The renaissance of British Olympic and Paralympic sport, as we know it today, is just over 10 years old. During this period, the British Olympic team has gone from winning 1 gold medal (Atlanta, 1996) to 19 gold medals (Beijing, 2008); the British Paralympic team from 4th to 2nd in what has become an ever competitive competition.

A critical component of this improvement in British sport has come from the development and application of new knowledge from various disciplines in science, medicine and engineering in performance sport. Yet, as we head towards the greatest opportunity of our sporting lifetime into a home Olympic and Paralympic Games, can R&D play a significant role in propelling British Sport to its most significant performance ever?

Speakers

Dr Scott Drawer heads up the Research and Innovation programmes at UK Sport. He is responsible for supporting sport in the delivery of novel and unique performance solutions. He has held this position for 5 years, having seen the programme deliver over 75 individual projects in the past cycle (2004-2008) in various sports and through various scientific disciplines.

Peter Keen, OBE, is currently Director of Performance at UK Sport. Peter has previously coached both men and women to 9 world records and gold medals at Olympic, World, Commonwealth and European Championships, and over 50 national titles. Prior to his move to UK Sport, Peter was also responsible for establishing the World Class Performance Programme at British Cycling, now recognised as one of the most successful British Olympic sports.