And in what is described as "the last chance for significant changes" before the London 2012 Games, UK Sport has also almost doubled its funding budget to winter sports preparing for the 2014 Sochi Games to £11.3 million ($17.8 million) from the figure of £6.5 million ($10.2 million) set aside for this year's Vancouver Games.

Hockey is the biggest beneficiary of the six patted-on-the-back summer sports, getting an increase of more than £1 million ($1.5 million) up to the 2012 Games, with gymnastics also earning substantial reward for its continuing success with an increase of more than £500,000 ($789,000).

Boxing, taekwondo, rowing and canoeing are the other sports to have earned extra financial backing.

Of the winter sports to benefit from new funding levels, women's bobsleigh is the biggest beneficiary with a rise of almost £2 million ($3 million), from £496,000 ($783,000) in the 2006-2010 cycle to £2,420,200 ($3,818,554) in 2010-2014.

Short track speed skating is not far behind, with a funding award rising from £964,000 ($1.5 million) to £2,785,100, and bob skeleton, which provided the only British medal, golden, of the Vancouver Games through Amy Williams, has been awarded a rise from £2,110,000 ($4,394,288) to £3,447,600 ($5,439,570).

Curling also earns rewards, moving up from £1,136,000 ($1,792,363) to £2,055,100 ($3,242,505).

But three winter sports have seen their funding awards cut to zero – ice dance, which previously had £496,000, skiing, which had £372,000 ($587,000), and snowboarding, which had £248,000 ($391,000).

As expected, the British Olympic Association's request for an extra £200,000 ($316,000) to support the 2012 preparations of the women's volleyball team, who were officially given Host Nation qualification status on Tuesday, has not resulted in any last-minute alterations.

Volleyball's Lottery funding awards remains at its previous level of £2,718,538 ($4,289,267) for 2009-13.



Liz Nicholl (pictured), UK Sport's chief executive, said volleyball had not provided any evidence for a change in investment.

"Gone are the days when we will react to someone knocking on our door saying "can I have this, can I have that, I'm different.'"

The increased funding levels, according to Nicholl, have derived partly from increased National Lottery revenue which has been "over and above projections", and partly from efficient management of UK Sport budgets "in order to maximise funding for front line sports."

Tim Hollingsworth, UK Sport's chief operating officer, added that in terms of medals being won in comparable world championship level events, Britain's Olympians and Paralympians were doing relatively better than they had at this stage before any Games.

Having made the point that altered programmes preclude exact parallels, Hollingsworth commented: "We are doing better, and we are further ahead than at any time within the cycle of previous Games. We were saying the same thing at this stage before Beijing, and before Athens."

Commenting on the six star summer sports, Nicholl said hockey had increased its potential from one medal - from either the men's or women's team – to two, and so was now receiving funding at Podium level.

Medal successes at the European and World Championships accounted for the increased funding for boxing, gymnastics and tae kwon do, she added. Rowing and canoeing were also benefiting from medal successes.

"This acknowledges the huge success the British team had at the recent World Rowing Championships in New Zealand," Nicholl said. "A huge percentage of rowers who have come back from world championships with a medal around their neck have subsequently come back from the Olympics with medals too."

She added that badminton was likely to qualify a smaller than expected squad for 2012, and that extra emphasis was now being put on developing talent for the 2016 Games.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


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