Nothing can ever prepare you for the ultimate responsibility of being the big boss but even so, Phil Smith was thrown in at the very deep end in his first experience as a chef de mission.
Leading Britain to Beijing’s Paralympics earlier this year, Smith found himself facing not only the challenges of a Covid-secure Games, but also the unexpected geo-political fallout of Russia’s invasion of the Ukraine.
For Smith, who has worked for ParalympicsGB since 2005, it was a rude introduction to the role, but one he came through with flying colours.
And as a result, he has been recognised for his work in China by winning UK Sport’s prestigious PLx Award for Spirit of High Performance.
Reflecting on Beijing, Smith, whose work is powered by National Lottery funding, said: “It was pretty extraordinary, and obviously being the first time that I’d taken on the chef de mission role it was probably a bit of a baptism of fire.
“But as ever with these things I think ultimately it was an enjoyable experience and I think helped by the fact that whilst we had a number of off the field of play issues that we had to work our way through, especially before the Games, what made it easier was that we got to a point where the sport took over and the British athletes went out and did a really good job.”
Smith had previously served as deputy chef de mission at both PyeongChang in 2018 and then Tokyo last summer, giving him a sense of what a Winter Games involved, as well as seeing a post-pandemic event in person.
Dealing with Russia and Belarus being expelled from the Games on the eve of the opening ceremony was completely new though, particularly with Britain’s curlers due to play Russia on the opening weekend.
He explained: “The Russia and Belarus situation did take up an awful lot of time in the week before the Games. We were managing Covid cases at the same time and the Covid management carried on throughout the Games really, and then it just became as normal a Games as it could have done in that time and there were challenges in terms of it was quite a disparate masterplan.”
Over the course of the Games, Britain claimed their first-ever men’s gold medal on snow at either the Olympics or Paralympics through Neil Simpson, while Menna Fitzpatrick added to her resume as Britain’s most successful ever Winter Paralympian.
But for Smith, just as satisfying was seeing biathlete Steve Arnold make it to the start line after the most challenging of ordeals.
Smith recalled: “It worked out for one of our athletes who came to the Games much later than planned, arrived with just a few days to go. He’d missed most of his competition, he ended up in quarantine in Beijing for a couple of days but we got him out onto the snow, he became a Paralympian with a couple of days of the Games left which is fantastic.
“To see Steve on the start line after everything he’d been through was pretty incredible. He’d become a Paralympian and everything he’d worked towards hadn’t been taken away from him.”
Some might look back on such a demanding experience and run a mile, but Smith clearly relished the opportunity.
And fresh from being rewarded for his efforts in Beijing, he has been named as deputy chef de mission for ParalympicsGB for Paris in two years’ time – hopefully with full stadia and no pandemic to worry about.
The PLx awards are organised by UK Sport, the nation’s high-performance experts. Through strategic leadership and investment of National Lottery and Government funds, UK Sport has transformed high-performance sport, winning more Olympic and Paralympic medals than ever before. For more information visit https://www.uksport.gov.uk/
