There have only been two Presidents of FIFA in the last 40 years, and only five Presidents of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) in its 101-year history. With his successful election last month, Cookson became the first person from this country for over 20 years to be elected as international President of a core summer Olympic sport. The last Briton to lead such a sport was the Princess Royal, who stepped down as President of the International Equestrian Federation (FEI) in 1994.

Brian Cookson's election as President of the International Cycling Union demonstrates Britain's growing influence at the top level of world sport

Many have noted the decline in British influence from the previous century when our sports administrators led many International Federations, but a return to those days is neither possible nor desirable. International sport has moved on and the Federations are now much more geographically diverse - a case in point being the 25 current Presidents of the core Summer Olympic sports, who come from 21 different countries.

There are other positive signs that Britain is once again becoming a credible and valued member of the international sporting community. Influence is not just about taking the top positions and, since London 2012, 15 out of 17 British candidates have been successful in securing positions on the Boards of the international governing bodies of their Olympic and Paralympic sports.

Having a strong voice in the international governance of sport is not just about advocating national interests. It is also about helping to make those International Federations as strong and credible as possible. If the public lose faith in the integrity of these international bodies to govern fairly and effectively, then the investment that UK Sport makes into national high performance success and hosting major events is severely compromised.

This is a key reason why UK Sport, working in partnership with the British Olympic Association (BOA) and British Paralympic Association (BPA), is providing support to sport's National Governing Bodies (NGBs) to develop and implement their own international relations strategies.

An important part of UK Sport's support to NGBs is about identifying and developing the next generation of British leaders that can play an active role in their international sporting organisations.

Emma Mason has been elected chair of the Badminton World Federation Athletes’ Commission and is now a member of the governing body's ruling Council

It is hugely encouraging to see a number of our ex-athletes step forward, and in the last year alone Beth Tweddle has been elected to the Athletes' Commission of International Gymnastics Federation (FIG), Sarah Gosling to the Athletes' Commission of International Sailing Federation (ISAF), Emma Mason to the Council of the Badminton World Federation (BWF), and Sarah Stevenson to the Council of the World Taekwondo Federation (WTF).

We have also recently launched the sixth year of our International Leadership Programme which helps British representatives involved in the international governance of their sports to operate more effectively.

It is great to see some of the alumni from this programme securing key positions that will help shape their sports internationally, such as Chris Atkins elected as vice-president of ISAF, Sue Catton elected onto the Executive Board of the International Hockey Federation (FIH), and, most recently, Martin Gibbs appointed as chief of staff for the UCI.

Simon Morton is director of major events and international relations at UK Sport