Authority (BTA) has developed a Sports Tourism Strategy to maximize the potential of sport for inbound tourism to Britain. By complementing the sports strategies of the DCMS, the Scottish Parliament and the Welsh Assembly, its primary objective is to ‘position sports as an integral part of the British tourism product.’ By working to help support sports governing bodies, the BTA hopes to attract ever more lucrative international sporting events to the United Kingdom, and so position itself as ‘the leading agency of an integrated approach to the development of sports tourism’.

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Chapter 13

and the future

From 25 July to 4 August 2002, Manchester will host the XVII Commonwealth Games, the biggest multi-sport event to be held in the United Kingdom since London hosted the Olympic Games in 1948. Traditionally known as the Friendly Games, more than 5000 athletes from 72 nations will compete in 14 individual sports and three team sports. SPACES FOR SPORT AND ARTS As part of the Government’s Sporting Future for All strategy, 64 local authorities have been invited to improve their arts and sports facilities with the launch of a £130 million Space for Sport and the Arts scheme. By increasing the number and quality of facilities in areas of social deprivation, the scheme will give better access to sport and the arts while promoting social inclusion.

At Sydney 2000, Commonwealth athletes won 135 medals, 36 of them gold, so the field is of very high quality. And for the first time in the history of events of this international significance, élite athletes with a disability will be included in the main sports programme and medal table. The Queen will attend both the opening and closing ceremonies, since the Games form a centrepiece of the Golden Jubilee celebrations to mark her 50 years on the throne.

In the 21st century sport will continue to play a central part in the lives of the British people. The Government, doubling its annual sports budget from £50 to £100 million by 2003, will continue to follow the strategy set out in A Sporting Future for All: “We have always believed that the drive to encourage wide participation in sport and the drive to achieve excellence at the highest levels are necessarily part of the same package. Without a broad base of participation we will not draw out the most talented stars of the future. At the same time, of course, that broad base of participation provides enjoyment, health, ambition, and fun for millions of people. And it is the star performers of today who stimulate interest and provide examples to get everyone involved in sport.” Thus there will be plenty more for the sporting British people to shout about. (Left) The opening ceremony of the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. (Right) An artist’s impression of the City of Manchester Stadium, the focal point of the 2002 Commonwealth Games. In 2003 it will become the home ground of Manchester City football club, with a seating capacity of 48,000. Its creators’ aim was to devise a “beautiful, optimally functioning stadium that will enrich all who experience it.”

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31

Credits

in the UK

Contacts

Photographs

Department for Culture, Media and Sport 2-4 Cockspur Street London SW1Y 5DH www.culture.gov.uk

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UK Sport 40 Bernard Street London WC1N 1ST www.uksport.gov.uk Sport England PO Box 480 Crystal Palace National Sports Centre London SE19 2BQ www.sportengland.org British Tourist Authority Thames Tower Black's Road London W6 9EL www.britishtouristauthority.org Sport in the UK is one of a range of publications produced by the Foreign & Commonwealth Office for distribution through British Embassies, High Commissions and Consulates. Although it is Crown Copyright, the text may be freely reproduced outside Britain with or without acknowledgement, except for sale or advertisement purposes. Published by The Foreign & Commonwealth Office, October 2001 Designed by Pylon Design Consultants Limited Researched and written by Haydn Middleton Printed by ABC Printers, Sussex Ref No 0194

Two memorable moments from 2001: (right) England’s white-shirted Michael Owen completes his hat-trick in a 5-1 victory over Germany on the way to qualification for the 2002 World Cup finals. (Far right) Recordbreaking oarsman Sir Steve Redgrave has the honour of wearing the No 1 shirt to run in his first London Marathon. “It was like a lap of honour at the Olympics,” he said afterwards, “although it went on much longer.”

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in the UK

Something to shout about