MONEY FOR MEDALS

[Gross]

The table below shows how much dosh has been offloaded to various sports in the search of medals.... from UK Sport Newsletter:

Sport Sydney Olympiad* athens olympiad* beijing olympiad^
Archery n/a £800,000 £2,834,000
Athletics £10,600,000 £11,400,000 £26,513,000
Badminton n/a** n/a** £8,759,000
Basketball n/a n/a £3,694,000
Boxing n/a** n/a** £5,005,000
Canoeing £4,500,000 £4,700,000 £13,622,000
Cycling £5,400,000 £8,600,000 £22,151,000
Diving £900,000 £1,400,000 £5,873,000
Equestrian £3,000,000 £4,400,000 £11,727,000
Fencing n/a n/a £3,074,000
Gymnastics £5,900,000 £4,100,000 £9,036,000
Handball n/a n/a £2,986,000
Hockey n/a** n/a** £9,882,000
Judo £3,900,000 £4,100,000 £6,947,000
Modern Pentathlon £1,100,000 £2,000,000 £5,920,000
Rowing £9,600,000 £10,600,000 £26,042,000
Sailing £5,100,000 £7,600,000 £22,292,000
Shooting n/a £1,400,000 £5,056,000
Swimming £6,900,000 £6,400,000 £20,659,000
Synchronised Swimming n/a n/a £1,648,000
Table Tennis n/a** n/a** £2,533,000
Taekwondo £600,000 £600,000 £2,667,000
Triathlon £1,400,000 £2,600,000 £5,113,000
Volleyball n/a n/a £4,112,000
Water Polo n/a n/a £3,147,000
Weightlifting n/a £300,000 £1,686,000
Wrestling n/a n/a £2,125,000
Total £58,900,000 £70,000,000 £ 235,103,000

[Kitch]

So
what is the average cost of a medal ?

I see the total has trebbled between Athens and Beijing.
The same can't be said of orienteering international funding I don't think
Given these vast sums a significant increase in funding for orienteering would be a drop in the ocean.

Also - where is all the money going ?
by which I mean sports like athletics have been cutting the number of supported athletes, focussing on the high performers. Same for orienteering.
This being so there must also be vast sums going to grass roots and development programmes for athletics.
How do we get some of that ?

[geomorph]

So
Also - where is all the money going ?
by which I mean sports like athletics have been cutting the number of supported athletes, focussing on the high performers. Same for orienteering.
This being so there must also be vast sums going to grass roots and development programmes for athletics.
How do we get some of that ?

By creating whole sport plans with talent pathways

Seriously though, the best way was shown by three men last week

[Gross]

Seriously though, the best way was shown by three men last week

Unfortunately not Funding bodies aren't to impressed by relay performances, they want individual success Also despite the GOLD being an outstanding achievement by the guys the GBR Team as an entity didn't achieve it's self imposed targets............

[geomorph]

Seriously though, the best way was shown by three men last week

Unfortunately not Funding bodies aren't to impressed by relay performances, they want individual success Also despite the GOLD being an outstanding achievement by the guys the GBR Team as an entity didn't achieve it's self imposed targets............

Yeah, and we don't have many PC characteristics either: too few women, non-whites, socially disadvantaged, and so on.

But if UK Sport only measure by individual success how come so many are team sports, or contain team elements. And if you look at past success we (UK) are actually pretty good at the relay/multi participant level, so surely the best return on your buck comes from exploiting your advantages. Build a winning culture . Otherwise you've got England football.

[geomorph]

OK we've had 6 days of 16.
Team GB lies 10th.
In total medal terms we're 2 behind Germany but they've 6 Golds
We've been whalloped in Gymnastics, and have not done as well as expected in the other final score judgement-dependent sports.
In non-judgement sports we are pretty ok. Cycling looking pretty good. Some swimming good. Canoeing reasonable

There's a fair chance of success in the remaining rowing and sailing events.


Given the list of fundings, and UK sports avowed intention to be brutal to sports that just do not measure up, in the December funding round, which sports would you cut out based on performance so far
Whose funding would you increase cos they are showing promise

[RJ]

I would support any sport that has an improving participation culture within the wider population. The overall aim must be to get more people taking part in sport, not just high class performances that we enjoy watching from our sofas.

How many 'couch potatoes' have the Olympics satisfied so far.... how many people have gone on websites to find out how they can learn to canoe..... cycle..... try gymnastics etc etc.?

Improve participation numbers in orienteering and Sport England take notice. There is no point in telling them that our membership is declining and can we please have money to fund our GB team at WOC!! The health of a sport is directly related to the number of people who participate.

[geomorph]

I would support any sport that has an improving participation culture within the wider population. The overall aim must be to get more people taking part in sport, not just high class performances that we enjoy watching from our sofas.

Good point.
And with wider participation comes more levels/intensity/density of competition and overall standards rise.

However money for medals is just that... providing sports with assistance to create success at the Olympics. It is highly targeted, not general funding. A lot of sports got significant rises in the money, and may not have justified the investment.

Sport UK have invested widely this time round. Is it possible to measure the success of this investment on the basis of one Olympiad, as they intend to do in December, or is medal success only possible over a longer term programme of development, coming, as RJ notes, from overall wider participation in sport as a whole.

[Kitch]

The health of a sport is directly related to the number of people who participate.

and you said it yourself - participation is influenced by success

how many people have gone on websites to find out how they can learn to canoe..... cycle..... try gymnastics etc etc.?.

unless you think the answer to that is none
Which I don't believe, I want to take up cycling...

There have been a few comments in the coverage about the fact that most of the medals are from our women (out of 11 medal holders 9 are women). I think you could probably lay a chunk of that at the door of one person - Paula Radcliffe.

success inspires

[RJ]

....... I think you could probably lay a chunk of that at the door of one person - Paula Radcliffe. ..................success inspires

Indeed it does.... Kelly Holmes, Anita Lonsborough, Mary Peters, Sharon Davies..... Sebastian Coe, Steve Ovett, Jonathon Edwards.... etc etc.

The real measure must be whether it just makes us feel good.... or inspires more people to take up sport. Making GB 'feel good' and able to stick our chests out is a temporary state of mind. Is it worth the millions spent on getting the GOLD medals.

The real test must be if the inspiration produces a fitter, healthier and more active population. Otherwise lets just stick with football, cricket and rugby and put all the money into the top end of those sports.

There is so much science now in athlete selection that the real money should be spent on the centres of excellence and the scientists who can 'produce' the winners.

[Kitch]

how about this

£235 million on Beijing
thats roughly £4 for each person in the UK

less than a trip to the cinema, less than a couple of pints in the pub.

I reckon you could easily argue that across the nation the feel good and entertainment value of a two or three dozen medals overtwo weeks exceeds either a couple of hours in the cinema or down the pub.

[geomorph]

how about this
£235 million on Beijing
thats roughly £4 for each person in the UK
less than a trip to the cinema, less than a couple of pints in the pub.

Been thinking along the same lines ie how do you spend £235m effectively.
It's roughly 500-600 FTE PE Teachers. Enough to fund 4 after-school sports clubs every school night in 1/4 of the secondary schools.
But nowhere near enough to cover the needs in the primary system

I reckon you could easily argue that across the nation the feel good and entertainment value of a two or three dozen medals over two weeks exceeds either a couple of hours in the cinema or down the pub.

I think you over-rate our potential success level. We are topping the 2nd division right now, but the gap is large already. Think we could get near 20 - love to be proved wrong.

[Gross]

that the real money should be spent on the centres of excellence and the scientists who can 'produce' the winners.

Bring back the Soviet Union:)

[Kitch]

I think Georgia might feel they already did that

That Georgian in the wrestling was pretty fired up

[Gross]

Georgia also beat the Russian's in women's beach volleyball.... the 2 girls were Brazilian's issued with Georgian passports a couple of years ago:)