11 December 2008

UK budget for London Olympics

UK SPORT SETS “TOP FOUR” MEDAL AMBITION FOR 2012 OLYMPICS@UK sport

total of £292 million of confirmed investment has today been allocated by UK Sport to British Olympic and Paralympic sports ahead of the London Games in 2012. This funding, building on the £265 million invested for Beijing, has enabled UK Sport to agree a target of a “Top Four” finish in London, aiming to win more medals in more sports than in Beijing and thereby ensure the most successful Olympic performance by a British team for 100 years. The Paralympic target is to retain second place in the Medal Table behind China, again winning more medals in more sports than in Beijing.

A total of £247 million has been invested in Olympic sport for the London cycle. The funded sports are: Archery, Athletics, Badminton, Basketball, Boxing, Canoeing, Cycling, Diving, Equestrian, Gymnastics, Hockey, Judo, Modern Pentathlon, Rowing, Sailing, Swimming, Synchronised Swimming, Taekwondo and Triathlon.

UK Sport allocates funding for 2012@sport business

Athletics, the showcase sport of the Olympics, received a funding cut before the London Games yesterday as sports chiefs rewarded the UK's most successful sports in Beijing.

According to UK press reports, the drop in funding from £26.5 million to £25.1 million — the biggest of any sport — was announced despite the overwhelming focus of public attention during the Games falling on the Olympic stadium. Athletics was one of only two sports — the other was badminton — to be dealt weaker financial resources compared with Beijing.

By contrast, the biggest investment in any sport is in rowing, in which six medals were won in Beijing, helping to earn it a 5.5 per cent increase to £27.4 million over the next four years.

Cycling, which was Britain’s most successful sport in Beijing, with 14 medals, received a 22 per cent increase in funding to £26.9 million.

Basketball and Hockey were under threat before a last-minute injection of cash from the Treasury on Tuesday night. They received a 137 per cent increase and a 43 per cent increase respectively.

1 comment:

Matthew Cain said...

uiMatthew Taylor has an interesting piece on how the 2012 organisers are rowing back on its commitment to using the games to improve sporting participation: http://www.matthewtaylorsblog.com/public-policy/london-2012-the-retreat-from-the-ideal-of-mass-sporting-participation/