Slicing pie only way to satisfy gold craving

 
19 December 2012

There’s an old proverb (which I’ve just made up) — no matter which way you cut up a pie, someone is always going to whine about their slice. Thus, whichever way the steaming great UK Sport funding pie — its filling a rich and meaty £347million — was divvied up, someone would have been unhappy.

As the body responsible for investing in future success — ie another record medal haul at Rio 2016 — UK Sport have taken a hard-ass approach in the aftermath of London 2012. In fact, it’s not just hard-ass, it’s titanium underpants.

Only sports deemed to have a genuine medal hope at Rio have seen their funding boosted. Sports contested at London 2012 mainly out of a sentimental affection, or because they could qualify with home nation places, have been weeded out and left to wither, like unpromising carrot seedlings.

This uncompromising cull has left plenty of unhappy basketballers, handballers (above), wrestlers and ping-pongers, whose funding is totally withdrawn, as well as some worried swimmers, judo players and boxers, whose cash continues to flow but without the promise of long-term investment. Others — archers, beach volleyballers and badminton players — must survive on scraps.

Brutal? Sure. But to succeed at an elite level, sport must be Spartan. At London 2012, Great Britain excelled at cycling, rowing, sailing and equestrianism. We did tolerably well in a headline-grabbing sort of way at athletics. We were never, ever, going to beat the Chinese at ping-pong or the Yanks at B-ball. Thus, the healthy are nourished, the sick left to die.

Of course, one feels for all those Olympians who have been left with nothing in their hands but their you-know-whats. It will be easy to make a case for a legacy failure in each instance.

But what is the legacy we want? Fairness first and a sort of socialist inclusiveness which spreads money far and wide and creates a mid-table nation, competing in everything and excelling nowhere? Or a lean, specialised, focused nation, which backs the best and doesn’t tolerate failure?

Both approaches have merits. UK Sport have paid their money and made their choices. The moral obligation, as well as the financial one, now behoves to those lucky few with pie on their plates to prove they were worth it.

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