The head of Team GB says he would love Ben Stokes to go for gold at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics – and predicted the England cricketer’s presence would elevate the entire British team.
Mark England, Team GB’s chef de mission for the Paris 2024 Games, hailed the news that cricket would be part of the LA Games – as first revealed by the Guardian – as a “fantastic decision” before turning his thoughts to the prospect of the 32-year-old Stokes leading the charge in 2028.
“It would just be superb,” England said. “When you look at the history of professional sports, when you look at people like Mark Cavendish, Andy Murray, Justin Rose, when they come into a Team GB environment, they understand the culture of high performance, they understand the importance of performing and that permeates through the whole team.
“They are great advocates, not just for their own individual sports, but for Team GB. Justin, you couldn’t have wished to have a better ambassador for Team GB and the Olympics. The time was right for him – maybe the time will be right for Ben.”
England also expressed his delight that the inclusion of five new sports will allow more British women to challenge for Olympic medals in cricket, lacrosse and squash, although he conceded that he had no idea how competitive a Team GB flag football team might be.
“We are looking at flag football, which is similar to tag rugby, and seeing how we can do that,” he added. “But it’s quite a smart move by LA 2028 because the NFL are doing a lot of work in Europe and it’s quite a clever expansion from their side.”
England was speaking at St Pancras railway station after announcing the first Team GB athletes for the Paris 2024 Games. Ten sailors were named, including the Olympic medallists Emma Wilson, John Gimson and Anna Burnet.
“Our sailors have topped the medal table at five of the last six Games, so to make the team you have to be good,” said England. “But in every sport we are looking at, we are very, very strong.”
England predicted that Britain’s team for Paris would eventually be about 370 athletes and said the data and results showed they would be “medal competitive in a significant number of events”.
“For us, we would always want to be a top-five nation,” he said. “We’d always want to be the top European nation and we think we are a 60-plus medal team so that is what we are going to shoot for and I am confident that is what we are going to bring home.”
Meanwhile England also raised a quizzical eyebrow when asked how Los Angeles would accommodate five extra sports – while also keeping to the IOC’s quota of 10,500 athletes. “That’ll be an interesting debate as to whether they are reducing the numbers of some disciplines,” he said.
“It’s going to be a numbers game as we move forward, but if you have six or eight men’s and women’s T20, flag football and lacrosse teams, something will have to give.”
