UK Sport Targets Three Vancouver Medals
UK Sport Targets Three Vancouver Medals
UK Sport Press Release - 25.01.10
Three weeks ahead of the Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, UK Sport has today announced its medal target for the British team.
As the nation’s high performance sports agency, UK Sport has invested almost £6 million of National Lottery and Exchequer funds across seven sports since the last Games in Turin and has set a target of three medals in Vancouver.
If achieved it would represent the best return by a British team since the 1936 Games in Garmisch-Partenkirchen.
John Steele, UK Sport’s Chief Executive, said: “The Games in Vancouver are going to be hugely competitive, and our overall medal target is without doubt challenging. However, the investments made over the past four years put the sports and athletes in an excellent position to deliver. We have a number of genuine world-class performers as highlighted by successes achieved in World Championships and World Cups over the past four years. The challenge now of course is to make it count at the Games – there are never any guarantees at this level, but I am confident our sports and athletes can succeed.”
Gerry Sutcliffe, Minister for Sport, added: “Our Winter Olympic team will head to Vancouver with high hopes and I am confident that, on the back of investment from the Government and National Lottery, they will be in the best possible shape to succeed when they get to the start line. We may not yet have the strength in winter sports that we displayed in Athens and Beijing at the Summer Olympics, but I am confident Vancouver can be an important step forward, delivering Britain’s most successful performance for many decades.”
UK Sport’s main investment over the past four years has been in bob skeleton (£2.1 million), looking to build on Shelley Rudman’s silver medal at the last Games in Turin – the only medal won by Team GB. Other investment has been in curling (£1.1 million), short-track speed skating (£964,000), bobsleigh (£496,000), figure skating (£496,000), skiing (£372,000) and snowboarding (£248,000).
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