UK Sport, the body that oversees the investment of public and National Lottery money into British Olympic and Paralympic sport, has renewed its partnership with defence, aerospace and security solutions company BAE Systems.
The new four-year deal runs until 2021. BAE Systems will serve as UK Sport’s official engineering partner and will provide expertise, time and materials worth £600,000 (€677,000/$788,000).
The partnership will support British athletes’ preparations for national and international competitions, such as the upcoming Pyeongchang 2018 winter Olympic Games and the Tokyo 2020 summer Games.
BAE Systems has worked with UK Sport since 2009 and has supported sports such as speed-skating, windsurfing, track-cycling, wheelchair racing, taekwondo, bobsleigh, pentathlon, equestrian eventing and sailing.
Recent projects include employing virtual reality technology to provide athletes with a home-field advantage on unfamiliar tracks, an advanced cycling ergometer to measure the power output of cyclists, and a cutting-edge optical sensor to support the training of the British BMX team.
BAE Systems engineers are currently working with a number of sports on confidential projects designed to achieve marginal gains at future competitions.
UK Sport chief executive Liz Nicholl said: “This is the third phase of a hugely important partnership for us, which has already benefited more than 30 different Olympic and Paralympic sports – many of whom have gone on to win medals in recent Games.
“Having access to BAE Systems’ engineering capabilities has significantly increased our technical ability, helping our athletes and their coaches seek those winning margins, both in training and in competition. It also helps us highlight the range of sports available to young people – giving them even more incentive to get involved from an early age and helping us develop young British talent.”
BAE Systems’ technologies and engineers have helped secure a clutch of medals including golds for skeleton athlete Amy Williams at the 2010 winter Olympic Games in Vancouver and for Jade Jones in the 2012 summer Olympics taekwondo competition. In both cases BAE Systems structural engineers studied existing sports equipment and recommended adjustments and improved techniques for use.