When the 2023 BBC Sports Personality of the Year shortlist was announced last month, a teaser began making the rounds. Which of the six names was odd? Answer: Katarina Johnson-Thompson. Because although he is world champion, no one on the list (Mary Earps, Stuart Broad, Frankie Dettori, Rory McIlroy and Alfie Hewett) has actually won the biggest event on their calendar.
Hard? No doubt. While Broad retired after a thrilling Ashes, especially considering the England women reached the final of the World Cup, others also enjoyed great moments. But this reflected a wider truth: last year was a good year for British sport, but it was not a classic one.
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But as 2024 dawns, there is a feeling that this could truly last for the ages; Something comparable to the glorious summer of 1934, when Hedley Verity took 14 wickets in a day against Australia, Henry Cotton ending a decade of American dominance. The Open and Fred Perry won Wimbledon. Or even 1966, 2003 or 2012, which have become four-digit shorthand for Britain’s sporting triumphs.
For that to happen, the England men’s football team will need to win their first major title in 58 years at this year’s Euros. But you don’t need to have a St George’s flag tattooed on your chest to believe they’re a odds-on favorite. So are the bettors.
After all, Harry Kane is England’s top scorer in Europe’s top five leagues. Jude Bellingham has Spain’s top scorer. Luck was also on their side: If they finish first in their group, they won’t be able to face another group winner until the semi-finals.
Naturally, familiar questions remain. Will Gareth Southgate’s handbrake be on or off? Will he rely on the offensive talent he has at his disposal or his more conservative instincts? Either way, England’s 7-2 odds, equating to a 22% chance of victory, don’t seem too lopsided.
Then, just 12 days later, comes the summer’s sports staple: the Paris Olympics. Here too the signs look promising; Analysts at Gracenote predict Team GB will win 65 medals (one more than at London 2012) across more than 20 sports.
In fact, Britain’s sporting achievements may even increase in 2024. No matter what you do with Tyson Fury, he is the favorite to become the first undisputed heavyweight champion since Lennox Lewis in 1999. Meanwhile, Manchester City and Arsenal are among the favorites to become the first English club to win the championship. We have lifted the European Cup at Wembley since Liverpool in 1978.
But even if expectations ultimately remain far from reality, it is worth emphasizing two points. The first of these is that British elite sport has been on something of an upswing over the last 15 years; although there are a lot of scandals about comfort in gymnastics, cycling, swimming and other sports. Second? This success on the field doesn’t necessarily have to trickle down.
But historically we have rarely been this good. We are just a generation away from the fall of the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, when Britain won its lone gold medal. We are even closer to Euro 2008, for which no country has qualified. But these were not huge outliers. As early as 1912 the Observer was questioning the state of British sport following the “debacle” of the Stockholm Games.
“British Olympic Failures: Are we corrupt in sport?” In his article, pessimist Sydney Brooks urged his readers to “look at the record.” “The South Africans and New Zealanders taught us a few years ago that we had forgotten how to play rugby,” he wrote. “Our former superiority in lawn tennis is waning… and I know of no Englishman who is undisputed first in swimming, skating and racquets.”
Brooks also lamented Britain’s diminishing success on the polo field and pool table, before warning: “Whenever we face foreign opponents, both individually and as collective teams, we are likely to experience the worst.”
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Meanwhile, ahead of the last Olympics, held in Paris in 1924, the Guardian’s “special correspondent” also warned that Britain was being overshadowed by the USA and the rest of Europe. “In the early days their antics merely amused us,” the reporter wrote. “The idea that the day would come when the continental nations would leave us behind did not even occur to us.”
Then came a completely radical proposal for 1924: Britain should employ more foreign coaches “to impart the necessary technique” or “send our professionals abroad to learn their trade”. It took the better part of a century for such an idea to take hold and huge amounts of public money to settle, but look at the results.
But outside elite sport the picture remains much less rosy. Leisure centers are still closing. Swimming pools are still closed. Population activity levels are either stabilizing or declining. While many of us love watching sports, many studies have shown little correlation between the success of elites and the more exercise ordinary people do.
With this in mind, some smart minds in sports have a new wish for 2024: that politicians are determined to make Britain the most active country in Europe. This is a noble ambition. But while some MPs, notably Tracey Crouch and Kim Leadbeater, have highlighted the benefits of a healthier population, particularly the NHS, this could take money and decades to achieve.
It’s no wonder, then, that so many of us prefer to focus solely on elite sport: We’re ready to enjoy the victories and sweet happiness that lie ahead.