ABSTRACT
The author has worked over the last two decades at the heart of the development of the UK’s high performance system in sport. He chaired the boards of British Basketball and British Swimming between 2005–2013 and provides a unique insight into high performance systems in sport and the principles that he argues can also be applied to business organisations.
A personal perspective is given on Team GB’s performance at major Olympic Games (Summer), from the nadir of Atlanta in 1996 through to the triumphant performance at the Games in London in 2012 and Rio de Janeiro four years later.
He also reflects on building the Scottish Institute of Sport into one of the leading sports institutes in the world, and the impact the Institute has had on Scotland’s performance at the Commonwealth Games, from their own nadir at Kuala Lumpur in 1998 through to the ‘best ever games’ in Glasgow in 2014. The Glasgow Games provided a welcome follow-through from the Olympics in London and arguably saved the Commonwealth from obscurity after the miserable events at Delhi in 2010.
