You can talk the talk, but can you walk the walk? After more than one in four Britons (27%) said they could qualify for the next Olympics in LA, the sports agency UK Sport has launched a Find Your Greatness campaign to identify future Team GB and ParalympicsGB stars.
Team GB won over 60 medals in Paris for the fourth consecutive games over the summer, and you can be part of the next generation of UK sporting talent. Unfortunately, the campaign is only targeted at active 16-24-year-old UK nationals – there goes my chances of becoming the next Yusuf Dikeç – but is open to those with physical, visual or intellectual impairments.
The campaign is after young athletes for a range of disciplines, including skeleton racing, cycling (track, mountain biking, BMX freestyle and BMX racing), rowing, modern pentathlon, weightlifting, climbing, shooting, volleyball, handball, and all para sports.
Previous UK Sport athlete recruitment campaigns have produced success stories across the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Such as rowing champion Helen Glover, skeleton gold medalist Lizzy Yarnold, taekwondo silver medalist Lauren Williams and Para-Canoe double Paralympic champion, Emma Wiggs.
Ellie Aldridge, formula kite Olympic gold medalist at Paris 2024 said: “I owe so much of my success to athlete recruitment programmes like Find Your Greatness. When I applied in 2018, I never could have guessed the path that I was starting out on. Now, here I am having achieved gold Paris 2024.
“Every athlete has their own personal journey – who knows how far you can go and where you might be in six years’ time, but if you never take that leap of faith, you may never find out. Even if you don’t make it to the podium in an Olympics, the experience is so valuable – you can learn so much about yourself and what potential you have.”
How do I apply?
To join the Find Your Greatness campaign, complete three performance tests and fill in an application form. If you meet a specific profile and potential, you’ll be invited to a regional testing centre in Glasgow, Newcastle, Leeds, Manchester, London, Swansea, Bristol, Birmingham or Norwich.
Those applying to the Paralympic Potential programme will need to attend a ‘Discover Day’. These are in Crawley (October 19), Manchester (October TBC), Sheffield (November 9) or Liverpool (February 2). Here you will experience Paralympic sports, meet medallists, take part in performance profiling, speak to coaches and more.
You have until October 14, 2024 to complete your applications. To learn more and apply head here.