Funding increase in Great Britain
Weightlifting, water polo, table tennis, wrestling, fencing, shooting, handball and volleyball had initially been allocated a share of just £12.5 million between them to last four years.
Following a review of spending, all those sports with the exception of table tennis have had their allocation doubled. The increased funding means that Team GB may feature athletes in every sport in London, the first time that has occurred in the modern era.
Half of the new money, £6.5 million, has come from Visa’s sponsorship of Team 2012, the umbrella for UK Sport, the British Olympic Association and London 2012 intended to bring private finance into the Olympic sports.
A further £6.5 million has come from revising down inflation-linked increases to the rest of the sports. The result is that all other sports have seen funding go down – rowing, the best-funded sport, has had the biggest cut of almost £500,000 – to help rebalance the budget. (by Paul Kelso )
