IT’S MY 2020 VISION
Grainger reckons Brits can top efforts of Rio when they head to Tokyo
UK Sport supremo Katherine Grainger has backed the Brits to enjoy a golden Tokyo Olympics and is tipping Scots stars to play a key part.
The legendary Scots rower has a 2020 vision for the Far East and reckons Team GB could top the record haul in Rio in 2016.
But Grainger has urged SFA chiefs to ditch their lukewarm attitude to the Games – and let Shelley Kerr’s stars make the most of the stage offered to them by starring at the tourney.
Grainger landed medals at five Olympics in a row, capped by gold at London 2012
And she said: “I know I’m biased but I’ve always been part of Team GB. I’ve seen the important and positive impact that can have on any sport.”
It’s not a feeling shared in the corridors of power at Hampden.
Protecting Scotland’s football independence has long trumped the chance to follow the lead of every other n a t i on by
treating the
Olympics as an A-List event. Tartan titans such as Rachel Corsie and Kim Little are certs to get called up by boss Phil Neville for the GB women’s squad for Tokyo.
And that should be a cause for celebration, Grainger insists, rather than something to fear.
She added: “We’ve seen it within newer sports. Like when golf came in, or rugby sevens.
“Even though they are part of much bigger, separate worlds, they really respect and benefit from the Team GB environment.
“I would like to think football would feel the same. As an individual nation used to your own representation, it might be difficult to then see you’re becoming part of something else and perhaps having a smaller part to play within that.
“But you hope that the bigger legacy is what your nation and all the nations can benefit from.
“From that profile. From that story – and being part of that different team.
“So whether it’s your coaching staff, whether it’s your medical back- up, whether it’s your players having that opportunity to be part of that, it’s important.
“It’s once every four years. It’s not going to be happening all the time. It’s something that’s just a bit different.”
Grainger, now 44, signed off with a silver at the Rio 2016 Games to end over two decades at the top of her game.
Retirement from rowing means this wil l be a very different Olympic year than in the recent past for her.
But it wi l l be no less challenging following her quick transition to becoming chair of UK Sport, whose remit to drive elite performance means she has a huge stake in the success of the Brits at Tokyo 2020.
Matching the stunning show of four years ago would be out of this world.
GB& NI earned a record 67 Olympic medals in Rio to finish second in the overall table, with our Paralympians enjoying a stunning Games too.
Grainger’s team reckon there could be an even better haul on the cards following an increase in world championship podiums picked up by British hopefuls across even more sports during the current cycle.
It’s a massive down payment on the £345 million of Lotto cash invested. But Grainger reckons the rest of the world has studied the UK’s approach and will arrive in Japan fully armed.
She said: “China is rising again and it was always going to.
“Japan, as the home nation coming in, it ’s no surprise they’re going to do brilliantly.
“It flourished with the Rugby World Cup and it will be a great host country as well. And with Russia, we’ll wait to see what happens there.
“But we know roughly how we’re tracking as our own country. And we have to focus on that over the next seven or eight months.”
One of Scotland’s greatest sportswomen ever will lend a hand wherever she can. She just won’t break into a sweat in the cause of making 2020 a year to remember.
She added: “That suits me just fine. I’m looking forward to just sitting there and enjoying it.”