A genuine athlete voice is at the heart of duty of care in sport, Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson told an industry conference in Cardiff today.
And while there are some good examples of progress since the former Paralympian’s Duty of Care in Sport Review, she highlighted that more still needs to be done.
Speaking at the Sport Ethics and Integrity Conference 2018, she said:
“I must admit there wasn’t universal enthusiasm when I first set out to pull the work together. In fact, I was told by many people there wasn’t a need for it.
“There was a shift in opinion when several sports issues started going public. I had many of those people come back to me to say they didn’t know there were these issues in their sport.
“Should we have seen it coming? Yes, we should have.
“I don’t think we need more money it’s about using what we have in the best way we can.
“It’s not just about the medals we have to be realistic. Elite sport is tough but that’s no excuse to treat people in any way you want.
“There are so many good things that sport can bring, it’s not just about gold medals.
“A genuine athlete voice is really important.
“The UK-wide debate (through UK Sport) is a good thing and we need to embrace that debate.
“The Welsh approach at the Commonwealth Games shows that we can be successful without medal targets.
“We can’t keep adding one more to a medal target and keep expecting great things, we need to think differently. We have to challenge sports in a way that they haven’t been challenged before.
“I’m not willing for my 16 year-old daughter and other young people to be in a sporting system that treats them poorly.”
The conference was a partnership between Sport Wales and Swansea University, sponsored by Loosemores Solicitors.
