UK Sport Performance Director named next Queensland Academy of Sport Chief Executive

Chelsea Warr, Performance Director for the UK Sport, is to leave her role to join the Queensland Academy of Sport as Chief Executive later this year.

The departure of Warr, an Australian citizen, one of the key figures behind Great Britain's successes at the London 2012 and Rio 2016 Olympic Games, comes just months before the 2020 Tokyo Games.

Warr joined UK Sport in 2005 as a Performance Program Consultant and was later promoted to the head of Performance Pathways, where she pioneered Great Britain’s talent identification and development program, which fast-tracked hundreds of athletes into elite programs.

She was promoted to Deputy Director of Performance in 2013, playing a pivotal role in building the high-performance strategy for Tokyo 2020, and was named Director of Performance in 2016.

During her time at UK Sport, Great Britain has climbed the medal standings at each Games – finishing second in the table in 2016 with 67 medals.

Last month (December 2019), Warr said that Team GB could surpass their record medal haul from Rio at the 2020 Games.

Commenting on Warr's departure in a statement, UK Sport advised "we would like to thank Chelsea Warr for the significant contribution she has made to British Olympic and Paralympic sport over the past 18 years; both at UK Sport and prior to that at British Swimming.

"We wish her every success in her new role in her home country."

Her role will be filled in the interim by Deputy Director of Performance Michael Bourne while UK Sport undertakes a search for her replacement.

Image of Chelsea Warr courtesy of UK Sport.