Training grants and financial help of more than £400,000 ($640,000) will go towards helping aspiring athletes, with the successful applicants announced in Canary Wharf by Gunnell, the 1992 Olympic 400 metres hurdles champion, and Peter Bundey, the chairman of the GLL Sport Foundation.

Athletes across 60 sports won sponsorship, with each receiving up to £1,250 ($2,000) a week for training, travel and equipment over the next year.

Eighty per cent of the grants are for under 20-year-olds, and of those, 53 per cent are under 16, in line with the Foundation's goal to help emerging talents who may face financial difficulties otherwise.

Gunnell said: "I know from personal experience just how hard it is to find funding support when competition, equipment and training costs start to rise.

"The aim of the Foundation is to provide practical support for talented young athletes and it has become clear that the support given to these young athletes is having a tremendous impact.

"The success of the scheme has already surpassed our expectations and we have been able to promote these young people as role models within their communities"

Bundey added: "I would like to thank our numerous Local Authority and public sector partners, who provide training venues for the athletes and all our sponsors who raise vital funding for the scheme.

"I would also like to stress the importance of working with SportsAid, who bring national sporting links, co-ordination with other talent funding programmes and hours of validation of applications and performance assessment."

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]