The Wharton weblog:

WELSH ASSEMBLY GOVERNMENT: Wharton Consulting has been successful in a competitive tender process to evaluate progress made against the targets for performance and excellence sport which are set out in the Welsh Assembly Government's "Climbing Higher" strategy, published in 2005. This major project, which will run until July, will involve consulting widely within Wales to identify the achievements which have been recorded since the strategy was published, and the measures which are still required for its targets to be fulfilled. Its conclusions and recommendations will inform the development of policy on performance and excellence sport within Wales, including the potential recalibration of targets, the targeting of investment and the improvement of the national and regional sporting infrastructure. As Wales seeks to build on the recent success of its Olympians and Paralympians in Beijing, and of its national rugby team, this project is seen as a significant step towards institutionalising that success and making it sustainable and repeatable.

On Monday 9 February, at a press conference in Dublin, the Irish Sports Council published the quadrennial high performance review which Wharton Consulting has conducted on its behalf. The review consulted with a wide range of Olympic and Paralympic athletes, coaches and team managers, governing bodies and agencies involved in high performance sport. It found that all the targets set by the Athens Review four years ago have been achieved, and makes a number of recommendations as to how Ireland can maintain the upward trajectory which it has demonstrated over the past four years in the build-up to 2012. To read the press release and download the report, go to: