Public dump Wimbledon for Olympic Games

by Kate Fairclough on 19 Jun 2008 According to a new survey commissioned by long term investment company, Skandia, Britain is pinning its hopes for a golden summer of sport on the Olympics and is relegating high profile sports to the bottom of the expectation heap.

Brits said that they would be more interested in following the Olympic Games than Wimbledon, the British Grand Prix or the Cricket Test Series against South Africa this summer.

Around one in three (39%) of those polled believe that Great Britain will win gold medals at the Olympic Games this summer compared to less than one in 10 (9%) believing British Number One Andrew Murray will win at Wimbledon, proving there is optimism that Britain’s sporting prowess can excel on the world stage.

When it comes to what we see as the golden sports at the Olympics, it’s the less mainstream sports, such as rowing, cycling and sailing, rather than athletics or swimming that Brits believe will bring home the medals.

Greats of the past such as Coe, Ovett, Christie, Holmes and Gunnell are being replaced by the likes of sailor Ben Ainslie, and cyclist Victoria Pendleton as the sports stars who are capturing the nation’s imagination and fuelling optimism that Britain can compete and win in world- class competition.

'Thanks to the recent success and the rise to fame of British sailors such as Dame Ellen MacArthur and Ben Ainslie, the sport of sailing is enjoying a purple patch at present, which has captured the public and the media’s attention. It’s really encouraging that the British public recognises that the Great hasn’t completely gone out of Britain when it comes to sport,' says Tim Sewell from Skandia, a major long-term sponsor of sailing.

Survey Results . . .

. . . 39% of the British public believe that it is more likely that ‘Great Britain will win gold medals at the Olympic Games’ this summer than ‘Andrew Murray will win Wimbledon’

. . . The British public believe that Great Britain has better medal potential in rowing, cycling and sailing than in equestrian, athletics or swimming

. . . 40% of the British public are most interested in following the Olympic Games this summer, rather than Wimbledon (33%), the British Grand Prix (30%), the Cricket Test Series against South Africa (15%) or the British Open (10%)