Team GB Olympics and Paralympics medal strategy to be shaped by gymnast abuse review
UK Sport chief executive Sally Munday: "We need to listen to and understand the conclusions of the Whyte Review...[it] is an extremely important moment for our system and our community"
By PA Media
Last Updated: 07/05/21 6:59am
The outcome of the Whyte Review into allegations of abuse and bullying in gymnastics will help shape Team GB's approach to integrity and athlete welfare, UK Sport chief executive Sally Munday has said.
The elite sports funding body intends to publish a paper on integrity in high-performance sport later this month as it refocuses on not just winning medals at Olympics and Paralympics but "winning well", although it will check that paper against the findings of the Whyte Review before finalising its strategy.
"[The review] is an extremely important moment for our system and our community," Munday said.
"We need to listen to and understand the conclusions of the Whyte Review and afterwards we will then set out a very clear integrity strategy for the high-performance system."
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An interim report from the review leader, Anne Whyte QC, published in March, revealed there had been almost 400 submissions, 39 of which were so potentially serious they have been referred to the relevant statutory authorities.
A final draft of the review is expected in August.
UK Sport is determined to shed the win-at-all-costs reputation that has previously surrounded Olympic and Paralympic sport, with gymnastics one example of a sport where athlete welfare or sporting integrity is alleged to have been sacrificed in the pursuit of success.
However, Munday remains convinced a better culture should not necessarily mean fewer medals.
"We do not see it as 'either or'," she said.
"We don't see that you can only win medals in a certain way - the opposite, we see that good culture, good environments, places where people can really excel actually is what leads to medals."
UK Sport is still targeting top-five finishes in the medals tables of the summer Olympic and Paralympic Games from Paris 2024 onwards, but wants those medals to be won by athletes from more diverse backgrounds across a broader range of sports.
