London 2012 was a giddy success with British athletes bringing home 65 Olympic and 120 Paralympic medals. So many amazing women broke records: Helen Glover and Heather Stanning won the first Olympic gold for British women’s rowing. Sarah Storey became one of our most successful Paralympians ever, winning four gold medals, while Ellie Simmonds and Hannah Cockroft won two golds apiece. And who could forget Jessica Ennis-Hill’s gold in the heptathlon on that extraordinary Super Saturday?

Fair Game was a success, too. We put sportswomen, including Dina Asher-Smith, Vicky Fleetwood and Nicola Adams on our covers, helping to make these brilliant athletes household names. We got support from the government, with published essays from Maria Miller, the secretary for culture, media and sport, and Labour deputy leader Harriet Harman.

And the women who were awarded our bursaries went on to have international victories: judoka Nekoda Smythe-Davis won gold at the 2014 World Championships and made her Olympic debut two years later. Footballer Alex Greenwood was part of the hugely successful England squad at the 2015 and 2019 Women’s World Cups. Runner Adelle Tracey came second in the 800m in the 2018 Athletics World, and is hoping to qualify for Tokyo 2020.

Today, a total of 83% of sports now award men and women equal prize money. Over 11.7 million in the UK watched England’s Lionesses play the USA in the World Cup semi-final last August – the highest peak television audience of the year. That’s phenomenal when you consider where we were a few years ago.

Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill on why we need to invest in female athletes