76 past and present sponsored athletes medal at Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games
Communisis Brand Deployment is celebrating a bumper crop of Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic medallists sponsored as part of the largest independent athlete support programme in the UK – extending opportunities for young elite sportsmen and women.
For over 12 years, Communisis Brand deployment has partnered with leisure and cultural, charitable social enterprise GLL, which has been running the Sports Foundation (GSF) programme since 2008.
During this time, £15m of support – covering 117 different sports – has been given including cash awards, use of gym facilities and access to professional services including physiotherapy – and athlete wellbeing support provided by Switch the Play Foundation.
Now in its 16th year, GSF has provided an essential boost by providing 28,000 young athlete awards as recipients train and compete in national and international competition – including national, World Championship, Olympic, Paralympic and Commonwealth Games.
Previous GSF award holders and legacy ambassadors include household names Tom Daley, Anthony Joshua and Ellie Simmons.
In total, 38 medals were won by GSF-supported athletes at the Paris 2024 Olympics including standout winners Triathlete Alex Yee (Gold), Men’s Synchro Dive Pair Tom Daley and Noah Williams (Silver), Women’s 4×100 Darryl Neita (Silver) and Men’s Kayak Cross Joe Clarke (Silver).
At the Paris 2024 Paralympics, GSF-sponsored athletes went one better, scoring an incredible 39 medals between them including Taekwondo Women’s K44 Amy Truesdale (Gold), Tully Kearney 200m Freestyle (Gold) and Grace Harvey 100m Breaststroke (Gold).
GSF Chair and GLL CEO Peter Bundey said: “Our GLL Sport Foundation is a key part of our remit to widen and deepen our social impact by offering unique opportunities to talented young athletes and build a legacy through sport.
“All of this is made possible by the close relationships with our partners, clients and suppliers and I want to take this opportunity to thank them for their valued contribution as a sponsor in the 2024/25 Awards.
”We are delighted that these GSF-supported Olympic and Paralympic athletes delivered such fantastic medal-winning performances for Great Britain.
“Not only will their success directly inspire future generations to excel in sport but the ‘GSF effect’ goes significantly further into driving local communities to become more active and engaged in sport and physical activity, thereby, boosting health and wellbeing.
GLL’s research shows that many talented athletes struggle to realise their dreams of sporting glory due to rising costs of equipment, training, physiotherapy, travel and nutrition. For them, a GSF Award can be the lifeline to staying in training and meeting their potential.
The majority of GSF athletes are under 21 and 87% receive no other form of funding.
