PODCAST: Funding announcement a positive step forward in aspirations for 2012
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Chief Executive, John Steele
UK Sport
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Jessica Whitehorn 04 December 2008
In December’s UK Sport podcast, Chief Executive John Steele and Head of Performance Peter Keen discuss this week’s announcement of the funding allocations to Olympic and Paralympic sports for the London 2012 Olympiad.
Following the Government’s announcement earlier this week of an additional £29 million of funding towards the World Class Performance Pathway, UK Sport’s board were able to make full funding available to 19 Olympic and 14 Paralympic sports, providing certainty to sports with medal potential for 2012 based on the ‘no compromise’ strategy. This has allowed UK Sport to confirm medal table targets of ‘top four’ in the Olympics and second in the Paralympics, with ambition to win more medals across more sports.
For the remaining eight Olympic and four Paralympic sports UK Sport is committed to a basic level of funding for each of these through to 2012 from the remaining available budget and will work with them over the coming weeks to try and identify further available funding, both from private investment and from other potential sources of income across the sporting landscape.
Chief Executive John Steele said:
“Today represents a positive step forward in terms of our aspirations for 2012. The additional funding means we can deliver on targets. Elite sport having certainty in such an uncertain economic climate is a big step forward.
“There is still a funding gap in terms of our original business plan from 2006, and although we know there will be no further public investment from the Government, we will still be fighting to get that funding in place, with the help of other agencies and partners, to try and optimise the funding available to those sports who do not currently have certainty.”
Head of Performance Peter Keen is confident that the decisions taken are the right ones:
“Our leading sports now have clarity around the opportunity that they can plan for.
“You have to pick what can win. This is at the heart of what ‘no compromise’ means. We will make the tough decisions and the tough calls, we will ensure, within the limits of our resources, that the very best team is put on the start line for 2012 and beyond.”
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