Olympic medallist, rower Cath Bishop has called for sports businesses to become "lean, smart, business athletes" to ensure their success.

Speaking at the annual Sports and Play Construction Association (SAPCA) Conference – held today at the Chesford Grange Hotel in Warwick, UK – Bishop compared the challenges faced by businesses to those of elite athletes.

Bishop, who won the silver medal in the coxless pair with Katherine Grainger at the Athens Olympic Games 2004, said: “Successful businesses and elite athletes have a lot in common.

“To succeed, both need to have a high performance mindset and clarity over what they want to achieve. Those that are clear about their targets are much more likely to achieve them.”

Bishop’s keynote speech formed the centrepiece of this year’s SAPCA conference, held under the theme of "Building Better Businesses".

The event has been designed to give delegates the tools to build stronger businesses and will provide a series of sessions and workshops on a variety of core areas of the sports industry – from dealing effectively with financial and legal issues, through sales and marketing skills, knowledge of project funding and planning law.

During the conference, SAPCA also launched its quality system and presented its our plans for 2015.

To view the full conference programme, click here.

• SAPCA is the UK trade association for the sports facility construction industry and represents businesses across the sports, physical activity, recreation and play sectors.