Privately-educated athletes ‘significantly over-represented’ among Team GB’s Olympic heroes

Campaigners have called to ensure all children have equal access to sports, as a report has found that Team GB medallists are four times more likely to have gone to private school than the rest of the population.

The Sutton Trust found that while the majority of Team GB medallists at the Paris Olympic games attended comprehensive schools, athletes from private schools are still “disproportionately overrepresented”. 

The educational charity found that top British Olympians were four times more likely to have gone to a fee-paying school than the UK population, with 33% of Team GB’s medallists having gone to private school – down from 40% in Tokyo 2020’s games. That compares to just 7% of the general population who are privately educated.

The report found that certain sports were “dominated” by athletes from private school backgrounds, including rowing, equestrian events, and swimming. 

The Sutton Trust explained that this discrepancy is likely because private schools are typically able to invest more money into sports, calling for all children to have equal access to fitness.

“The success of Team GB in Paris is fantastic, and it’s encouraging to see a slight increase in the number of our medallists coming from comprehensive schools since Tokyo. However, privately educated athletes remain significantly over-represented among our top Olympians,” Nick Harrison, chief executive of The Sutton Trust, said. 

Harrison added: “Private schools are typically able to invest more in high quality sports facilities, and have access to 10 times more green space than the average state school. 

“At a time when many school leaders are having to cut back on sports and extracurricular activities due to funding pressures, it’s crucial that more is done to ensure all children have access to sports.”

Team GB’s performance in Paris saw them scoop 65 medal – one more than they managed in Tokyo. But the 14 golds represented a steep fall from 22 recorded in Japan and the 27 secured in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.

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The study showed that the number of privately educated Olympians hasn’t been following a clear pattern – with the proportion of Team GB medallists having gone to a private school down from Tokyo 2020 (40%) and London 2012 (36%) but up from Rio 2016 (31%).

Eton school is “losing its previous Olympic dominance”, however. An Eton alumni won a medal at every Olympic games between 1992 and 2016 but here were no Team GB medallists from Eton in Paris or Tokyo.

The study follows reports from 2023 which found cuts to the number of hours secondary school pupils in England’s state-funded schools spend doing physical education and sport.

The figures from August 2023 found that 4,000 hours of physical education were lost over the course of the academic year, with a 12% drop in physical education since the 2012 London Olympics.

Children’s charity Youth Sport Trust described the findings at the time as a “matter of immediate national concern”, claiming the cuts to sport “is contributing to a nation where too many children are missing out, have poor wellbeing and lack a sense of belonging”.

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