Extra cash for 2012

British government adding extra funds amid Olympic criticism

Last updated: 2nd December 2008   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Extra cash for 2012

2012: Olympic bid criticism

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Team GB Olympians will have an extra £29 million of funding after the cash was released by the British government, following criticism of their 2012 strategy.

UK Sport is currently busy looking at where to cut funding with a shortfall of £79 million originally, but that is now down to £50m after the government move.

Culture secretary Andy Burnham announced the move to UK Sport's board on Tuesday, and it should somewhat lessen the blow to some Olympic sports for 2012.

Sports will be notified on Wednesday of the cuts being made, with most coming in costly team events, athletics, and lesser sports where medals are not expected.

The extra £29million means that £40million more will be spent overall up to London than was done in the run-up to Beijing, where the British team finished fourth in the medals table.

Olympic plan

The move comes after reports emerged of a government review which spelt out that the Games would not provide any economic and social benefit.

A 250-page strategy document, called Game Plan, was signed off in December 2002 by the then Prime Minister Tony Blair, with many experts saying the only benefit of staging the Olympics would be a morale-boosting one for the country.

The Olympic project now being estimated at triple the original bill at £9.3 billion, and the growing financial climate, have put London 2012's finances under the spotlight.

However, despite many experts and the report's author, John Clark, publicly casting doubt on the Games, the government insist it will be a success.

A Department for Culture Media and Sport spokesman said: "This report simply recognises that hosting big events like the Olympics does not automatically lead to the wider benefits we all want from London 2012.

"We have always been very clear that a successful legacy depends on Government acting to maximise those benefits - and we are taking practical steps to ensure that does happen.

"And, far from being in doubt, the 2012 dividend is already there for all to see: the Olympic Park is fast becoming a reality, bringing with it badly-needed new sports facilities, new jobs and new homes; with construction on the Olympic Stadium beginning early and now well-advanced; and British companies are winning the lion's share of billions of pounds worth of contracts for the Games."

Comments (2)

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Jim says...

this will be a typical 'london' event costing too much money which will probably never be recooped!! case and point the millenium dome, waste of money, new wembley, cracking stadium but once again over budget and not woth its building cost!!!! london and the government and all these silly organisations ought to stop ripping off the taxpayer time and again for nothing in return!!!

Posted 21:07 2nd December 2008

Rhys Jaggar says...

Legacy won't come from athletes winning events. It'll come by focussing a young generation on the benefits of exercise and healthy competition, which makes them more healthy than their predecessors. There is a definite sense to me that someone, somewhere is now saying that London 2012 must be a failure. That we must spend £9bn for mediocrity. I'd like to know who those folks are. And what possible motives they could have? My view: it's Brown and his Blair haters wanting to destroy anything Blair was associated with. If that's true, England must NOT be allowed World Cup 2018. Because if Brown isn't big enough to back the Olympics, he can't be allowed to take the glory for the World Cup. If it's property developers wanting the Lea Valley site on the cheap, they must be named and shamed. If it's Livingstone using 2012 to do up the East End then pulling out of the commitment to do the Olympic bit properly, well shame on you Ken. You know something: there will be the following left afterwards for public use: 1. A velodrome, a swimming pool, an athletics stadium. Usable for 30 years. Long-term UK facilities. In the East End. 2. Lots of new accommodation which can either be rented out or sold on. London needs accommodation. And any more lies that it doesn't and the person lying lives on the streets. Until they die. 3. A major new park for East London. Should we rip up Hyde Park because of upkeep costs? Why not? Oh, that's for those RICH folk the other end of town, eh? Oh.......... 4. New transport links - ongoing benefits for commuters. REAL net cost JUST for the Olympics? A lot less than £9.3bn. Subtract the accommodation, the transport and the venues usable ongoing - net cost? I'd guess £4bn tops. Including £500m on elite sport training. Let's get real here.

Posted 18:13 2nd December 2008
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