Athletics' funding cut for 2012

Published on Wednesday 3 December 2008 23:26

ATHLETICS, the flagship event of the Olympic Games, has been handed a cut in its cash allocation to prepare for London 2012 while eight other sports face an uncertain future.

UK Sport has announced the detailed funding for the next four years and while 17 Olympic sports including cycling, sailing, swimming and rowing – all successful in Beijing – have been given increases, athletics is the high-profile victim of a budget cut after underperforming at the Games this year in Beijing.

Athletics chiefs were putting a brave face on the setback, which many view as an embarrassment given Britain's high hopes of success in track and field in London. Public interest in the 2012 Games will focus most intensely on the track and field events, but athletics' budget will drop from 26.5million in the run-up to Beijing to 25.1million over the next four years. The sport failed to meet its target of five medals in Beijing, winning only four, and medal prospects for London already look similarly limited.

UK Athletics chief executive Niels de Vos insisted he is happy with the funding given to the sport ahead and has backed Britain's athletes to "surprise people" in 2012.

De Vos admitted the cut could have been more severe had he not implemented a recent restructuring of UK Athletics.

One high-profile change saw the appointment of Dutchman Charles van Commenee as head coach after performance director Dave Collins' contract was terminated following Beijing.

De Vos said: "It's absolutely as expected, there's no surprises for me there. We've already made a lot of the changes to our programme, both in terms of tightening up the management of it and the numbers of athletes that we fund. We dropped that by some 20 per cent a couple of weeks back so no surprises. The bottom line is I guess I'm grateful to UK Sport for supporting us because there were changes that needed to be made.

"I've been discussing those with them since pre-Beijing. I made the changes and they've backed me and given me the money I need to make it happen, so overall, I'm pretty pleased.

"They've backed my plans, so from that point of view, had we not made the changes or had they not backed my plans, I guess it (the cut] could have been a bit more severe.

"Athletics will be the showcase sport of 2012. I think the key thing is Britain's performance within that showcase and all the changes I've made have been geared towards 2012."

De Vos added that the appointment of Van Commenee would be key to raising the profile of British athletics after the relative disappointment of Beijing.

"Charles is a 2012 appointment and he and I are working closely with UK Sport to make sure we get as many Brits into finals as possible and from that as many medals as possible," he said. "Some of that is funded by UK Sport, but not all of it.

We're pretty lucky, my commercial team have worked very hard to get us some good commercial sponsorship, which is tied through to 2012.

"We're pushing on all fronts and I'm very determined that we have a good show in London, both in terms of the number of finalists and the number of medals.

"Athletics is never going to be a sport that delivers an avalanche of gold medals because no country does. Even the mighty America only delivered six in Beijing.

"I think athletics will be brilliant and we'll play our part in it. We've got a good package that matches what I needed to put together the programme that Charles and I have agreed with UK Sport."

De Vos believes Britain can aim for six medals at next summer's world championships in Berlin but refused to set a target for London.

"We've got challenges before London, we've got Berlin... that kind of number is about right for Berlin," he added.

"I think we will surprise people between now and London but I'm clearly going to keep my powder dry and I'm not going to hang myself by giving an aspirational figure now."

UK Sport's head of performance Peter Keen said athletics would now concentrate on a fewer number of athletes – 30 rather than 40 – in the expectation of achieving six medals in London. Keen said: "They are looking to allocate around 30 full packages to their leading athletes who are in with a medal shot. It is a more focused approach."

Keen also admitted that the investment in athletics is more likely to pay off in 2016 than in London. By contrast to athletics, the biggest investment in any single sport will be in rowing – 27.4million, a 5.5 per cent increase. Cycling, the most successful sport in Beijing with 14 medals, receives 26.9million, a 21.5 per cent increase.

Badminton also has a slight cut in its budget while eight Olympic sports also face cuts but have yet to receive a confirmed figure. They are fencing, handball, shooting, table tennis, volleyball/beach volleyball, water polo, weightlifting and wrestling.

UK Sport also confirmed that hockey, basketball, synchronised swimming and wheelchair rugby only received funding at the last minute after the Government yesterday reduced a 79million funding shortfall to 50million by providing 29million from Exchequer funding.

The total funding for the next four years will be 246.8million split among 19 sports and 45.6million going to Paralympic sports – 15.7million more than before the Beijing Paralympics. A further 12million has been set aside to be split among the eight sports who have not had their funding confirmed.

UK Sport will now look at the possibility of securing funds from other sources.

The British Olympic Association remain unhappy that any cuts had to be made at all.

BOA chief executive Andy Hunt said: "It is disappointing that just three months after the most successful Olympic Games for Great Britain in 100 years, the Government have failed to honour their funding promise.

"For those sports that have learnt today that they face an uncertain financial future, two years of planning and investment has been thrown up in the air.

"The BOA is deeply concerned that the opportunity to find the Chris Hoy of table tennis or the Rebecca Adlington of volleyball in future Olympic Games has been put in jeopardy."

Who are the winners and losers in the London funding carve up?

UK SPORT has announced detailed funding for Olympic sports for the next four years. While some sports have been given welcome increases, nine others face cuts due to a shortfall of around 50million of anticipated public sector money in the Government's targets.

Here is some of the reaction to yesterday's announcement:BASKETBALL

"It's fantastic news. We're very pleased with our allocation and we're very much up for the challenge it brings. I think it's recognition of what's being going on and we're excited about going forward now."

– Performance director Chris SpiceBOA

"For those sports that have learnt today that they face an uncertain financial future, two years of planning and investment has been thrown up in the air. A wider base of participation is crucial to the long-term delivery of medal success and the BOA is concerned that the opportunity to find the Chris Hoy of table tennis or the Rebecca Adlington of volleyball in future has been put in jeopardy."

"It is frustrating that we haven't received a funding figure but there is not much we can do. We were expecting a cut but we just need a figure so we can move on. They have said funding will go to those sports which are medal hopes – we believe we are medal hopes. In two years we have achieved a tremendous amount with world-class funding after a 40-year drought."

"Obviously we're very disappointed not to have had funding confirmed, as the programme has made significant progress in the last two years and the commitment shown by the athletes and coaches has been exceptional."

"I am delighted the progress that we have made over the last few years has been recognised by UK Sport and that they have backed us with sufficient funding to deliver the necessary athlete support, run the right number of training camps and be able to participate in all the relevant tournaments."

GB Hockey President Richard LemanJUDO

"We are disappointed that our funding has not increased but we are realistic enough to accept that we did not deliver our target of two medals in Beijing. That said, we have serious reservations about the veracity of the model that greatly rewarded a number of sports who set targets of zero medals and delivered exactly that and somehow received huge increases in their grant funding. We expect a level playing field."

"We can now continue our planning for London 2012. UK Sport has shown faith in our pentathlon programme for more than ten years, in which time our women pentathletes have won 66 per cent of the Olympic medals available to them since we have been in receipt of Lottery funding."

"We are disappointed that we have been put in the at-risk group for future funding. We are still eighth in the medal table since 1980 at the Olympics and we have been put in with some sports, with due respect, that have never won an Olympic medal before. It is slightly galling."

"This is great news for synchronised swimming which is now classed as a performing sport and is across the line in terms of funding for the next four years. I believe this is just reward for the hard work undertaken by all those within the sport and the results they've collectively achieved. Unfortunately we still have no funding for water polo."

"To me, it's nonsense and it is very difficult when you consider the funding runs out in March. I'm frustrated, not just from my point of view but from the perspective of the players and coaches. We have a lot of people involved planning their future. We thought we would know one way or the other. I can't fathom it."

"For us it is excellent news. There has been a lot of hard work put in by the team and people involved with the team over the past six years. It is great that UK have recognised that. We have got great talent coming through and a fantastic coaching team. We are good medal prospects."

"As a sport that has continued to achieve on the world stage, we are pleased with UK Sport's decision to continue funding triathlon in the lead-up to the London Olympic Games, which demonstrates their confidence in our athletes, management structure and plans."

FACT BOX

Funding for Olympic sports for the 2012 London Olympiad (2008 award in brackets)

ARCHERY 4.5m (2.8m)INCREASE

ATHLETICS 25.1m (26.5m)CUT

BADMINTON 8.6m (8.8m)CUT

BASKETBALL 8.7m (3.7m)INCREASE

BOXING 8m (5m)INCREASE

CANOEING 16.3m (13.6m)INCREASE

CYCLING 26.9m (22.2m)INCREASE

DIVING 6.6m (5.9m)INCREASE

EQUESTRIAN 13.6m (11.7m)INCREASE

FENCING unconfirmed (3.1m)LIKELY CUT

GYMNASTICS 10.3m (9m)INCREASE

HANDBALL unconfirmed (3m)LIKELY CUT

HOCKEY 14.1m (9.9m)INCREASE

JUDO 7.6m (6.9m)INCREASE

MODERN PENTATHLON 6.4m (5.9m)INCREASE

ROWING 27.4m (26m)INCREASE

SAILING 23.4m (22.3m)INCREASE

SHOOTING unconfirmed (5.1m)LIKELY CUT

SWIMMING 25.6m (20.7m)Increase

SYNCH SWIMMING 3.5m (1.6m)Increase

TABLE TENNIS unconfirmed (2.5m)LIKELY CUT

TAEKWONDO 4.5m (2.7m)INCREASE

TRIATHLON 5.4m (5.1m)INCREASE

VOLLEYBALL unconfirmed (4.1m)LIKELY CUT

WATER POLO unconfirmed (3.1m)LIKELY CUT

WEIGHTLIFTING unconfirmed (1.7m)LIKELY CUT

WRESTLING unconfirmed (2.1m)LIKELY CUT

PARALYMPICS 45.6m (29.5m)INCREASE

TOTAL 304.4m* (264.6m)INCREASE

*includes 12million from sports where funding is not confirmed