HEAVEN knows, Katherine Grainger has had some tough battles throughout her time in sport. We all know about her three Olympic silver medals before she finally managed to get her hands on that elusive gold. However, the 41-year-old’s toughest challenge may be yet to come.

Grainger has just completed her first week in her new post as Chair of UK Sport. The Scot has taken the helm at a pivotal time for the organisation following a raft of negative headlines. Athlete welfare has been at the forefront of people’s minds, with a number of stories being revealed regarding bullying and general poor treatment of athletes as coaches and performance directors ruthlessly pursue medals.

And British sport is at a crossroads in terms of its funding model, with the most recent review resulting in a number of sports having their funding cut to zero. The past week has seen 11 governing bodies band together to make a plea to Grainger and UK Sport claiming that athletes with a real chance of winning Olympic and Paralympic medals are being overlooked because the cash is concentrated on too few sports.

On day one of her tenure, Grainger gave an exclusive interview to the BBC but since then, has been silent. She will not be able to keep quiet for long though – people will be expecting some action, and soon. It will be interesting to observe Grainger’s approach. Her first task is to conduct a review of the recent decisions made by the government-appointed body for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and beyond, but she has already defended UK Sport’s no-compromise approach when it comes to focusing on sports in which medal chances are highest.

This is not the start I expected from Grainger. While she has stated that things “need to improve” regarding athlete welfare, with a win-at-all-costs mentality wholly unacceptable, it is disappointing that she seems unwilling to challenge the status quo in terms of channelling the majority of money into sports which have greater medal yield than others.

This should perhaps not come as any surprise. Grainger’s own sport, rowing, has benefitted hugely from pots of money being made available in return for dozens of world and Olympic medals. However, it is hard to argue that the strength in depth of world rowing is better than in some of the sports which have had their funding slashed, including my own sport, badminton.

Grainger is an acutely intelligent woman – she studied for a PhD in criminology while simultaneously training for London 2012 – but will she be willing to rock the boat during her tenure in a way that is surely needed? Team GB’s medal tallies at both London 2012 and Rio 2016 were sensational, which allows UK Sport to furiously deny that its approach is flawed. You want medals? We got you them, is the answer. Grainger touched on this point, saying that the medals were won in Rio across more sports than ever before and while this is true, it is also true that ‘first-world’ sports like rowing, sailing and track cycling continue to contribute most heavily to Team GB’s medal tally.

Grainger’s past as an athlete could – and should – be useful. Surely someone who has reaped the benefits of sport will be cognisant of how important it is for every sport to have an elite programme. There is, of course, no bottomless pit of money, but it does not seem unreasonable to suggest that every Olympic and Paralympic sport should be afforded at least a modicum of support. Without at least the bare minimum of funding, success at the highest level is, frankly, an impossibility. The beauty of sport is that underdogs can win, but without any support they will never be in the position to claim that unexpected medal.

In an intriguing intervention in recent days, UK Athletics chairman Ed Warner called for UK Sport to be scrapped and the powers it holds to be transferred to the British Olympic and Paralympic Associations. It is an interesting idea. Worryingly for Grainger, it is also a sensible idea. UK Sport could, possibly, be transformed if someone was willing to stir things up so dramatically that a change of approach is at least considered. But there are no signs so far that Grainger is going to throw a spanner in the works in any way, shape or form. Yes, her review is likely to come up with some tweaks that will change things to some extent. But UK Sport needs some dramatic alterations or else British sport is only going to continue down the path of cutting funding for sports which do not return from Olympic Games or World championships with a bucketful of medals.

I would love to have seen a chair come in who regarded widespread support as more valuable than winning a few more medals in the velodrome or on the rowing lake. As it stands, why would any kid bother dreaming of becoming an elite badminton or wheelchair rugby player? Without a penny of funding, it will almost certainly not happen.

Grainger is just in the door, so she needs time to do whatever she’s going to do. She made her name by becoming the most decorated British female Olympian ever. Wouldn’t it be great if her legacy was changing the attitudes of those who hold the purse strings?