- Extra £443,200 invested in winter sports on the medal hunt at Sochi 2014, taking total investment to more than £14million
- Summer sports target up to 54* medals in Olympic disciplines in 2013, while Paralympic sports target up to 127*
- Building a stronger high performance system as continuity of funding allows head start on Rio cycle
UK Sport, the nation’s high performance sports agency, has today announced an extra £443,200 to be invested in Britain’s winter sports in their final preparations for the Sochi 2014 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Meanwhile, almost a year on from London 2012, Britain’s summer sports have revealed ambitious targets for their most significant competitions in 2013.
Following a very successful 12/13 season, UK Sport has undertaken its annual review of its investment in winter sports and agreed additional investment in the sports of Bobsleigh, Ski and Snowboard and Para Alpine Skiing in order to help these sports be best prepared to realise all their medal winning opportunities in Sochi next year.
In total, British winter sports athletes won 10 medals at their milestone events in Olympic and Paralympic disciplines during the 12/13 season. These have included World Championship titles for Shelley Rudman in Skeleton and Scotland’s women’s curling team, plus a World bronze for the men’s curling team.
Elise Christie became GB’s first ever female world medallist in short track speed skating winning a bronze, James Woods secured a world silver medal in slopestyle skiing and there was an impressive five medal haul for GB at the Para Alpine World Championships with Kelly Gallagher winning four medals and Jade Etherington winning one.
Simon Timson, who started in his post as Director of Performance at UK Sport in January this year, said: “The benefit of aligning our investment approach for winter sports with that of summer at the start of the Sochi cycle is starting to be realised; our winter sports are in better shape than ever before, and our latest Mission 2014 analysis confirms this.
“It’s fantastic, with less than a year to go, to be able to invest in additional medal opportunities in Sochi with the extra funding announced today, and I am confident that Team GB and ParalympicsGB’s performances in Sochi will demonstrate progression from Vancouver. Sochi could even present one of our best ever winter Games performances, which would be a fantastic early legacy from London 2012, where the additional investment and attention given to developing our high performance system has benefited summer and winter sports alike.”
As is the case every year, each funded summer sport has agreed targets with UK Sport for their most significant event this year, to demonstrate their progress in Olympic and Paralympic disciplines throughout the cycle.
The targets show Olympic sports aiming to win between 26 and 54* medals in international competitions this year and Paralympic sports aiming for between 88* and 127*.
Liz Nicholl, CEO of UK Sport, said: “The targets revealed today show business as usual in the high performance system with all funded sports striving for success on the international stage.
“The critical certainly of funding we were given post Games and the early planning we did for this cycle have allowed us to hit the ground running, which gives us an important competitive edge at this stage in the cycle.
“We have, of course, been through some recalibration post-London, but I have not detected any sense of complacency or loss of momentum within the sports.
“We invest more than just money in our sports and in order to realise our aim of winning more medals in Rio, while building a stronger more sustainable system, we must continue to assess our system and innovate to remain cutting edge.
“As we approach one year post London 2012, and embark on our first busy summer of sport in the Rio cycle, we are in better shape than ever before and have real clarity on how we can continue to improve. This demonstrates a true legacy of the Games for British high performance sport.”
Hugh Robertson, Minister for Sport, said: “British athletes achieved great success at London 2012 and we want to keep that momentum going in the four years to Rio. We are setting ambitious targets with our sports as we want to ensure that our athletes are the best prepared in the world. Today’s boost for winter sports will also help us look to better Team GB and ParalympicsGB’s performance in Vancouver in Sochi next year.”
Mike Hay, Team GB Sochi 2014 Chef de Mission, who is also an Olympic gold winning head coach and international curler, said: “Based upon recent results, we are excited about our prospects for the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games.
Sochi will feature 12 new events and some of those bring with them possible medal opportunities for Team GB - in the likes of freestyle skiing and snowboarding. It is very likely that we will have greater depth, across more sports, in Sochi than we have ever seen for Team GB at an Olympic Winter Games.
“That is a credit to the National Governing Bodies of Olympic winter sport, the athletes and their coaches, and the other sport stakeholders like UK Sport and Sport Scotland who support and invest in winter sport.
“Team GB athletes will again need the support of the British public and there is plenty to get excited about.”
Penny Briscoe, Director of Sport at the BPA and Chef de Mission for Paralympics GB, said: “I am very pleased with how preparations are going for the Paralympic Games in Sochi. My position means that I am closely involved with our three winter sports and I know how incredibly hard our sports are working.
“Equally, at the BPA we are committed to supporting our sports wherever necessary and to ensure that the team and support staff are in the best possible shape when they reach the start line in just under a year’s time.”
Olympic 2013 medal targets
Paralympic 2013 medal targets
*Equestrian medal target range amended since original announcement due to an administrative error