As the impact of Tuesday’s funding announcement has begun to sink in, the sports that make up the Olympic family have started to assess the impact that the new awards will have on their high-performance systems.
Although the sizes and the relative percentage increases differ considerably from sport to sport – especially those not previously in receipt of significant World Class Pathway investment – the task facing all the recipients is similar – that of producing world class results in just over six years time.
Here’s what some of the sports had to say:
Athletics
UK Athletics Performance Director, Dave Collins said, "This represents a 7% increase on our existing award, and a 2.8% share of the additional funds distributed amongst the 27 sports.
"This additional funding will help us in ensuring we leave no stone unturned in our quest to achieve the performance targets we’ve set ourselves. As with any sport, we would always like more but now is time to focus on the job in hand.
"We will be working through this information with UK Sport over the next few weeks to fully understand the implications and benefits that this will bring to athletics."
Badminton
Badminton England's Acting Chief Executive Eric Brown said, "With this confirmation of funding badminton has received a positive endorsement from UK Sport for all the hard work that has gone into the achievements of recent years at Elite level. Our next task will be to ensure the money is invested wisely, which in the short term means we must focus our attention on working with UK Sport and the home nations to develop an effective GB structure that focuses on the 'best’ talent and those most likely to achieve in Beijing and beyond." Jon Austin, Badminton England's Elite Programmes Manager, said, "It is good news for all players from the Home Nations who are hoping to qualify for Beijing and for those younger emerging prospects who have London 2012 as their target."It reflects UK Sport's commitment to badminton and, from our point of view, secures future development."
Canoeing
The Chief Executive of the BCU, Paul Owen commented, "The additional funding is great news for canoeing, it reflects the confidence in our sport and creates an opportunity to step up to the challenges of preparing to win medals in the forthcoming Olympic Games."
Cycling
"UK Sport and the government have delivered and there can be no excuses now," said the cycling performance director, Dave Brailsford. "There are not many nations in the world that have the same backing. It's scary because all the obstacles have been removed and there is nothing for us to hide behind."
Gymnastics
"This is very welcome news after all of the recent funding difficulties and gives a platform from which the Olympic disciplines can move towards medal success in Women's Artistic and Trampoline and we can restart the performance development programmes for Men's and Rhythmic Gymnastics", said CEO, Alan Sommerville
Meanwhile, Matthew Greenwood (Director, Performance & Technical), commented, "This is great news for the Men and Rhythmic, but we must now rise to some very serious challenges to develop plans that can deliver the performance standards expected by UK Sport & government in the short period of time before the London Olympics".
Shooting
The Performance Director of the Great Britain Target Shooting Federation John Leighton-Dyson described the announcement from UK Sport as a "fantastic boost". He said: "Shooting in this country has never had this level of resource before. It means that we can support our top shooters and develop new talent for the future.
"Shooting has consistently delivered medals for Great Britain and now with this level of funding we can be optimistic about meeting our medal targets.It means that with the proper resources our shooters can devote the time which is necessary to compete at Olympic level. It is a fantastic boost for us."
Swimming
"British Swimming welcomes this additional funding and pays tribute to the work which UK Sport has done to secure this vital injection of funds. This extra support will now enable us to prepare for the Beijing Olympics and begin to lay foundations for success in 2012", said Chief Executive, David Sparkes.
Table Tennis
Alex Murdoch, ETTA Chairman and BOA representative for Table Tennis said, " This is a significant award and will give our sport the chance to not only build upon the recent results of our young players as gold medal winners at World and European Cadet level but also to encompass a programme for a larger group of players with potential and support talent identification ensuring no potential Olympian is missed. " The major efforts made by UK Sport and the BOA to ensure adequate additional funding being provided by the government should be recognised as a very significant achievement for sport in Great Britain. Our congratulations and thanks go to them for this major contribution to the changing face of British sport."
Volleyball
"I am delighted that Volleyball has finally been awarded funding so we can prepare for the Olympic Games. As we approach our 50th anniversary it is welcome news", said Richard Callicott, President of the English Volleyball Association.