U.K. Culture Minister Karen Bradley said that English athletes will beat the Aussies “in their own backyard” with a £4M ($5.1M) funding boost, according to Kate Proctor of the London EVENING STANDARD. The cash injection from Sport England "is aimed at ensuring Team England come out on top in the medal tables at the 2018 Commonwealth Games at Australia’s Gold Coast."
Buoyed by Britain’s success in Rio, Bradley’s challenge "reignites traditional sporting rivalry between the two nations with the Aussies already dubbing the event the 'revenge games' after their crushing defeat at the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games." Bradley: “Lottery funding helped win medals in Rio. And it will keep on helping win medals ... It will allow Team England -- who topped the medal table in Glasgow 2014 -- to take on the Aussies in their own back yard. Of course we’ll be looking to work with Australia as one of our closest friends, but -- hey -- we still want to beat them.”
The £4M will pay for a squad of 400 athletes "to take part in the games, and a warm weather acclimatisation camp" (EVENING STANDARD, 10/4). In Sydney, Latika Bourke reported England's "boost in so-called lottery funding" is with the single aim of "embarrassing Australia" at the 2018 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast. In the Olympic Games British athletes "are united behind the Union Jack," but in the Commonwealth Games the Empire competes as separate teams -- England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Olympians and Paralympians Sarah Storey, Helen Richardson-Walsh, Vicky Thornley and Andrew Triggs-Hodge "appeared at the Tory conference and all credited lottery funding for their sporting successes." Triple Olympic Gold Medalist Andrew Triggs-Hodge said that the British Olympic Committee "had learned from Australia's mistakes." He said, "You look at Australia after Sydney ... the first thing they do is cut their funding. Lottery in a nutshell is everything, I could not have gone as long ... it is everything -- it means a lot" (SYDNEY MORNING HERALD, 10/4).
