LONDON: Britain has targeted an improvement on its London 2012 medal haul in Rio in four years with UK Sport announcing an 11 percent rise in funding for elite sport yesterday.
Government-funded UK Sport will invest £347m ($564m) in 42 Olympic and Paralympic sports leading up to Rio in 2016, with cycling and rowing the biggest beneficiaries as reward for their performances in London this year.
Several sports are effectively on report, however, while other minority sports have been cast adrift completely under UK Sport’s “no compromise” policy.
Swimming, in which Britain performed poorly at the Olympics previously, is one of four sports that has been told must improve its performance to receive its full four-year funding package from UK Sport funds.
Basketball, handball, volleyball, table tennis and wrestling will all receive no UK Sport funds, it was announced.
“Our announcement today is unprecedented, as we increase investment in British elite sport post our home Games and aim to achieve something no other host nation in recent history has before, in surpassing this year’ incredible performance at both the next summer Olympic and Paralympic Games,” Baroness Sue Campbell, Chair of UK Sport, said yesterday to reporters in London.
REUTERS
