Our Mission
World Class Performance Programme
Designed and funded by UK Sport, the World Class Performance Programme ensures that the UK’s most talented athletes have every chance of realising their potential. Funds raised through Team 2012 will ultimately be distributed by UK Sport through the World Class Performance Programme.
The Programme includes summer and winter Olympic and Paralympic sports and operates at three distinct levels:
- Podium - supporting athletes with realistic medal winning capabilities at the next Olympic/Paralympic Games (i.e. a maximum of four years away from the podium)
- Development - comprising of athletes whose performances have suggested that they have medal winning capabilities for 2012 or more realistically 2016
- Talent - designed to support the identification and confirmation of athletes who have the potential to progress through the World Class pathway with the help of targeted investment
Approximately 1,200 of the nation’s leading athletes are at the Podium and Development levels alone and it is these athletes that make up Team 2012. The Programme works by ensuring that athletes get the support delivered through their sport’s national governing body that they need at every stage of their development.
Having run the Programme since 1997, UK Sport has developed a No Compromise approach, which ultimately means taking no short cuts in resourcing the best athletes to realise their medal ambitions.
Funding is targeted at athletes via their sport's governing body. Podium and Development level athletes will be surrounded by a performance programme that includes coaching, training and competition support, medical and scientific services and access to the best facilities that the UK (and often the world) has to offer.
In addition, recognising that succeeding in the majority of Olympic and Paralympic sports effectively means a full time commitment on behalf of athletes, UK Sport makes a contribution towards living and sporting costs via a means-tested Athlete Personal Award.