By Tom Degun at UK Sport Headquarters in London

Sir Chris Hoy London 2012December 18 - UK Sport have unveiled their goal for Britain to become the first host nation to better their medal performance at the next Olympics and Paralympics as they unveiled record funding of £347 million ($563 million/€427 million) for Rio 2016 here.


The big winners from the announcement are athletics, boxing, canoeing, cycling, rowing, equestrian and taekwondo and, in Paralympics, athletics and cycling, who all receive major funding increases following a successful London 2012.

Indeed, the vast majority of Olympic and Paralympic sports have received a significant increase in funding.

But the real losers are basketball, handball, Olympic table tennis, wrestling and wheelchair fencing, who will not receive funding from UK Sport in the Rio 2016 build-up.

Funding for indoor volleyball and sitting volleyball has also been dropped but funding for beach volleyball will remain.

Swimming has also been hit hard as their poor performance at the Olympics, which saw them claim just three medals to fall short of their target of five to seven medals, have seen their funding cut by £3,744,600 ($6,083,852/€4,603,611).

Rebecca-AdlingtonSwimming have been hit with a funding cut of £3,744,600 following a poor performance at London 2012, despite Rebecca Adlington winning two bronze medals

Badminton and judo are the other two Olympic sports to suffer funding decreases while on the Paralympic side, archery and powerlifting are the only two sports to suffer funding decrease.

Should Britain beat their medal haul at London 2012, where they claimed 65 medals, including 29 gold, at the Olympics and 120 medals, 34 gold, at the Paralympics, they would be the first host nation to be more successful in both the Olympics and Paralympics post hosting the Games.

"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's incredible performance at both the next summer Olympic and Paralympic Games," said UK Sport chair Sue Campbell.

"At UK Sport we take our responsibility for the strategic investment of public and National Lottery funds very seriously - the achievements in London simply would not have been possible without this unparalleled support and our 'no compromise' approach to investment.

"London 2012 was just the beginning, not the end, for Olympic and Paralympic sport in this country, and we plan to continue to make this funding work as hard as it can to help our best athletes achieve medal success at the highest level; to make this nation as proud as they did this summer and to inspire the next generation."

Team GB handball London 2012Handball is one of the sports to have had their entire funding package cut by UK Sport

The £347 million ($563 million/€427 million) investment is an increase on the £313 million ($508 million/€385 million) funding for sports in the London cycle.

It marks an overall increase in investment from the London cycle of 11 per cent with a five per cent increase to Olympic sports and a huge 43 per cent increase to Paralympic sports

Sports Minister Hugh Robertson has backed the announcement today.

"We are investing more public money to support our elite athletes in the four years to Rio 2016 than for our home Games, which shows our desire to keep up the momentum from London 2012," he said.

"The significant increase for Paralympic sports reflects on the extraordinary success and achievements of our Paralympic athletes this summer."

UK Sport chief executive Liz Nicholl added that although many of the funding decisions have been difficult, the agency had decided to adopt a no compromise approach to distributing money.

"While these decisions have not been easy to make, we are ensuring that every athlete with medal potential for Rio 2016 or 2020 is supported, whether through their sport's World Class Performance Programme or through our new, more flexible, small squad investment option," she said.

"For those sports with limited or no access to elite level funding, our annual review process provides a clear entry point back to UK Sport funding for those who meet the required performance standards."

For full details of the funding packages click pdfhere.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]. 


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