A "mass rebellion" is set to put UK Sport under "further pressure to reform," with 11 national governing bodies of sports calling for a "major overhaul in how the funding agency allocates lottery and exchequer money," according to Martha Kelner to the London GUARDIAN. The governing bodies will "claim the spirit of sport has been obscured" by what is seen as UK Sport’s "growing obsession with medal targets over the past decade." In a plea to UK Sport Chair Katherine Grainger, it will be suggested that this focus on the medal table has left many elite athletes feeling "disenfranchised" and inadvertently created a "two-class system that runs counter to Olympic ideals." The 11 governing bodies -- Archery GB, BaseballSoftballUK, British Basketball, British Fencing, British Handball, British Volleyball, British Weightlifting, British Wrestling, GB Badminton, GB Wheelchair Rugby and Table Tennis England -- "banded together to claim athletes with a real chance of winning Olympic and Paralympic medals are being overlooked because funding is concentrated on too few sports" (GUARDIAN, 6/28). The BBC's Dan Roan reported instead of UK Sport's "no compromise" approach to picking winners, the unfunded sports want a "tiered support structure" that would guarantee every Olympic and Paralympic sport a base level of funding. Grainger said that she understood why the sports had taken a stand, but said, "It's not fair to say we're narrowly focusing on a few sports." The unfunded sports believe they can "all be backed" if UK Sport cuts the amount it spends on bringing major events to the U.K. (BBC, 6/29).
'HUGE CONCERNS': Roan also reported Grainger said that she has "huge concerns about athlete welfare." In her first interview since being appointed, the former Olympic rower warned the "risk" of a tougher financial future was another major challenge. She defended UK Sport's "no-compromise" funding strategy. Grainger: "Unfortunately, somehow the message has got out that 'no compromise' could mean 'winning at any cost,' and that's not the case. It's not what anybody who believes in the positive force of sport would want to see" (BBC, 6/29).
