By Tom Degun in London

April 22 - Director of Performance at the British Olympic Association (BOA) Sir Clive Woodward (pictured) and chief executive of ParalympicsGB Phil Lane have each claimed that the two organisations will receive immeasurable benefits by continuing to work together in close proximity.



In September 2009, the BOA and ParalympicsGB moved in together under one roof in newly refurbished offices at 60 Charlotte Street.

The move bought together two of Britain’s highest-profile sporting organisations and speaking at ‘The State of Play: Performance matters’ event hosted by Deloitte, Woodward and Lane told insidethegames that the move has been only positive.

Woodward said: "You cannot overemphasis the importance of us now working in the same offices.

"It didn’t make sense for us not to work in close proximity before we moved in together and now that we have; it allows us to really engage with Paralympic sport and learn from the unique concepts involved within it.

"If we can share knowledge and expertise with each other, it just makes so much more sense as we are essentially one organisation."

Woodward also supported the idea of the Olympics uniting with the Paralympics as one Games as he said: "I guess that is the next logical step and one that would bring the two Movements closer together.

"It would be great to see one long Games that incorporates both Olympians and Paralympians as oppose to two separate Games."

Lane also believes that the move into the same offices has been a fantastic one and stated that the Paralympic Movement must learn from the Olympic Movement in order to grow.

He said: "We can learn from the Olympic Movement because when you talk about the Paralympic Movement, the Movement in the Paralympics is more fundamental as we’re dealing with dealing with a group of people who have had to fight to get acceptance and to be recognised doing what they are doing.

"In the Olympic context, it’s a Movement in the sense that it’s celebrating well known factors in sport.

"What we are trying to do is shift one to the other and that is where we can really learn from the BOA and understand how they manage that process."

The State of Play: Performance matters’ discussion featured Woodward and Lane talking alongside Sarah Storey, Britain’s most decorated currently competing female Paralympian and Justin Watson, lead partner for Deloitte’s work with the BOA on the Olympic coaching programme.

Deloitte London 2012 is available by clicking here.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected] 


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