Some 37 per cent of those with medals at the London games attended fee-paying schools, even though the sector educates just seven per cent of the population nationally.
Research by the Sutton Trust, a social mobility charity, also shows that more than a quarter of Britain’s gold medallists were from independent schools.
It marks a decline on the proportion of British medals claimed by privately-educated competitors at the Beijing games but still means the sector is significantly “over-represented” in Team GB.
The disclosure comes just days after Lord Moynihan, chairman of the British Olympic Association, called for an urgent overhaul of school sports policy amid fears the state education system was failing to produce enough top-level competitors.
The Sutton Trust report warned that sport was “not a priority” in too many state schools.
London Olympics 2012: four-in-10 Team GB medallists ‘educated privately’ – Telegraph.
