There has been a rise in the proportion of privately educated British Olympians going to the Paris Games compared with Rio 2016, new analysis suggests.
A third (33%) of the Team GB squad this time went to a private secondary school, according to research by the Good Schools Guide.
That is up from eight years ago in Brazil, when the figure was 24%.
Currently, around 7% of the UK population is privately educated.
The report looked at the secondary schools attended by the 327 Team GB athletes – 155 men and 172 women – who are competing in the coming days and weeks in France.
In Rio, there were 366 Team GB athletes – 202 men and 164 women.
Athletes educated at all-girls schools “feature disproportionately” in the 2024 team, the report found.
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Nearly one in four (23%) sportswomen in the British squad competing in Paris attended a single-sex state or private school, according to the analysis.
Also it seems certain sports feature a greater proportion of privately educated athletes than others, with 52% of the rowing squad and 47% of the hockey squad going to private schools in the past.
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In the cycling team, that figure was just 8%.
Image: The Team GB rowing team for Paris 2024. Pic: Reuters
The top three schools with the highest number of alumni competing for Great Britain in France are Plymouth College in Devon, Millfield School in Somerset and Whitgift School in South Croydon.
They are all private and have alumni at the Paris Games who received scholarships and bursaries to attend the schools.
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‘Identifying talent at an early age’
Grace Moody-Stuart, director of the Good Schools Guide education consultants, said having facilities like astro pitches, rowing clubs and 50-metre swimming pools is “only part of the story”.
“These schools identify talent at an early age and offer places at considerable discounts, often for free, in the hope of helping realise that sporting potential,” she added.
The best set-ups “interweave training and competitions with academic work, and pupils have… seasoned coaches, strength and conditioning teams, nutritionists and sports psychologists”.
Ms Moody-Stuart went on: “For those who can afford it, or who are talented enough to win scholarships, the results are evidenced in the disproportionate number of privately educated sportsmen and women in this squad.”
Source : Sky News
