Government lessen Olympic shortfall

5:38pm Tuesday 2nd December 2008

The Government moved to limit the damage of a funding gap for Olympic sports by coming up with an extra £29million on Tuesday.

The extra cash, announced by culture secretary Andy Burnham to UK Sport's board, means the shortfall for the run-up to the London 2012 Games is £50million rather than £79million.

The figure is expected to be confirmed by the Government later on Tuesday, but the move will lessen the impact of the cuts to be made by UK Sport.

The Olympic sports will be told on Wednesday if they are to have cuts in their funding.

The funding gap arose after the Government's plan of attracting private sector investment failed to bring in any money at all. Both the British Olympic Association and the shadow Olympics minister Hugh Robertson have called on the Government to honour their original commitment to £100million a year for Olympic sports.

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.