Olympians and Paralympians in attendance as University of Bath is officially recognised as UK Sport-accredited Elite Training Centre
The University of Bath’s status as a UK Sport-accredited Elite Training Centre (ETC) has been officially recognised at a ceremony attended by Olympic and Paralympic Champions, high-performance coaches and staff.
Professor Ian White, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Bath, received the prestigious ETC award from Sally Munday, Chief Executive of UK Sport, during a presentation in the Team Bath Sports Training Village.
Joining Team Bath staff at the ceremony were athletes, coaches and administrators from several National Governing Bodies (NGBs) based at the University including Aquatics GB, Pentathlon GB, Wheelchair Fencing and the UK Sports Institute (UKSI).
The University was the first of the eight ETC-accredited institutions nationwide to be officially presented with a plaque to recognise its status, which celebrates its role in helping Team GB and ParalympicsGB athletes achieve their full performance potential.
Munday said: “I feel a real privilege to be here as the University of Bath has been part of the journey since National Lottery funding was first introduced to sport in the late 1990s.
“In 1996 we won one gold medal at the Atlanta Olympic Games. Since the establishment of UK Sport in 1997, primarily to distribute Lottery funding to the sports in the Olympic and Paralympic movement, we in Britain have won more than a thousand medals. It is quite incredible.
“Bath has been here since the start and you only have to look around the Hall of Fame and the history timeline to see the incredible things that this centre has contributed towards the great British success story that is Olympic and Paralympic sport.”
In the audience for the presentation were Olympic and World modern pentathlon champion Joe Choong, and Paralympic and World wheelchair fencing champion Piers Gilliver. They are among a host of reigning gold-medallists who train at the STV including Pentathlon GB’s Kate French and Aquatics GB’s Freya Anderson and Tom Dean.
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). Jarvis, now a coach at the Aquatics GB Bath Performance Centre, also attended the presentation.
Stephen Baddeley, Director of Sport at the University of Bath, said: “Thank you to UK Sport for this award. We truly appreciate being part of the ETC network and have benefited from significant UK Sport investment over the years, not just in the initial building of the Sports Training Village but in the push-start skeleton and bobsleigh track, underwater swimming cameras and, more recently, the Wheelchair Fencing National Training Centre and UKSI Athlete Heath and Performance Studio.
“We are fortunate to host so many successful training squads and enjoy doing what we can to help athletes and coaches be as good as they can be. It may be a small contribution but it is really motivating for everyone who works in this department and it is something that is appreciated right across the University campus.”
Find out more about high-performance sport at the University of Bath by visiting teambath.com/performance.
Pictured top, from left: Professor Ian White (University of Bath Vice-Chancellor), Sally Munday (UK Sport Chief Executive), Duncan Rolley (UK Sport Elite Training Environments Lead), Sophie Hamer (Head of Sport Operations), Stephen Baddeley (University of Bath Director of Sport) and Cassie Wilson (University of Bath Pro-Vice-Chancellor) at the Team Bath Sports Training Village.
