In December 2012, UK Sport announced its investment into elite sport for the Rio cycle until 2016.

GB women's water polo was awarded £4.5 million ($7.53 million/€5.54 million) for the four-year cycle.

UK Sport said it was investing in "42 summer Olympic and Paralympic sports with credible medal potential in 2016 or 2020".

The review process after the London Olympics, which led to these decisions, was described by the agency as "more detailed and robust than ever before, and the four year investment has been targeted to support an eight year athlete pathway where there is the greatest potential for medal success".

Yet in February 2014 UK Sport declared that we, along with a number of other sports, had no credible medal potential for 2016 or 2020. This meant that, as of May 6, 2014, there would be no further money.

So what happened in between these two announcements?

I was appointed as performance director in March 2013. I immediately made what, in my view, were the necessary changes for the run-up to Rio 2016.

This meant a significant increase in staff, including a new head coach, as we sought to make best use of the sizeable uplift in funding the sport had received.

The majority of players played abroad this season as they sought valuable experience among Europe's best. This was as a preliminary to the GB squad being centralised from May 2014, in a brand new high performance centre in Beswick, Manchester, for the last two years before the Games.

After Great Britain's women's water polo debut at London 2012, eyes were firmly fixed on competing at Rio 2016 ©AFP/Getty Images



Only two other countries have a similar centralised approach for their national teams, with others having professional club leagues that their Olympic athletes play in.

This two-year centralisation programme was to be fundamental to creating competitive advantage over our international rivals in preparation for Rio.

Unfortunately with zero funding, this will not now materialise.

We did miss our milestone target in 2013: we came 13th at the World Championships against a target of finishing in the top 12.

It is right and proper that milestone targets are a factor in the process by which UK Sport makes its annual assessments of the progress individual sports are making - but they are not the sole factor. Two other Olympic sports missed their milestone targets in 2013 yet received more funds following UK Sport's annual investment review.

We have been told that through their annual review, conducted between September 2013 and January 2014, UK Sport has re-evaluated our journey to Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020.

The people making these decisions need to get them right the first time - not just to ensure that public funds are used in an efficient and effective manner, but because of the huge human impact when prior commitments are reversed.

All bar one of my staff relocated from across the country to Manchester to join the programme. Our head coach brought his young family across from Greece only last November.

Even so, we all acknowledge that abrupt change can happen in any professional working sphere. I know that all these people will work through our dramatically changed circumstances and add value to future sports organisations.

The biggest impact is emotional.

For example, I received the news of the failure of our representation direct to the UK Sport Board as we landed back at Heathrow airport from a trip to Russia. Just 18 hours earlier, two 17-year-old squad members had made their senior international debuts. Telling them and the other players and staff the bad news was one of the worst moments of my professional life.

The British team did miss their target of a top-12 finish at the World Championships, but so did two other Olympic sports which have been given more funding ©Getty Images



I was, in effect, informing them that their Olympic hopes and dreams were over even before they had properly started.

For the older women, some of whom have been elite athletes for 10 years, the funding announcement brings about an enforced life change.

It can be difficult enough for athletes to stop/retire even when they are doing so at their own chosen time. When the decision is forced on them in this abrupt and dramatic way, it inevitably heightens concern and anxiety about how the transformation might affect them.

The approach taken by UK Sport to assisting these athletes in the transition has been a disappointment. All UK Sport-funded athletes receive Athlete Personal Awards (APAs) - financial support intended to enable them to meet the costs of being an elite athlete, and to focus on their training and competition. There is a range in the level of awards: the GB women's payments are between £650 ($1,100/€800) and £880 a month ($1,300/€975).

UK Sport has decided to stop these payments on June 15, although they have granted some extra finance for the squad to at least compete in the European Championships in the last two weeks of July.

Every athlete who left the GB programme in my time as performance director has received three months' APA after their leaving date to help them on their way in making the transition into a new career and lifestyle.

You cannot expect someone to give their all for their country one day and then walk straight into a new career and life the next.

In the wake of advice from the axed sports, UK Sport has now sought to put in place a supporting counselling service for athletes. It is vital that this service remains available not just from the immediate cessation of funding, but in months to come when the full reality of the situation may well make its greatest impact on the athletes.

The experience of water polo and the other axed sports raises the whole issue of athlete transition from Olympic and Paralympic competition. It needs a major reassessment.

Victory over world champions Spain this week shows what the British team is capable of
©Graeme Thompson



Many of the professional sports - rugby League, football, cricket and so on - have recognised that there are significant issues that need to be addressed. These sports have now put in place support networks for retiring and retired players.

Similar proactive structures need to be initiated and developed by UK Sport in conjunction with the governing bodies and programmes they invest into. This needs to be an obligation of the investment.

It is easy to walk alongside people when they have won medals, but the true test of any organisation/person is to walk alongside individuals in their darkest times.

For any athlete faced with stopping training/competing, regardless of how successful they have been, that moment when they are obliged to move outside their elite sport "bubble" can be the darkest time.

In the period of the last three months of trying to reverse the funding decision, while listening to the debate over its merits, the significant amount of support for our cause from the media, sporting figures and politicians has been heartening.

The debate over whether team sports should have a different funding approach is definitely merited as there is a dwindling number now being funded by UK Sport.

Other reasons for investment, such as the ability of sports like water polo and synchronised swimming to produce role models for youngsters, are important as well. I know what a big impact role models and a clear pathway into your preferred sport can have since I started my career as a sport development officer.

In my view, however, GB women's water polo merits funding from UK Sport on performance criteria alone. The squad is good enough to qualify for Rio and win a medal in Tokyo - the principles on which UK Sport made their initial investment.

I do not agree with UK Sport's revised assessment of our chances. That was even before our victory last Tuesday over world champions Spain.

The last three months have brought the full range of emotions for everyone associated with GB water polo.

It is not just the senior squad players who have felt anger, disappointment and frustration. These emotions are shared by the young athletes on our talent pathway from the age of 13, their parents and the volunteer personnel in schools and clubs whose commitment to the sport remains unstinting.

Standing out amongst all of those emotions is pride. I am very proud to have been the performance director to the GB women's water polo team, albeit for far too short a period. And I know the pride the players have taken in their sport as they pushed to surpass new boundaries of achievement.

Tuesday's win over Spain was a public demonstration of that.

They are a group of women who epitomise all that being a team should be and who have risen – together - to every challenge.

They move forward with self belief and respect, regardless of others' judgement of them, and they are right do so.

Graeme Thompson is performance director of the GB women's water polo team – until next Wednesday when he is due to be made redundant.