The sport engagement team was introduced last October with the appointment of Tanya Crook as Head of Summer Sport Engagement.

Reporting in to BOA Director of Sport Sir Clive Woodward, the sport engagement team is now operating at full capacity and includes four Olympians.

Crook is supported by five full time Summer Sport Engagement Managers (SEMs), based at the BOA, and three part-time SEMs based at their sport and working in collaboration with the relevant sport National Governing Body.

Georgina Harland, who won an Olympic bronze medal in the modern pentathlon at Athens in 2004, and] Bernie Cotton, who played for Britain's hockey at Munich in 1972 and then coached the team to the gold medal in Seoul in 1988, began working as SEMs last year and they are now joined at the BOA by Paul Ford, Mahdi Choudhury and Jude Ford as full time SEMs.

Paul Ford comes from a background in performance services and has recently been working with the United States Olympic Committee on developing their high performance training centre during the London 2012 Games.

He has also worked with other Olympic and Paralympic related bodies to establish their Games-time training centres during London 2012.

Mahdi Choudhury moves internally from the position of lawyer to join the SEM team.

London 2012 will be Choudhury's third Olympic Games working for the BOA and he brings with him specialist expertise in the field of Olympic Qualification Standards and selection policies.

Choudhury has recently completed a secondment at the Brazilian Olympic Committee, gaining firsthand experience of the initial preparations of the host nation for the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympic Games.

Jude Ford completes the team of five full time SEMs.

She joins the BOA from UK Anti-Doping where she was a Senior Education Officer, leading the major Games programmes for Beijing, Vancouver and Delhi.

Previously Ford worked for UK Sport and spent three years at British Triathlon as a Regional Development Manager responsible for coaching, talent, club and competition pathways.

The three sport-specific engagement managers areWyeth, Doug Dailey and Sylvia Armiger for athletics, cycling and aquatics respectively.

Wyeth, who finished ninth in the 3,000 metres final in Barcelona, is joned by Dailey, who competed in cycling at the 1972  Games in Munich and who, at the last Games in Beijing, was responsible for coordinating the logistics for the hugely successful cycling team, including triple gold medallist Sir Chris Hoy.

Armiger sits on the British Swimming Programmes Performance Directorate and has been a member of the GB Technical Swimming Committee for the last 10 years.



Mike Hay (pictured), who coached the women's curling team to Olympic gold medal success at Salt Lake City in 2002, continues at the BOA as Head of Winter Sport Engagement with a focus on the Sochi 2014 and the inaugural Youth Olympic Winter Games in Innsbruck in January 2012.

Another internal move sees Amy Terriere move from the Olympic Operations team to become Project Manager for Summer Sport Engagement.

Terriere brings with her experience of six Olympic and Youth Olympic events.

Each full time SEM will work with a number of sports based on the individual's experience and grouped by type, location and Games-time locations.

The sport engagement team is now acting as the key point of contact between Olympic sports and the BOA.

They coordinate all Olympic Games requirements for the sport, working with the relevant BOA departments on areas including Olympic Qualification Standards, logistics, preparation camps and high performance services.

The SEMs will develop strong relationships with sports over the next 17 months and will be present at the heart of Team GB in London 2012, working with the sports to deal with issues on site and ensure preparation plans are realised when they really matter.

Andy Hunt, the chief executive of the BOA and Britain's Chef de Mission for London 2012, said: "The competitive environment in international sport is more challenging now than ever, so it is imperative that we continue to raise our game to meet the ever changing needs of athletes and national governing bodies.

"In the spirit of our ethos of 'Better Never Stops', we are continually working with the sports to develop and improve our support for the athletes who will pull on the Team GB kit.

"The introduction of the sport engagement team represents another major step forward in our detailed planning for London 2012 and I have no doubt the sports engagement managers will make a positive difference for Team GB."

"It is fantastic that the sport engagement team includes Olympians who have experienced the Games as competitors and individuals who have led successful delegations and managed important functions such as operations, logistics and performance services which are vital in delivering Olympic success."

Sir Clive added: "Given the increasingly competitive environment in which we operate, the Sport Engagement team will play a crucial role for Team GB in 2012 and beyond, as the primary point of contact with the national governing bodies of Olympic sports.

"Each sport has its own unique complexities and needs so the sport engagement team will ensure that every sport is provided with the right level of care, attention and support it needs to produce their optimum performance at the Olympic Games.

"Ultimately, we aim to deliver performance enhancing support to Team GB at London 2012 and beyond."


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October 2010: Harland and Cotton first sports engagement managers appointed by BOA