Sports welcome continued Rio 2016 funding

5 Feb 2015

British Swimming has welcomed the continued funding of its Olympic and Paralympic disciplines following UK Sport’s annual review which saw swimming, para-swimming and diving exceed their maximum milestone targets for 2014.

However, the aquatics governing body has expressed its disappointment over UK Sport’s decision not to target additional funding on the development and preparation of young divers currently pursuing success in Tokyo 2020.

As part of the review process, British Swimming presented a “strong” case to UK Sport to enhance funding within diving’s Podium Potential stream aimed at athletes working towards the 2020 Olympics.

British Swimming Chief Executive David Sparkes said: “While we welcome the continued support for our Olympic and Paralympic sports, British Swimming must express disappointment that additional funding has not been made available to prepare the nation’s young athletes on the road to Tokyo.

“British Diving continues to show an increasing strength in depth through exciting, young talent and made a strong case to UK Sport for additional Podium Potential places but UK Sport has chosen to focus resources only on Rio without encouraging a longer-term strategy.”