UK Sport urged to introduce diversity element to winter sports funding
UK Sport has been urged to introduce a diversity element to winter sports funding after a Telegraph Sport investigation revealed just one BAME athlete had represented Britain outside of bobsleigh at the Winter Olympics since 2002.
One of Britain’s most prominent black Winter Olympians told the Telegraph they felt “like you don’t really belong” in an environment where a lack of diversity extends beyond competitors to support staff and those in the highest positions of power.
Further revelations included:
Only 11 of Britain’s 212 athletes (5.2 per cent) at the last three Winter Olympics and Paralympics were non-white. Just one, skier Izzy Atkin, was not in bobsleigh.
Two of the 144 Team GB support staff (1.4 per cent) and seven of the 97 additional Team GB delegates (7.2 per cent) at the last three Winter Olympics were non-white.
Two of the 46 people on British winter sports' national governing body boards (4.3 per cent) are non-white.
Bobsleigh remains Britain's most diverse winter sport, but was dropped from UK Sport’s dedicated funding programme after the 2018 Olympics, and only offered a last-minute emergency support fund that athletes claimed was “too late to use”. The Telegraph understands some British bobsleigh teams have been forced to raise almost £500,000 to fund their bid to appear at the Beijing Games, which start next Friday.
Lamin Deen, Team GB bobsleigh driver at the 2014 and 2018 Winter Olympics, said: “If you’re a black person and you’re interested in a winter sport, there’s no one in it who looks like you so it’s a bit daunting. You feel like you don’t really belong there.
“When I joined bobsleigh it was quite diverse and that was one of the reasons I felt comfortable. I can imagine myself going into another sport and having reservations about what it would be like.
“When you’re taking a team photo, bloody hell, it’s easy to spot the bobsleighers. When you go to places like St Moritz and La Plagne, you are literally the only black people in the whole area.
“It’s crazy. But for me and the black guys on the team it’s normal not to see any other black people in other winter sports.”
Courtesy of widespread recruitment from athletics, bobsleigh has been an outlier in a winter sports landscape dominated by white people. At the last Winter Olympics in 2018, Britain’s bobsleigh team featured an even split of five white and five BAME competitors; that figure has now dropped to four and two.
Atkin, whose mother is from Malaysia, her fellow freestyle skier sister Zoe, and skeleton athlete Brogan Crowley are Britain’s only non-bobsleigh BAME athletes set to compete at next week's Beijing Games, adding up to five athletes out of an overall team of 50. Former South Korean short-track speed skater Lee Seung-jae was Team GB’s only BAME support staff member at the last three Winter Olympics.
Peter Shakeshaft, chairman of the British Bobsleigh Association before it became the British Bobsleigh and Skeleton Association in 2010, has called on UK Sport to introduce a diversity element to funding and recognise the unique role bobsleigh plays in promoting non-white representation in winter sport.
“Bobsleigh is virtually the only winter sport that features BAME athletes,” he said. “UK Sport is all about performance but does that just mean medals? What about opening up everyone’s lottery money to ethnic minorities?
“UK Sport have not only cut bobsleigh’s funding, they have given funding to the white-dominated skeleton programme in the same NGB [national governing body]. The perception is clear and obvious.”
He has written to UK Sport chair Dame Katherine Grainger in a bid to see diversity officially recognised in the funding model and avoid Olympic winter sport being "seen as a white, middle-class pursuit".
Sally Munday, UK Sport chief executive, said the organisation is intent on ensuring “winter sport is for everyone”.
She said: “Over the years, many black, Asian and other ethnically diverse athletes have inspired the nation with incredible sporting performances but we recognise that there could be so many more.
“We are determined to build a sporting community that is truly inclusive and properly reflective of society in the UK. This is a clear strategic priority for UK Sport.”
She added that UK Sport has a “strong focus” on diversity and inclusion, which is part of the code for sports governance that funded sports must adhere to.
GB Snowsport, responsible for overseeing all skiing and snowboarding disciplines, said it “absolutely recognises the scale of the diversity challenge” and “accepts responsibility for helping to lead change over the coming years”.
A Telegraph audit of winter sports’ federations also found an overwhelming lack of diversity at boardroom level, with bobsleigh/skeleton and curling the only sports to feature a single non-white person on their boards. One BAME candidate who narrowly lost an election to join one of the winter sports boards claimed the “only non-white person most people on these boards know is their local Indian restaurant owner”.
Britain is not alone in struggling with a lack of non-white athletes in winter sports. Courtesy of its bobsleigh squad, Team GB’s 10.2 per cent of BAME athletes at the 2018 Winter Olympics in fact compared favourably to most other major nations including Holland (9.1 per cent), United States (9.0 per cent), France (4.6 per cent), Canada (3.5 per cent) and Germany (0.7 per cent).
'Pursuing my skiing dream has cost £120,000 in three years'
By Pippa Field
Benjamin Alexander, who was born and raised in Northamptonshire, will become the first alpine skier to represent Jamaica - where his father is from - at a Winter Olympics in Beijing.
Since pursuing his dream full-time in 2019, he estimates it has cost him around £120,000 to achieve his aim of qualifying to compete in the Olympic slalom event in China. He also admits the total could have been as much as £40,000 higher had it not been for a well-connected friend, who gave him free bed and board in America, as well as access to the slopes and equipment.
“I’ve been very fortunate to do this because of his support,” he said. “It probably would have been unattainable without someone like him in my life. But I’m still in the hole, six figures. It's a miserable amount."
Capitalising on looser qualification criteria in alpine skiing, his aim is to help inspire another 'Cool Runnings' moment - the popular Disney film about Jamaica's 1988 Olympic four-man bobsleigh team.
Like his predecessors, he took the unusual route, first strapping on a pair of skis less than seven years ago after a decade spent as a full-time DJ performing in over 30 countries.
“I didn’t start skiing until 32. It should help entice and encourage people of any racial background - and of any age - that anything is achievable,” the 38-year-old added.
“When I’m speaking to anyone in the industry, everyone was keen for me to succeed. I’m not going to say this has anything to do with my skills as I’m never going to be anything like a Tiger Woods of skiing - but everyone is keen for skiing to have a Tiger Woods moment to help more people of colour get into the sport.”
At the last Winter Olympics, Jamaica had just three competitors - two in bobsleigh and one in skeleton. For him, the lack of diversity in the mountains comes down to accessibility, and three key issues.
“The first one is obvious in that if your parents ski, it’s quite likely you’ll get exposure to the sport before the age of five,” he said. “Second is geographic location. If you wake up every day looking at mountains at some point there is going to be curiosity. The third one, which is all encompassing, is wealth and disposable income. Getting to a mountain is expensive.
“If you don’t have one or more of those three things it becomes incredibly difficult. The deck is stacked against you if you have none of those things.”
Alexander also says the perception of winter sports activities needs to change to encourage more non-white people to try them.
“If you show more minorities, more people of colour in your advertising then that will help to entice people who have the finances,” he said. “There are lots of successful black people that have the finances to go and ski but feel that because of the advertising, media and marketing that come out of the sport it is still heavily whitewashed and not a place for them.
“Once people see more people who look like them doing and enjoying this thing, then it should help form that demographic, ethnicity or race to come and join.”
