Entain-supported athletes make their mark at the summer Olympic Games
21st August: Five Entain-supported athletes were part of Team GB at this summer’s Olympic Games as the company passed £500,000 in donations to over 251 athletes in a six-year partnership with SportsAid. Alex Wise, Beth Shriever, Charlie Dobson, Hannah Kelly and Luke Whitehouse were all beneficiaries of the game-changing funding from Entain via its Pitching In initiative with SportsAid.
Since 2019, Entain’s partnership with SportsAid has helped 251 athletes by providing them with a financial award to help with training, equipment, competition costs, and personal development training. Archery star Wise, 24, BMX racer Shriever, 25, gymnast Whitehouse, 22, and 400m sprinters Dobson, 24, and Kelly, 23, are just five members of several recently supported Entain cohorts to go on to achieve sporting stardom.
Shriever, who won gold racing at the Tokyo Olympics, was a beneficiary of the Entain-SportsAid partnership in 2019. Others to receive support include 400m runner Hannah Williams, who also competed in Tokyo, short-track speed skater Niall Treacy, who competed at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games; discus dynamo Chukwuemeka Osammor; pole vaulter Sophie Ashurst, cyclist Georgia Holt, and frame runner Rafi Solaiman—all of whom have earned major championship success.
To date, 48% of Entain-supported athletes have a disability, and 16% come from ethnically diverse communities, underlining the aim to support a diverse cohort of sports people across the nation. A total of seven athletes have now made the Olympic stage after receiving Entain-SportsAid funding with one gold and two bronze medals returned. The gold was achieved by Shriever in Tokyo while Dobson and Kelly claimed a bronze each in the men’s 4x400m and women’s 4x400m relays respectively.
Dobson, who powered Team GB across the line in the men’s4x400m relay final, as well as making the semi-final of the individual event, said: “The Pitching In programme really helped me a lot and was pretty cool to be a part of. SportsAid have helped a lot of quality athletes, and they help with the transition from juniors to seniors really well.” Ahead of competing, he added: “I feel the momentum is with me now. The Olympics is the biggest sporting event in the world and having missed it three years ago because of injury, making it this year is the icing on the cake for me.”
Luke Whitehouse, who came sixth in the men’s floor final and competed alongside Max Whitlock in the men’s Team Gymnastics, coming fourth, added: “The funding from Pitching In and SportsAid helped me a lot. It was a confidence boost for me and the workshops that were put on helped contribute to my success.” After competing in Paris, he added: “It was crazy – I’m now an Olympian, and there are only a small amount of people in the world who can say that!”
Supporting young athletes via SportsAid is part of Pitching In, Entain’s multi-million-pound grassroots sports investment programme. SportsAid supports over 1,000 athletes each year by providing them with a financial award to help with training and competition costs.
In Paris, a remarkable 64% of the athletes selected to represent Team GB – 224 of the 351, including travelling reserves – previouslyreceived financial support and recognition from the charity during their careers. SportsAid alumni ended up winning 12 gold, 16 silver and 25 bronze medals in a remarkable haul. The 53 podium finishes claimed by beneficiaries of the charity's support came across 15 different sports and surpassed the total of 47 medals from Tokyo 2020.
Tim Lawler MBE, CEO of SportsAid, said: "Our partnership with Entain has continued to evolve year-on-year and the well-rounded support provided to these aspiring young sports stars gives them added confidence and motivation to pursue their ambitions. We have also seen an increased awareness of SportsAid and a much wider audience is hearing the stories behind the next generation of sporting heroes."
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Notes to Editors
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About Entain plc
Entain plc (LSE: ENT) is a FTSE100 company and is one of the world's largest sports betting and gaming groups, operating both online and in the retail sector. The Group owns a comprehensive portfolio of established brands; Sports brands include BetCity, bwin, Coral, Crystalbet, Eurobet, Ladbrokes, Neds, Sportingbet, Sports Interaction, STS, SuperSport and TAB NZ; Gaming brands include Foxy Bingo, Gala, GiocoDigitale, Ninja Casino, Optibet, Partypoker and PartyCasino. The Group owns proprietary technology across all its core product verticals and in addition to its B2C operations provides services to a number of third-party customers on a B2B basis.
The Group has a 50/50 joint venture, BetMGM, a leader in sports betting and iGaming in the US. Entain provides the technology and capabilities which power BetMGM as well as exclusive games and products, specially developed at its in-house gaming studios. The Group is tax resident in the UK and is the only global operator to exclusively operate in domestically regulated or regulating markets operating in over 30 territories.
Entain is a leader in ESG, a member of FTSE4Good, the DJSI and is AA rated by MSCI. For more information see the Group's website: www.entaingroup.com
About SportsAid
SportsAid is the only national charity of its kind - helping young British sportsmen and women aspiring to be the country's future Olympic, Paralympic, Commonwealth and World champions. The charity’s mission is to encourage, enable and empower the next generation of athletes to achieve their ambitions in both sport and life.
To succeed in sport takes a combination of talent, dedication and hard work...but that’s not always enough to make it to the highest level. Young athletes need financial support as they rely heavily on their families with little or no funding. Many are unable to afford the cost of travel, equipment, accommodation and various expenses to give them the best chance possible of pursuing their sporting ambitionsdreams.
They also lack opportunities to access independent, free, impartial advice across a whole range of areas which are crucial to their development as both athletes and young people. They need mentors, who have previously trodden their path, to further inspire them, share their experiences, act as a sounding board and offer them guidance on navigating the unique challenges they face.
That’s where SportsAid comes in. The charity supports over 1,000 athletes each year – the vast majority aged 12 to 18 – by providing them with a financial award to help towards training and competition costs. These athletes are the country's brightest sporting prospects and the award acts as a real motivational boost as it is often the first recognition they receive outside of their support network.
SportsAid also delivers personal development opportunities to athletes through in-person events, online workshop sessions, digital learning resources and work experience introductions. They are able to spend time with Olympians, Paralympians and industry-led experts covering important areas such as mental wellbeing, practical nutrition, restful sleep, communication skills, finance and future careers.
Since 1976, SportsAid has supported tens of thousands of athletes by distributing over £50 million in awards. The charity's extensive alumni stretches across the generations with Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill, Sir Mo Farah, Baroness Grey-Thompson, Dame Sarah Storey, Sir Steve Redgrave, Dame Katherine Grainger, Daley Thompson CBE and Dame Denise Lewis all stand-out names.
More recent alumni include Dame Laura Kenny, Ellie Simmonds OBE, Adam Peaty OBE, Natasha Baker OBE, Tom Daley OBE, Richard Whitehead MBE, Leah Williamson OBE, Maddie Hinch OBE, Jade Jones MBE, Hollie Arnold MBE, Tom Pidcock MBE, Beth Shriever MBE, Alex Yee MBE, Emma Raducanu, Lutalo Muhammad, Dina Asher-Smith and Emily Campbell.
The charity’s impressive track record was highlighted at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games where SportsAid alumni won 53 medals (12 gold, 16 silver, 25 bronze) with the Paralympics set to get underway shortly.
SportsAid beneficiaries also had huge success at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games where they won 186 medals – 57 gold, 59 silver and 70 bronze – across 20 sports. There were 474 recipients of the charity’s support representing the home nations in the West Midlands.