Britain’s chances of featuring high up the medals tables in the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games in London may be at risk because of uncertainty over funding arrangements for elite athletes, a report warned.The National Audit Office (NAO) said that plans to raise £100 million from the private sector as part of a seven-year £700 million package of support for elite sport may not materialise because of delays in beginning fund-raising and competing demands for sponsorship.And the spending watchdog warned that Government and National Lottery funding for sportsmen and women hoping to compete in the 2012 Games must not be spread too thinly if the GB team is to maximise its medal haul.Following the 2004 Athens Olympics, when the GB scooped nine gold medals, UK Sport adopted a “no compromise” policy of focusing funding on sports and athletes with a real chance of making it to the winner’s podium.
But after London was awarded the Games, the agency and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) agreed a broader goal of funding all Olympic and Paralympic disciplines to a level which would allow them to deliver “creditable” performances in 2012.
As a result, some 16 sports are now receiving money from UK Sport for the first time, and only Olympic football and tennis get no cash.
The NAO report noted that a “step change” in performance by athletes would be required if UK Sport and DCMS were to achieve their goal of fourth place for Britain in the Olympic medal table and second in the Paralympic table in 2012.
And it warned that the new goal “may distract UK Sport’s focus and funding from its primary goal of winning medals”.
To reach fourth place, the GB team would probably have to almost double its Athens tally to 17 golds in London.
“In the light of uncertainty about funding levels, UK Sport should avoid distributing too high a proportion of the extra funding to those sports with no medal potential at the Games,” said the report.
The NAO welcomed the DCMS’s decision to appoint a specialist fund-raising partner, but noted that the post was not put out to tender until November last year, 16 months after the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee identified the need for outside expertise.
It warned that elite athletes would face stiff competition for private sponsorship in the run-up to 2012 from other parts of the event, such as arenas and other new facilities.