State school athletes had golden games

Olympic medallists such as Max Whitlock, Laura Trott and Mo Farah have helped to chip away at the traditional dominance of independent schools in elite sports, analysis shows.

In total 60 per cent of Team GB’s medallists in Rio attended comprehensive schools, up from 56 per cent at London 2012. The proportion educated at private schools dropped from 36 per cent to 32 per cent. Former grammar school pupils accounted for 8 per cent, the same as in 2012.

This narrowing of the gap, attributed to extra funding from the National Lottery and UK Sport, was despite a higher proportion of privately educated athletes representing Great Britain: 28 per cent, up from 20 per cent in London.

Only 7 per cent of British pupils are privately educated.

The analysis published by the Sutton Trust, an educational charity, showed that 52 per cent of Team GB’s medallists in rowing and half of the women’s gold-medal winning hockey team were educated at private schools but in cycling 92 per cent of medallists attended comprehensives, including Jason Kenny and Sir Bradley Wiggins.

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