'Expectations shift. There needs to be patience'

Katherine Grainger says UK Sport will not rush funding decisions in the wake of GB's mixed return at Paris 2024

- Taha Hashim

Joy at the prize, or dejection over the what if? It's the conundrum of the silver medallist, a question some are probably still grappling with after their efforts at the Paris Olympic Games, one written on the faces of Josh Kerr and Matt Hudson-Smith in the immediate aftermath. Does the motivation for gold transform into obsession after a near miss?

"It's different for every single athlete," says Dame Katherine Grainger, a five-time Olympic medallist in rowing and now chair of UK Sport. "I won a silver where it was the greatest thing ever, my first medal," she says, recalling success at Sydney 2000 in the women's quadruple sculls.

"We'd never won any medal at all in women's rowing for Team GB. It was incredible. Whereas eight years on, I had a silver medal that was heartbreaking because it wasn't where we thought we would be able to deliver. Expectations shift.

There needs to be so much patience and support for athletes coming back. Whatever the result, they're all Olympians now and that is a celebration in itself."

But gold, which Grainger finally claimed at London 2012, does matter. Speaking last week to BBC Radio 4's Today programme Grainger, while pleased with an overall showing of 65 medals, admitted there is "a bit of work to do" on the gold front, with Team GB's tally of 14 their lowest in 20 years. Cue questions around UK Sport's funding of sports that delivered limited returns on investment. Boxing, as an example, produced one bronze after receiving just over £12m during the Paris cycle.