We are now just days away from the Paris Olympics — the first in Europe since London 2012. How the world has changed since then.
This will be my 10th Games — twice as a competitor and eight times as a sports administrator. Often the build-up is challenging — and then the magic starts. We all fall in love with the Olympics again.
Track and field athletics is often at the heart of this spectacle. And the British team we are sending to France has some great stars — Keely Hodgkinson, Dina Asher-Smith, Josh Kerr, Molly Caudery, Matt Hudson-Smith and many, many more who can become national heroes in the next few weeks.
Athletics is compelling because it is the original Olympic sport. At heart it remains gloriously simple and utterly accessible. Today you can still turn up at an athletics track and chase your dreams regardless of your background. The recent Daley Thompson documentary showed how the sport enabled one of our greatest Olympians to do this in the Eighties. That story is repeated day in, day out at athletics clubs around Britain.
I am proud that kids watching our athletes during the Olympics and then the Paralympics a couple of weeks later will see themselves reflected back
It is also one of the country’s most diverse sports with athletes drawn from every kind of community and background. Ahead of the heart-breaking Euro 2024 final against Spain, Labour’s new Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said the England men’s team looked, sounded and felt like modern Britain. At athletics we tell that same inclusive story and I am proud that kids watching our athletes during the Olympics and then the Paralympics a couple of weeks later will see themselves reflected back.
I hope the performances they see will serve as an inspiration for everyone to get active and get involved in the sport — whether that’s joining a club to pursue their hope of winning gold or signing up for a Parkrun.
As a governing body the past couple of years have been tough. But our finances are now stable and we are turning the corner. We are making the London Diamond League meeting the biggest and best one-day athletics event in the world. And we are looking at how we can bring the World Championships back to London in 2029.
The standards at the Paris Olympics are going to be off the chart. Records have been tumbling all summer. Almost every country in the world sends an athletics team to the Games. In many events, just reaching the finals will be an amazing achievement.
So please get behind our dynamic team in Paris with its great blend of youth and experience. And get ready for the magic.
