Loughborough has been named University of the Year for Sport by The Times Good University Guide 2014.

Loughborough topped the league in a special supplement focusing on the best universities for sport, gaining the most points in each of The Times’ three criteria – success in the British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS) championship, in cup competitions and in individual performances in non-team sports.

Peter Keen, Director of Sport at Loughborough University, said: “Naturally I am delighted that Loughborough has been awarded the accolade of University of the Year for Sport in The Times Good University Guide for 2014. Sport is in the DNA of this University and it is what we have built our reputation on. So for me this award validates all that we do to ensure that our students have a life shaping experience through sport.

“This experience is achieved on a heritage of success and excellence, alongside unrivalled sporting opportunities from recreational activities and up to the highest levels of elite performance. Simply put, at Loughborough we just get sport, and play it more than anywhere else.”

Loughborough has an unparalleled record of excellence in sport. Its students have won the BUCS title for 33 consecutive years, finishing more than 2,000 points ahead of the second placed university in last year’s competition.

At the 2010 Commonwealth Games, past and present students and Loughborough-based athletes won a total of 44 medals – a success so great that if the University had been a country it would have finished 8th in the medal table – and at the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, 90 athletes with Loughborough connections competed, winning a total of thirteen medals.

The University was also the Official Preparation Camp Headquarters for Team GB prior to the London 2012 Olympic Games, with over 520 members of Team GB passing through the campus to collect their kit and several sports basing themselves in Loughborough for their pre-Games training.

The campus has the country's largest concentration of world-class training facilities across a wide range of sports, including an indoor athletics centre, outdoor stadium and a 50m swimming pool.  National and regional centres for many sports are located on campus, including national performance centres for athletics and cricket.

Some of the most celebrated names in sport – including world record breaking athletes Sebastian Coe and Paula Radcliffe, one of the greatest-ever Paralympians, Tanni Grey-Thompson, and World Cup winning England rugby coach Clive Woodward – have studied at Loughborough.  Around 200 elite level athletes are currently studying or training at the University.

Recreational sport is equally important at Loughborough and there is a popular programme of opportunities for sports enthusiasts of all levels and abilities. The University also has the country’s largest intramural hall sport programme for those students who enjoy being part of a team with an element of competition, but without serious training.

Loughborough’s Vice Chancellor, Professor Robert Allison, says the sporting ethos lies at the very heart of the University.

“There’s an atmosphere of determination on campus and a will to succeed that pervades not only the University’s sporting endeavours but everything it does. It’s an environment that motivates everyone to be the very best they can be,” he said.

“This award illustrates how we are inspiring winners, not just in a sporting setting, but also through academic success and the employability of our students.”

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