Extra money boosts GB 2012 hopes

Team GB claimed 61 Olympic and Paralympic gold medals in Beijing

Culture secretary Andy Burnham has promised £29m of additional funding to help the British team prepare for the 2012 London Olympics and Paralympics.

There were fears a £79m shortfall would damage medal hopes, but the funding gap has been reduced to £50m.

"It's a good deal but it's also a realistic deal given the changed economic circumstances we are now in," Burnham told BBC Radio 5 Live.

"People can build for London. This is a package that works for everybody."

UK Sport, which handles budgets for Britain's Olympians and Paralympians, had been allocated £600m over six years for elite sports, with £300m coming from the government, £200m from the Lottery and £100m from the private sector.

But with a global financial crisis in full swing, no money was forthcoming from businesses, leaving UK Sport with the prospect of reducing the number of athletes, and perhaps sports, it funded ahead of the London Games.

"The global economy has changed significantly," said Burnham.

"The job I faced was to give sport certainty."

Cuts are still in the offing, but the outlook is not as gloomy as it was with all sports (apart from football and tennis, which receive no funding) receiving some funding, whether or not they offer realistic chances of medals.

BBC Radio 5 Live Olympic correspondent Gordon Farquhar said the additional money should help to keep alive Great Britain's stated aim of finishing fourth in the medal table.

There is still pain to come, but this basically shores up the Olympic ambitions for the British team to 2012 BBC Radio 5 Live Olympic correspondent Gordon Farquhar

"The amount they've now got means that they don't have to start downgrading medal hopes," said Farquhar.

"There is still pain to come, but this basically shores up the Olympic ambitions for the British team to 2012."

UK Sport will inform the 26 Olympic and 20 Paralympic sports what their London 2012 budgets are by 1100 GMT on Wednesday.

The spending plans will then be made public at a press conference that afternoon.

Burnham added: "It really is for the experts now to take difficult but realistic decisions, sport by sport, about where our medal potential lies. But we are saying that no sport will be cut adrift."

He also remains confident of being able to tease money out of the private sector to help athletes prepare for London.

"Sport is such a great thing to invest in, even in difficult economic times," he said.

"It's not frivolous spending in any way, shape or form. This is money that brings real benefit in terms of greater activity in the population and real joy, real happiness when we see our national team do well.

"It is also right now that we really up our efforts to bring in private sector funding to support our preparations for London."

Team GB finished fourth in the medals table in Beijing, exceeding expectations by landing 19 golds. China were top with 51 golds, followed by the USA (36) and Russia (23).

At the Paralympics, Team GB claimed 42 golds to finish in second place in the table, 47 behind the hosts.

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