Dame Kelly Holmes: medals for all culture risks generation of bad losers

Dame Kelly Holmes has criticised the "medals for all" culture in British schools and said it risks spawning a generation of bad losers.
The double Olympic champion said a culture of political correctness had made "competitiveness" a dirty word and had led to the decline of competitive sport in schools.
The 39-year-old former middle distance athlete, who won two gold medals at the 2004 Athens Olympics, said: "Too often, in these politically sensitive times, it seems that competitiveness is seen as a dirty word.
"I was surprised by how many schools I came across where sports day had been abandoned. It's very important to learn how to lose.
"What you should do is pick yourself up, dust yourself down and start all over again. If everyone gets a prize, where on earth is the incentive to push yourself to do better next time?"
She was speaking a year after the Prime Minister said Labour had made a "tragic mistake" by allowing dozens of councils to scrap competitive sports in schools amid claims children on losing teams could end up psychologically damaged.
After the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the Government promised to end the "medals for all" culture which had led to the demise of competitive sport.
But Dame Kelly said established policies continue to allow health and safety concerns to come first – dismissing the positive effects of sporting competition.
The retired British record-breaking athlete, who was awarded an honorary degree from Brunel University this week, called for competitive sport to play a much larger part in the school curriculum.
She told Heat magazine: "Competitive sport can increase a child's confidence, develop their social skills and get them fit into the bargain."
Fixtures between schools dropped 70 per cent in the early 1990s following a steady decade-long decline, according to figures from the Secondary Heads Association. But in 2007, Government figures showed numbers were still falling.

The full interview with Dame Kelly appears in this week's Heat magazine.
By Ben Leach
Published: 10:51AM BST 22 Jul 2009