Development of GB Sports

[TeamGB 216]

As we are heading into an Olympic year, I thought it might be interesting to look at the growth and development or decline of all the sports at the next olympics from a British perspective. However my knowledge of the actual sporting federations is limited, so my development rankings will mainly be done on results. (Specifically 2019 vs 2023), but feel free to add any comments you may have.

 

[TeamGB 216]

Artistic Swimming

 

2019 Worlds - 14th in Duet,

                      - Did not enter a Team.

 

2023 Worlds - 5th/8th in Duet,

                      - 10th/13th in Team.

 

2020 Olympics - Qualified duet.

 

2024 Olympics - Likely to qualify duet,

                          - Outside chance of a team.

 

Funding - 24% increase.

 

Overall the development has be positive both results and funding wise.

[TeamGB 216]

Diving

 

2019 Worlds - Men's 3m - 3rd

                      - Men's 10m - 7th

                      - Men's 3m Synchro - 2nd

                      - Men's 10m Synchro - 3rd

                      - Women's 3m - 8th

                      - Women's 10m - 12th

                      - Women's 3m Synchro - 5th

                      - Women's 10m Synchro - 6th

 

2023 Worlds - Men's 3m - 3rd in 2022 but didn't compete in 2023

                      - Men's 10m - 4th 

                      - Men's 3m Synchro - 2nd

                      - Men's 10m Platform - 4th - best pair not competing

                      - Women's 3m - 9th

                      - Women's 10m - 5th

                      - Women's 3m Synchro - 2nd

                      - Women's 10m Synchro - 2nd

 

2020 Olympics - Qualified full team

 

2024 Olympics - Likely to qualify full team.

 

Despite an equal number of medals, the number of strong medal chances has increased, especially on the women's side.

 

[Rafa Maciel 1,712]

4 hours ago, TeamGB said:

Artistic Swimming

 

2019 Worlds - 14th in Duet,

                      - Did not enter a Team.

 

2023 Worlds - 5th/8th in Duet,

                      - 10th/13th in Team.

 

2020 Olympics - Qualified duet.

 

2024 Olympics - Likely to qualify duet,

                          - Outside chance of a team.

 

Funding - 24% increase.

 

Overall the development has be positive both results and funding wise.

Also worth mentioning that the GB mixed duet were top 5 in both the technical and free routines having picked up 2 bronze medals at the European Games and Shortman/ Thorpe took the bronze in the duet freestyle at European Games.

 

The team are getting better, but their acrobatic routine is a weak link that needs a lot of work to put them in contention for Olympic quota.

 

That being said, with the strength of the duets, and if the team can show continued improvement, I think we could see artistic swimming getting another uplift in their funding as we move through to LA '28.

[Rafa Maciel 1,712]

18 hours ago, TeamGB said:

Diving

 

2019 Worlds - Men's 3m - 3rd

                      - Men's 10m - 7th

                      - Men's 3m Synchro - 2nd

                      - Men's 10m Synchro - 3rd

                      - Women's 3m - 8th

                      - Women's 10m - 12th

                      - Women's 3m Synchro - 5th

                      - Women's 10m Synchro - 6th

 

2023 Worlds - Men's 3m - 3rd in 2022 but didn't compete in 2023

                      - Men's 10m - 4th 

                      - Men's 3m Synchro - 2nd

                      - Men's 10m Platform - 4th - best pair not competing

                      - Women's 3m - 9th

                      - Women's 10m - 5th

                      - Women's 3m Synchro - 2nd

                      - Women's 10m Synchro - 2nd

 

2020 Olympics - Qualified full team

 

2024 Olympics - Likely to qualify full team.

 

Despite an equal number of medals, the number of strong medal chances has increased, especially on the women's side.

 

Agree the diving squad is probably heading into 2024 in the strongest position they have ever been, with a good mix of new names and seasoned competitors. 

 

Realistically, I think barring injury, the synchro teams are now pretty much set for Paris - although perhaps there's a question mark over whether it will be Matty Lee or Noah WIlliams teaming up with Daley. (I do think perhaps you are a little harsh with the suggestion that Lee and Williams weren't the best pair for 10m synchro given they were silver medalists in 2022 and at the time, everyone assumed that Daley was done with diving and was focusing on his knitting and crocheting empire.) 

 

Based on the British Cup results from earlier this month, I think GB will have good medal prospects for the men's 3m synchro and women's 10m platform. Daley and Williams were 1 dive away from having a global medal winning score. I am less confident on the women's 3m synchro but then I said the same going into Fukuoka and they pulled it out of the bag. 

 

In the individual events, it looks like Laugher has recovered from his injury but is perhaps still a little rusty but with him, Goodfellow, Houlden and Halsam there's a strong group of divers on the 3m springboard able to hit around 470-480 points. The challenge over the next 6 months or so is to push those scores up towards 500 if they are hoping to medal in Paris. 

 

In the men's 10m, we've got multiple candidates the frame for 2 individual spots but again, they are probably at least 20-30 points short of a medal score at the moment. Big unknown as we go into the new year is whether Daley is going to go for both the synchro and the individual events.

 

For the women, we will have 3 women, fighting for the two spots. With Mew Jensen and Harper already going to Paris in the synchro, it will be interesting to see if Grace Reid is able to muscle her way on to the squad in the individual - she won the British Cup this month with a score that would have been good enough for bronze in Fukuoka so she definitely has the talent. 

 

Finally, on the women's platform, Spendolini-Sirieix showed a bit of frailty in Fukuoka when she failed to make it through to the final - but until then she had been a model of consistency and had shown she can deliver on the international stage. That being said, in Doha, it will be important for her to make the final and bury the memory of Fukuoka completely. It will come down to either Louis Toulson or Eden Cheng for the second individual place. Cheng did great at the European Games, but I do think domestically that Toulson has the advantage - her score of 340.20 in Edinburgh at the British Cup this month was just 0.05 off the bronze medal score from Fukuoka. 

 

So going into Paris, I would think that UK Sport will give GB Diving a target of 3-4 medals with a stretch target of 6. 

[Mkbw50 475]

How about this! Great news

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/swimming/67971901

[Orangehair43 317]

I do wonder if we going to start losing athletes who have dual nationality to other countries because of some of the selection policies in some of the sports. 

[George_D 1,640]

This is a live list of secured events and future hosting opportunities of itinerant international events.

 

Hosting target list 20March2025.pdf

Edited August 21, 2025 by George_D