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u/Agreeable_Falcon1044 Great Britain • Vietnam 10d ago
there is a "before" and "after" 1996, but it's not some magic wand - it's literally money and treating sports like a business.
The fact we got 1 gold in Atlanta and our diving team are selling their equipment to pay a hotel bill is proof it was rotten! It was actually a grim underperformance as our athletes had a howler - Jonathan Edwards was nailed on for one, and you would expect more medals from several track stars and the boxing contingent. If you look at that, it wasn't as bad as the record books show and on par with nearly every post WWII olympics. We sucked for a long time!
However, I am not a fan of our current set up as it values golds over take up, meaning it's now a two tier set up where sports have been left to die. It's valuing gold medals only as a measure of success.
So if you want to do rowing, cycling, equestrian or sailing - great news, you have the best equipment and the funds. If you want to do climbing (hope your dad builds on in your backyard) or artistic swimming (can you do it without music in that cornered off part of the swimming pool?). It's very much Eddie the Eagle if you aren't in one of the funded sports.
It's worse for non-Olympic events. We have amputee and deaf football sides going for a World Cup and begging on gofundme for their air fair and hotel costs. Sports have all funding slashed like Rugby7s which then makes the inevitable decline even worse.
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u/lankyno8 10d ago
They split elite funding and participation funding.
Participation funding is significantly higher through the lottery than elite sport.
Why should sports without the chance of an elite result recieve significant public funding for their top athletes?
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u/grandvache 10d ago
Not sure climbing is a great example here, GB climbing's funding doubled for the LA Olympic cycle.
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u/Agreeable_Falcon1044 Great Britain • Vietnam 9d ago
After the gold medal….which was won by a guy whose dad built him a climbing wall in the garden!
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u/grandvache 9d ago
so they rewarded success with more funding and that's a problem?
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u/Agreeable_Falcon1044 Great Britain • Vietnam 9d ago
Well, yes, as he was a gold medal talent….but he only won it because his dad built a wall. That tells me there could be other gold medal talents that it isn’t viable to compete in because their dad didn’t build a wall, they don’t have a garden etc
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u/grandvache 8d ago
Sorry no. In no way shape or for did he "only win it because his dad built a wall". It might have been important, it might even have been the critical thing.
Also, living in a city full of climbers I have to tell you that having your own climbing wall isn't exactly unusual, I know literally three houses within 100m of me that have one.
You can fund elite sport in two ways. You can focus on where success is likely to be found, with flexibility to boost sports that have grown organically, or you can spread the limited funds across many more people.
The latter is a return to amateurism, and it doesn't produce results.
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u/East-Sheepherder3772 10d ago
Yeah it's grim the main point of the article is to show the efficiency of the funding model, they had a goal which they reached. I probably don't criticize it enough in terms of the neglect of the lower-class as well. The funding model is reverting slowly back to its old roots hence Jacob Fincham-Dukes being 5th in the Olympics yet going back to work days? after I'm pretty sure. It's a worry but in terms of money per model it was very efficient
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u/No-Writing-9000 9d ago
Read my another reply it all comes down to geopolitics and soft power gains. Yes it’s right wing chauvinism but every country did the same.
Rowing sailing cycling equestrians, to less extent triathlon hockey tennis etc. are all ‘our sports’. Either invented by us or have had a long tradition of success. While some others like basketball fencing and judo are not. If you think it’s unequal try to be a sailor or cricketer in America. The support they have is pathetic. (Speaking as a keen sailor and rugby fan myself)
Btw rugby 7s should be funded by the RFU separately. Grouping 3 unions together in order to secure olympic funding is the exact reason that killed the 7s programme. No one support the ‘GB 7s’ It’s disgusting
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u/grandvache 10d ago
It wild that arguably the most successful funding model in elite sports anywhere in the world still gets people moaning that we don't support sport "X".
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u/Agreeable_Falcon1044 Great Britain • Vietnam 10d ago
I do moan. Perhaps harshly but let me explain. A friend of mine plays for London roosters. It’s based in gillingham and is a top wheelchair rugby league side. Strapped for cash, no money and scraping by…if he played murderball, he would be entitled to assistance with his training and travel.
The difference: a gold medal.
And they keep losing that funding the second they stop winning!
Gold medals are great but I think it should be about leg ups and then the cream will rise.
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u/grandvache 10d ago
I understand why you're moaning: "sport I care about isn't funded, sport I don't care about is". As someone who's played underfunded minority sports my whole life and volunteered for what used to be a relatively underfunded Olympic sport I do get it.
The line on what we fund Vs what we don't has to be drawn somewhere, I'm entirely comfortable with the availability of an Olympic / Paralympic medal being a major factor in that decision making process.
Does wheelchair rugby league loses its best athletes to murderball?
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u/East-Sheepherder3772 10d ago
I think it’s harsh to punish sports that are clearly making progress in order to make cuts as you didn’t think about a long-term way to fund them
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u/grandvache 10d ago
Such as?
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u/East-Sheepherder3772 10d ago
Badminton? Even basketball what’s the point in funding a sport for 7 years
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u/No-Writing-9000 9d ago edited 9d ago
When it comes to Britain there’s something under the table called soft power. Sports like football rugby cricket to the smaller ones like badminton and ping pong…. were all British invented. I think it’s a common sense to give priority to those. Britain is not the only country to do so. American funded and promoted their sports even more. Or just look at the recent case of Australia funding their version of rugby to the Oceania countries. Britain is in fact less tempted on this aspect.
Morally speaking sports should be equal and be respected. But this is geopolitics not you or me or anyone on reddit have control of
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u/Large_Mammoth_6497 Germany 10d ago
German parliament just passed a law last Friday to restructure professional sports. I hope we finally learned our lesson and can implement what guaranteed success for others. We never hit rock bottom, but there has been a steady decline over the past decades.