Loughborough University producing most top Olympic athletes

'No end to the opportunities' - sporting and otherwise - that lie ahead at university for students who have now received their A-level results

Team GB athletes pose for a photograph as they return home from the 2016 Rio Olympics, at Heathrow Airport in London (Reuters)

Students dreaming of being able to represent Great Britain at the Olympics one day had better head to Loughborough University as it’s been named as the institution to have produced the most top athletes at Rio this year.

Of the 382 members of Team GB, including reserves, the two other UK universities to have produced the most athletes were the University of Bath and Birmingham University.

Unsurprisingly, the most popular courses to have been studied were sports-related, with 79 Team GB members having undertaken such subjects while at university. Those related to business and also law made up the other two most-studied degree topics, with eight and seven members respectively having done so.

Other perhaps more unexpected courses to have been studied include; aeronautical engineering by swimmer Camilla Hattersley, criminology by diver Alicia Blagg and Rower Jack Beaumont, fine art by boxer Joe Joyce, and publishing by distance runner Laura Whittle.

Theology and religious studies was studied by track and field athlete Lawrence Clarke, and veterinary medicine was undertaken by boxer Laura Muir.

Brian Norton, CEO of Future Finance - the specialist student loan lender which compiled the research - described it as “great” to see which universities are “carrying the legacy of London 2012” by continuing to “feed the Olympic team with the athletes we’ve so carefully watched at Rio.”

He added: “For students who received their A-level results last month, there is no end to the opportunities - sporting and otherwise - that lie ahead at university.

“The results show that, although Olympic athletes tend to study sports at university, they are still making time for the wide range of courses on offer such as veterinary medicine, criminology, theology, and fine art.

“University is a huge opportunity for students in every respect, and they should look beyond the lecture theatre to get the most out of their time in further education.”