UK Sport Funding for Medal Prospects
UK Sport today announced a £6 million package to support Winter Olympic and Paralympic sport up to and beyond the Vancouver Games in 2010. The money, a 20% increase on the funding allocated over the Turin cycle, will be distributed across seven Olympic and two paralympic disciplines on the basis of UK Sport’s ‘No Compromise’ investment strategy. This targets resources predominately at sports and athletes considered to be genuine medal prospects in four years time.
Bob skeleton, Great Britain’s most successful winter sport in recent years, having won medals in Turin and Salt Lake City, receives the largest award of almost £2 million. This will fund world class pathway support such as coaching, competition, training, equipment, science and medicine and all the associated travel and accommodation. It also provides athletes with a personal award (APA) to contribute to their living and personal sporting costs over the next four years.
The other major recipient is curling. UK Sport’s investment has almost trebled to almost £1.1 million to fund both their programme and athlete personal awards. This is in addition to the support provided by sportscotland and the Scottish Institute of Sport. Figure skating is being funded for the first time in recent years, and will receive £496,000 to support the development of Ice Dance pair John and Sinead Kerr.
Paralympic Winter sport support more than doubles to £350,000. Following the success of its silver medal winning wheelchair curling team in Turin, that sport will receive £270,000 of this investment, whilst the remaining £80,000 will go to Alpine skiing.
Investment in Alpine Skiing and Snowboarding is being cut from the previous level of £1.7 million (over the four year cycle) to just £922,000 - one half of the almost £2 million funding for Bob Skeleton!
We think that sucks. Shelley Rudman’s fantastic silver medal at Turin is not realistically likely to lead to mass participation in the Skeleton Bob, whereas a higher profile for our Olympic Skiers and Boarders (whether or not they can become realistic medal prospects for 2010) is something many of us would be inspired by.
The Olympic Principles include :-
Olympism is a philosophy of life, exalting and combining in a balanced whole the qualities of body, will and mind. Blending sport with culture and education, Olympism seeks to create a way of life based on the joy of effort, the educational value of good example and respect for universal fundamental ethical principles.
Did anyone from UK Sport read that? Whatever happened to “the taking part”, surely a central part of the Olympic ideal? Do we really want to send the message that “only medals count” to our young winter sports enthusiasts?
