Time was when you could count the number of British gold medallists on the fingers of one hand. Back in the 1960s and 1970s, winning an Olympics event made you a household name overnight.
Anne Packer, Lynn Davies, Mary Peters, David Hemery, Anita Lonsbrough, – to name a few of the few – were feted across the land to pulling off the seemingly impossible – beating the world, usually in track and field or the swimming pool.
But all that has changed.
London 2012 (29 gold medals); Rio de Janeiro 2016 (27 gold); Tokyo 2020 but actually in 2021 (22 gold).
Time was when most Olympics hopefuls were fanatical amateurs, prepared to turn out on some bleak and chilly track, strip down to their shorts and practise their sport in front of an equally dedicated but minority audience.
Not any more. The British medals haul, however you measure it, is also top of the tree on an international basis. A country of fewer than 70 million people typically comes in the top three or four on the planet behind only the likes of such giants such as the USA and China. We even beat the Australians – on a regular basis.
This has not happened by accident.
Obviously, a huge amount of credit must go to the athletes themselves and their coaches. Their talent and dedication will be fully on display in Paris this week when the Games return to France for the first time in exactly 100 years.
But there is much more to it than that. Team GB has revolutionised British Olympics in recent years. The team numbers more than 300 and for only the second time in our history, there will be more women (172) than male (155) competitors.
Professional coaches, physios, nutritionists, and mind game experts will abound.
The Greatest Show on Earth will dominate our TV screens, social media, press and national conversation for a fortnight (and more).
These are some of the reasons why Randox, Europe’s biggest diagnostic company, is sponsoring Team GB. We love supporting the athletes behind mega sporting events (The Grand National, for instance) and it does not come any more mega than Paris 2024.
We were there the last time – Tokyo 2020 – but in challenging circumstances. Tokyo 2020 actually took place in 2021, postponed for a year because of the Covid pandemic.The glittering contests were performed in front of empty stadiums and sports halls after the Olympic authorities, understandably anxious to avert a super-spreader car crash, prohibited spectators.
Founded in 1982, Randox conducted more than 27 million Covid tests in the UK and offered support to Team GB three years ago for a very specific and vital purpose – to help stop the spread of Covid among the athletes and their support teams. It worked. Despite the fears of the Olympic authorities, the plethora of measures taken to safeguard contestants, meant that only one athlete fell sick and was unable to compete.
Not so this time. 15 million people, two million from abroad, are expected to swamp the French capital over late July and early August.
Our Vivalytic diagnostic machine, used in Tokyo to test all our athletes for Covid, will be in action again. But this time, we will be casting the net far wider, checking for a range of respiratory infections that can lay contestants low.
Our aim, along with the teams of experts assisting our athletes is simple – to ensure that Team GB is in peak physical and mental condition as they get to the starting line.
We have also been working closely with our brand ambassadors to ensure that they are perfectly placed to perform to their utmost in Paris. All of them have undertaken our Everyman and Everywoman diagnostic health testing packages at one of our health clinics, to measure their condition as they prepare for Paris.
As one star, Duncan Scott, our most decorated Olympic swimmer, put it: “If it makes one per cent difference, it’s 100 per cent worth it.
“It excited me that it was essentially a head-to-toe MOT and there’s areas I’ve never really had much data, on but also last year I had an IgE (antibody) deficiency impacting my immune system which made training so inconsistent as some days I felt sluggish.
“This year has been much more consistent after picking up on it which makes me wish I had something like this, as if I did this last year or 24 months ago, it’d have been ideal going in unknown and then picking up on it as a risk rather than me getting frustrated and being ill.”
Top sprinter Daryll Neita, a multiple medal winner, took the Everywoman test, “the most in-depth testing I’ve ever had.”
Her verdict points to the confidence boost of knowing you are in peak condition physically: “Although I’ve not had any recent health concerns, it’s amazing that the Everywoman test discovers things that could help my performance.
“Whether it’s how I recover or deficiencies, but also our sport is about marginal gains, centimetres, millimetres, the finest of margins and through tests like this, it lets you stay on-top of your health, helping you achieve optimal performance or even a mental boost that you’re healthy.”
Team GB’s Chief Medical Officer Niall Elliott, said that Randox was helping in three critical areas of health testing for athletes – iron metabolism, vitamin D levels – critical to the immune system and muscle power – and glucose or energy levels. “It is a fascinating journey, the testing we can do.”
This must be the best prepared – and the most safeguarded – Team GB ever to leave our shores.
As devotees of the wonderful film, Chariots of Fire, will know, they have much to live up to. Back in the 1924 Paris Olympics, Harold Abrahams in the 100 metres and Eric Liddell in the 400 metres both emerged triumphant. On top of their legendary feats, Britain secured seven more gold medals.
We can only hope and pray that our champions, bolstered by the latest in sports science, can achieve even greater heights.
Dr Peter Fitzgerald is Managing Director at Randox
