University of Bath awarded UK Sport-accredited Elite Training Centre status for helping Olympic and Paralympic athletes achieve potential
The University of Bath has today been recognised by UK Sport for its contribution to the preparation of elite Olympic and Paralympic athletes.
It is one of the first of just eight institutions nationwide to be awarded the status of “UK Sport-accredited Elite Training Centre”, a title that celebrates its role in helping Team GB and ParalympicsGB athletes achieve their full performance potential.
Dr Kate Baker, Director of Performance at UK Sport, said: “Our Elite Training Centre (ETC) hosts provide the essential daily training environments for our Olympic and Paralympic athletes. The ETC accreditation framework reflects the excellence of their support and our confidence that they will continue to empower athletes’ sustainable high performance.”
Stephen Baddeley, Director of Sport at the University of Bath, said “It is a great honour to be recognised by UK Sport for our contribution to elite sport. We are proud to be the training base for so many of the country’s leading Olympians and Paralympians, across both the Summer and Winter Games.
“This award is recognition of the hard work put in every day by our Team Bath staff in providing an inspirational training environment and to the strength of our partnerships with National Governing Bodies (NGB) like British Swimming, Pentathlon GB, British Bobsleigh & Skeleton Association and the UK Sports Institute.”
A host of reigning Olympic and Paralympic Champions train at the £35million Team Bath Sports Training Village including modern pentathletes Joe Choong and Kate French, wheelchair fencer Piers Gilliver and swimmers Freya Anderson and Tom Dean, the latter a double gold-medallist at the Tokyo Games in 2021.
Other gold-medallists to have trained at the University include skeleton champions Amy Williams (2010) and Lizzy Yarnold (2014, 2018); pentathlete Dr Stephanie Cook (2000); Paralympic swimmers Sascha Kindred and Matt Walker (2000); sprinter Jason Gardener (2004); Paralympic athlete Paul Blake (2016); and swimmers James Guy, Calum Jarvis and Matt Richards (2020). Click here to see a full roll of honour.
All eight ETCs, and the facilities they provide, will now work to deliver improvement plans that will outline the continued development of their training environments. They form a network that will benefit from shared learning and continuous improvement.
Other ETC venues and organisations will be invited to achieve UK Sport accreditation following the 2024 Olympics and Paralympics in Paris. To earn this status, an organisation must provide elite facilities and equipment, staff, and overall organisational culture with a clear commitment to continuous improvement.
Accreditation hosts must also have a direct relationship with a UK NGB and the World Class Programme; be a training hub for an NGB (permanent or semi-permanent); and have a venue that hosts at least 10 funded World Class Programme athletes on site.
ETCs assess their current performance against an excellence framework that is built around eight guiding principles: sustainability and equality, diversity and inclusion; partnerships; facilities and equipment; access; people development; performance lifestyle; science and medicine; and quality. After the self-assessment process, a peer review takes place before accreditation is confirmed and signed off by UK Sport.
For further information about the Elite Training Centre accreditation scheme contact etcaccreditation@uksport.gov.uk
Click here to find out more about performance sport at Team Bath.
