New figures from Sport England show that 15.3 million people are playing
sport at least once a week, with good progress among young people.
The figures – covering the period to mid-April - show that 1.4 million more
men and women are playing sport every week than in 2005ii when London
won the bid to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games, and that most of the
increase seen around the Games in 2012 has been retained.
When the figures were last published in December 2012 they showed 750,000
more people playing sport than the previous year. Six months on, despite the
coldest March for 50 years, growth of 530,000 has been maintained.
Sports such as football, golf and even cycling, one of the strongest performing
sports of recent years, have all been affected. British Cycling Chief Executive
Ian Drake said: "Our membership continues to feel the benefit of our
successes in London 2012 and the ‘Wiggo effect’ with year-on-year growth for
May hitting 54%, and the number of events growing strongly. We were
expecting a dip in the harshest couple of months, but our own data shows
rapid recovery in April and May."
The number of young people aged between 16 and 25 playing sport regularly
has reached 3.86 million. This is an increase of nearly 63,000 on the previous
12 months, with strong advances in sports such as basketball and swimming.
Among women, boosts in boxing and netball have helped to drive a year-onyear
increase of 89,900, further narrowing the gender gap in sport.
Although there is still an unacceptable gap between the number of disabled
people and non-disabled people playing sport, the figures for disabled people
have been rising steadily since 2005. The latest figures show an increase of
46,600v over the past year with Paralympic sports like equestrianism and
athletics growing in popularity.
Sport England’s Chair, Nick Bitel, said: "These figures show we’re holding
onto the growth achieved over the past 18 months, despite some poor recent weather. There’s a long way to go but it’s
particularly encouraging to see thenumbers for young people are now moving in the right direction."
Minister for Sport and Tourism, Hugh Robertson, said: "We remain absolutely
committed to delivering a lasting sports participation legacy from London
2012. The long term trend shows we are on track, with 1.4 million more
people playing sport regularly since we won the bid in 2005. I am encouraged
to see good underlying trends in the number of young people, women and
disabled people playing sport regularly and confident we have the right
strategy in place to continue to deliver long term increases in the number of
people playing sport."
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