UK Sport is the UK Government's organisation for directing the development of sport within the home countries.

The Sports Council previously had been formed in 1972, and had the motto Sport for All. There was also the Central Council of Physical Recreation. In July 1994 it was decided to concentrate sports funding on fewer sports and only those in which the UK succeeded. The Sports Council employed 470 staff. On 8 July 1994 Iain Sproat, the sports minister, outlined proposals to replace the Sports Council with the UK Sports Council (for elite athletes) and the England Sports Council. The other UK countries had their respective sports councils. There was more direct coordination with the British Olympic Association. The former Sports Council concentrated on around 110 sports, but the new UK Sports Council (UKSC) concentrated on around 30. Mass-participation in sport was to be looked after by local authorities. Sebastian Coe, in conversation with Iain Sproat, had given him the idea of financially supporting sporting excellence.

Sport (or, in the United States, sports) is all forms of competitive physical activity which, through casual or organised participation, aim to use, maintain or improve physical fitness and provide entertainment to participants. Hundreds of sports exist, from those requiring only two participants, through to those with hundreds of simultaneous participants, either in teams or competing as individuals.

Sport is generally recognised as activities which are based in physical athleticism or physical dexterity, with the largest major competitions such as the Olympic Games admitting only sports meeting this definition, and other organisations such as the Council of Europe using definitions precluding activities without a physical element from classification as sports. However, a number of competitive, but non-physical, activities claim recognition as mind sports. The International Olympic Committee (through ARISF) recognises both chess and bridge as bona fide sports, and SportAccord, the international sports federation association, recognises five non-physical sports, although limits the amount of mind games which can be admitted as sports.