Sport, following the Olympic and Paralympic Team GB successes
There will be a general debate on sport following the Olympic and Paralympic Team GB successes on Thursday 10 October 2024. The debate will take place in the House of Commons Chamber.
The 2024 Olympic Games took place in Paris between 26 July and 11 August 2024 (with some events starting from 24 July). The Paralympic Games were held in Paris between 28 August and 8 September 2024.
UK Sport, the body responsible for elite sport in the UK, invested £385 million of Exchequer and lottery funding for the Paris Olympic and Paralympic cycle.
Team GB finished seventh in the Olympic medal table with 65 medals: 14 gold, 22 silver and 29 bronze. This is the third-highest total of all time, one more than the number won in Tokyo in 2021, and equal to the number won at the London Games in 2012. Kate Baker, UK Sport's Director of Performance, noted that winning over 60 medals for the fourth consecutive Games was something only matched by the US and China.
Paralympics GB finished second in the medal table with 124 medals: 49 gold, 44 silver and 31 bronze. Paralympics GB have finished in the top three at every Games since Sydney 2000.
Sport after the 2024 GamesDuring a Westminster Hall debate on the legacy of the 2024 Games, Stephanie Peacock, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, said the government was "fully committed" to multi-year funding for elite sports to enable athletes to "excel on the world stage", including at the Los Angeles Olympic Games in 2028. The Minister also noted the role of sport in society and what was being done to support it:
From the chances it gives young people to the jobs that it creates, sport is helping to deliver this Government’s mission of kick-starting economic growth and breaking down barriers to opportunity for all. Just last week, Sport England announced that, following Team GB’s performance in Paris, it is investing £120 million into funding the next generation of Olympic and Paralympic talent. That funding will increase and enhance opportunities for talented young athletes in England to explore and develop their athletic potential, regardless of their background or financial circumstances. It will support athletes starting out in grassroots environments, as well as those already on formal talent pathway programmes, and it will be available for the 2025-29 funding cycle.
The Youth Sport Trust hosted the school games national finals in Loughborough this weekend—a multi-sport event that brings together junior national ranked athletes and their peers who have shown potential via non-traditional roots. With more than 180 school games alumni represented at this year’s Olympic and Paralympic games, it is great to see how nurturing young talent can transform lives.
Our Olympic and Paralympic athletes are also being supported to get out into their communities and make a difference to the causes they care about. The Changemaker initiative is a partnership between the national lottery operator Allwyn, Team GB, Paralympics GB and UK Sport. It aims to help athletes to maximise their impact upon their return from Paris 2024 and give back to the local communities that have supported them. Athletes can choose the social impact project they wish to support, and it could be anything from grassroots sports projects to mental health initiatives—whatever cause they are passionate about.
Team GB’s performance has the power to inspire everyone. We want to help as many people as possible to get active, whether that is someone completing their first parkrun or someone who is an inspiring future Olympian or Paralympian...We will continue to support grassroots sport, including through the multi-sport grassroots facilities programme, which will invest £123 million throughout the UK this year. We will also provide support through our arm’s length body Sport England, which annually invests over £250 million of national lottery and Government money [HC Deb 3 September 2024 cc33-4WH].
Parliamentary materialHansard material referring to the Paris Olympics is available from the parliamentary database. Material on sports participation is also available from the database.
Further reading- London Youth Games Releases 2024 Impact Report, Calling for Greater Olympic and Paralympic Legacy Participation for All, London Youth Games, 16 September 2024
- Paralympics GB, Equal Play: An open letter to the Prime Minister from the Paralympics GB team, 9 September 2024
- Why Team GB failed to hit Olympics target and what could change for LA 2028, iNews, 12 August 2024
- Team GB was an Olympic triumph of public spending. Now can we please invest in everyone else, Guardian, opinion, 12 August 2024
- Do not adjust your reality: how slick Team GB played its part in dividing Britain Guardian, 10 August 2024
- British Olympic team to review lack of gold medals and vow to ‘get back at Aussies’ in 2028, Telegraph, 11 August 2024
- Team GB - website for the Great Britain and Northern Ireland Olympic team.
- Paralympics GB - website for the Great Britain and Northern Ireland Paralympic team.
- Sport England - the body responsible for developing sport and physical activity in England.
- sportscotland - the national agency for sport in Scotland.
- Sport Wales - the national organisation responsible for developing and promoting sport and physical activity in Wales.
- Sport NI - the body responsible for the development of sport in Northern Ireland.
- UK Sport - the body responsible for elite sport in the UK.
- Sport and Recreation Alliance - the umbrella body for sport and recreation in the UK.