UK Sport Reveals Ambitious 2014 Targets
With just over two years to go for Great Britain’s National Lottery funded Olympic and Paralympic athletes on their journey to the Brazilian city for the 2016 Games, UK Sport has revealed some ambitious performance targets for 2014.
The collective medal target range for the Olympic sports competing in their most significant milestone competitions in 2014 is between 90 and 120, and the medal target range for Paralympic sports is 108 and 153.
UK Sport is investing a record £350 million in 37 summer Olympic and Paralympic sports preparing for Rio 2016. Each of these funded sports agrees a milestone event and a target with UK Sport annually, to demonstrate their on-going progress and potential on the Road to Rio. The target is typically a medal range, with the number below which the sport would be disappointed at the bottom of their range and the maximum realistic medal haul or performance marker at the top.
Simon Timson, Director of Performance at UK Sport, said: ‘UK Sport’s National Lottery funded sports and athletes have set some ambitious targets for the 2014 competitive season, which will be an important year for refining athlete development plans, training, preparation and performance strategies on the Road to Rio.’
‘Bettering the historic London 2012 medal haul, and becoming the first nation to do so at the next Olympic and Paralympic Games post-hosting is a huge challenge but, our sports are well led and we feel confident of achieving our goal. I know that all our hugely dedicated athletes, committed coaches and expert practitioners are determined to make history in Rio in two years’ time.’
The milestone events, largely World or European Championships, or the Commonwealth Games in this non-Olympic and Paralympic year, are taking place over four continents and in 20 different countries, over a period of 10 months.
A small number of sports, including Taekwondo and Powerlifting, have already contested their milestone events for this year; Great Britain earned a World Championship title at the IPC Powerlifting World Championships in April as Ali Jawad secured gold in the -59kg class and achieved a best ever haul at a European Taekwondo Championships back in May.
While the majority of these events will be taking place overseas in 2014, Athletics and Swimming will be hoping for a boost from the home crowd support at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow at the end of July, while the Wheelchair Tennis players contest the British Open in Nottingham, also in July, and Para-Athletics will target the European Championships in Swansea in August.
Most competitions will take place between July and September, and the final milestone event of the 2014 season will be the Women’s Boxing World Championships in Jeju City, South Korea in November.
