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LATEST GYM NEWS FROM AROUND THE WORLDS ON GYMNASTICS ONLINE!

UPDATED 23 MARCH, 2006

NEWSFLASH - BRITISH SPORTS ACROBATICS AND TUMBLING CHAMPIONSHIP’S THIS WEEKEND! PREVIEW NOW HERE!

LATEST NEWS - £300 MILLION POUNDS EXTRA FUNDING OVER NEXT 6 YEARS FOR GREAT BRITAIN’S ATHLETES AS THEY PREPARE FOR LONDON 2012! GB’S YOUNG SPORTSMEN AND WOMEN CELEBRATE FANTASTIC NEWS AFTER 8 MONTH WAIT FOR EXTRA OLYMPIC FUNDING! - UK SPORT TO ANNOUNCE ALLOCATION FOR EACH SPORT WITHIN NEXT 2 WEEKS!

BRITISH SCHOOL’S OLYMPICS TO BE HELD EACH YEAR STARTING IN GLASGOW THIS  SEPTEMBER! GYM TO BE ONE OF 4 SPORTS WHERE SCHOOLCHILDREN CAN COMPETE IN NATIONAL SCHOOL’S OLYMPIC EVENT

DON’T MISS THIS AS WE REVEAL CURRENT SPORTS FUNDING FOR 2005 - 2009! AND THE CHANCELLOR’S OWN WORDS SO WE CAN CHECK THAT THE PROMISE OF EXTRA FUNDING IS KEPT!

PRIESS AND TOMITA WIN GOLD IN LYON WORLD CUP

22 March - 300 MILLION POUNDS EXTRA MONEY FOR GREAT BRITAIN’S LONDON 2012 ATHLETES ANNOUNCED!

UK SPORT CONFIRM EACH SPORT TO KNOW HOW MUCH THEY WILL RECEIVE WITHIN NEXT 2 WEEKS.

SCHOOL OLYMPICS TO TAKE PLACE STARTING IN GLASGOW IN SEPTEMBER!

Fantastic news for Great Britain’s sportsmen and women today as Chancellor Gordon Brown finally acted to announce an incredible 300 million pounds of additional funding to help prepare our young sports talent for London 2012! The Government have effectively accepted Option 2 of U.K. Sport’s recommendation for an extra 49.5 million pounds of additional funding each year in addition to the 60 million pounds currently provided to fund elite athletes in the U.K. This means that Option 2 of five which were put forward to the Treasury could now be implemented. If this goes ahead then this would involve funding all Olympic and Paralympic sports except for football and tennis which are thought to be capable of raising their on funds through sponsorship.

The target for London 2012 is to finish fourth in the Medals Table and first in the Paralympics. This would mean that only the USA, Russia and China would be expected to win more medals than Britain’s athletes.

The British Olympic Association and many other Sports Bodies including UK Sport and British Gymnastics have all campaigned tirelessly for additional funding. Several high profile gymnasts have quit the sport in recent weeks due to lack of funding. Ben Brown, the gymnast whose image on the Gherkin was featured in the video which helped London win the Games, but quit last month, after he was unable to secure the £15,000 per year which would enable him to train full time. This was extremely embarrassing for the Government, who were originally expected to announce funding 4 months ago, and have been severely criticized by the delay.

Research by U.K. Sport showed that to finish fourth Britain would need to win 60 medals, including 17 Gold’s. It estimates that the annual cost of getting one athlete to medal winning standard is approximately £70,000. Elite athletes currently receive only £45,000 a year in funding. This has led to a “no compromise” method of funding where only athletes who are thought to have a real chance of medal success receive any funding at all, and has been very controversial. A U.K. Sport spokesman acknowledged that “ It’s a lot of money, but that is the cost of high performance sport. We have not plucked figures out of the air, but took a stategic look at world sport and what it takes to get athletes with that sort of podium potential”.

British Gymnastics currently receive 2.9 million pounds for the period from 2005 - 2009 and fund 8 gymnasts. Although they did not win any medals in Athens, our gymnasts showed remarkable progress, culminating in medals at both the World Championships and Commonwealth Games. This compares to 9.7 million pounds for 48 of Britain’s rowers who won 1 gold, 2 silver and a bronze in Athens.  But the success of our gymnasts on the World stage and the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne could pave the way for significant increases in gymnastics funding. Gordon Brown acknowledged in his Budget speech saying “We will invest now in our 2012 Olympic champions. Recent results in Melbourne have shown the outstanding young sporting talent in our country. For training and facilities for our world class athletes of the future, I can announce £200 million of public money to be matched by raising £100 million in sponsorship from the private sector, and with another £300 million from the lottery, over £600 million in total: world class funding for world class athletes”

Tracy Matthews from The Academy where Commonwealth gold medalist Imogen Cairns is based welcomed the news saying that the Club are very excited as this will make a huge difference to their ability to prepare for 2012. Gabrielle Santus was also interviewed and was excited by the opportunities this could provide for Britain’s sportsmen and women.       

The British Olympic Association welcomed the announcement with the BOA’s Chief Executive Simon Clegg calling this "excellent news for British Olympic sport". He added: "The Government have understood the arguments made by sport and they are to be congratulated. Speed of delivery and getting this new money to the coalface of sport is now the priority."

UK Sport’s chair of U.K. Sport Sue Campbell said "We have been given the go-ahead to have a full team in every event where we can deliver a credible performance. It is very good news for sport and we now know that we can invest the full amount needed over the next few years to lay the foundations for 2012 as we build up to the Beijing Games in 2008. The message we have received is that the business plan we have put in place is a very robust document."

Liz Nicholl, the UK Sport Performance Director, added: "We are delighted with the Chancellor's statement. It is significant that he has recognised the £300 million is the requirement for this project.  The £200 million will take us to 2010 or even 2011, and then there will be time for the other £100 million announced in the Budget to be raised through sponsorship."

She confirmed that although no specific dates had been mentioned in the Budget speech, sports will know within two weeks their funding allocation, but this will be subject to constant reappraisals and a major review after the Beijing Olympics in 2008. She added that every sport will have to justify their funding. This could bring pressure to sports such as athletics which has seen no English qualifier in the sprinting finals at the Commonwealth Games despite 8.8 million pounds current funding. 

Peter Keen, the Performance Consultant who prepared the funding models for UK Sport, said: "What we have been offered here is as good as we can reasonably expect. But this is not the winning line for sport in the UK. This simply means that we are on the start-line for 2012."

He added that the aim now was to produce medallists for 2012 but also systems that will go on creating success for future Olympics.

It is important to realize that of the 300 million pounds, a third of this must be raised from private sector sponsorship in response to a Government appeal.

BRITISH SCHOOL’S OLYMPICS TO LAUNCH IN GLASGOW IN SEPTEMBER!

Gordon Brown also confirmed that there will be a School Olympics each year leading up to London 2012 starting this September in Glasgow open to all school children. The plan has been widely welcomed by sports teachers but closer analysis reveals that the School Olympics will feature only 4 of the 26 Olympic Sports which will be Gymnastics, athletics, table tennis and swimming and wil take place in the second week of September. The timing has caused concerns amongst schools who may be reluctant to release children for 2 days at the start of the academic year.

The Chancellor has made six million pounds for the events over two years from 2006-07 confirme that the event will take place in a different city each year leading up to 2012. Initial talks had indicated that the Games would take place during the Summer Holidays in July but this was later changed to September. A further £7 million will be given next year to the National Sports Foundation and their 2012 Kids programme, which will include projects developed by young athletes.

A good indication of the popularity of this type is the English Schools Athletics Association finals, in Gateshead, which is expected to cost in the region of £150,000 but will involve 1650 athletes, which is a fantastic achievement. 

GYMNASTICS ONLINE’S VIEW

Here at Gymnastics Online we have been very critical of the British Government and the fact that we have had to wait 8 months for the announcement to be made. However this is tremendous news and we congratulate the Chancellor and the Government on the additional funding. Now we say there must be no further delays in getting the money to the Sports Bodies, Coaches, Clubs and High Level Performance Centres and most importantly to the gymnasts and athletes themselves so we do not waste another single day in our vital preparation for 2012! Our gymnasts have excelled in International events on the World’s stages, winning medals for Great Britain. And don’t forget our fabulous Sports Acrobats and Tumblers who have won World and European Championships yet still have no funding and no Olympic recognition! Yet despite this, parents and gymnast’s make incredible financial sacrifices for the honour of representing GB around the World. One example is a GB parent who has to do 3 jobs to pay for his son’s training, demonstrating fantastic commitment and pride in representing Great Britain, yet anger at the fact that his funding was recently removed prompting a local sports group to step in to help support the GB Boys. Click here to see how much each sport currently receives for the years 2005 - 2009.

Let’s make this a truly historic Olympics by including these fantastic sports in London 2012 and give all of our outstanding gymnasts, acrobats and tumblers the recognition and the  financial support to truly make our ambition to be 4th in the World Medals Table not just a dream but reality!

Rest assured, we will watch and continue to report any delays! We also print the table of current sports funding for the year’s 2005 - 2009 below which makes very interesting reading:-

CURRENT SPORTS FUNDING FOR 2005 - 2009 Sport Current Funding 2005 to 2009 Competitors Funded Performance at 2004 Athens Olympics Athletics £8.8 million 40 3 Gold, 1 bronze Cycling £9.5 million 44 2 Gold, 1 silver, 1 bronze Gymnastics £2.9 million 8 No medals Rowing £9.7 million 48 1 Gold, 2 silver, 1 bronze Sailing £8.9 million 41 2 Gold, 1 silver, 2 bronze Swimming £7.2 million 34 2 bronze

 And to make sure everyone knows exactly what has been promised, here is the Chancellor’s speech so everyone can make sure that the Government’s promises are kept!

Gordon Brown - Budget Speech 22 March 2006

“We will invest now in our 2012 Olympic champions.

Recent results in Melbourne have shown the outstanding young sporting talent in our country.

For training and facilities for our world class athletes of the future, i can announce £200 million of public money to be matched by raising £100 million in sponsorship from the private sector, and with another £300 million from the lottery, over £600 million in total: world class funding for world class athletes.

The Olympics will inspire young people all across Britain and we must open up to them new opportunities to take part in sports. So today we are announcing that each year, from now until 2012, there will be a schools Olympics.

Starting in Glasgow this year, and in a different city each year, we will fund annual national competitions in Olympic events open to all school children throughout the united kingdom.

The 2012 Olympics is for athletes to excel in, but also must be an event that all Britain can share in. So today we are also announcing an Olympic trust fund for nationwide sports and cultural events which will take place during the Olympics.

The games will end in 2012, but their legacy must continue. Benefiting not just London but the whole country.

So because we want the 2012 Olympics and beyond that any English bid for the 2018 world cup to regenerate sport across our country, I want us to build in every area of the country over the next decade public private partnerships that can renovate and extend local sporting facilities.

And we are today announcing initial funding of £34 million for a new national sports foundation starting next week which, modelled on the football foundation's success, will bring together public and private finance for new local sports facilities and grassroots participation.”

Some of the top British Sports Acrobats who will be competing at the British Championships this weekend!

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