Britain’s Olympic and Paralympic sailing teams were planning a return to the top of the medal table at Rio 2016 after their funding for the next four year cycle was increased to £24.5 million.
Britain's 470 silver medallists at London 2012 - Saskia Clarke, Hannah Mills, Stuart Bithell, Luke Patience Photo: Worldwide Images
Between 2009 and London 2012, the RYA received £22.9 million, which resulted in five Olympic medals, one more than the target set by team management. The investment in medals for Rio 2016 has increased by 7% to £24.5 million, a rise that was ‘broadly welcomed’ by the RYA.
The Paralympic sailors did even better, being awarded £2.8 million which was £1.1 million more than the last cycle thanks to Helena Lucas who won gold in the 2.4mR class and Alexandra Rickham and Niki Birrell who took bronze in the Skuds.
The two medals was in line with targets set but there were many who thought the RYA’s target of four Olympic medals at London 2012 was set deliberately low in order to protect funding for the next cycle.
“When you look at the global economic climate, to receive this level of increase is a great relief and I think we are really well placed against the rest of the world.”
The challenges over the next four years, Derbyshire added, revolved around the transition of their top quality youth sailors into fully fledged Olympic sailors. With the retirement of Ainslie and Iain Percy whose medals and experience were seen as key to Team GB’s achievements, there will be major knowledge gaps in the squad.
Finding disabled sailors to build on Team GB’s Paralympic success will also require some attention.
“After coming home from Beijing empty-handed for the third successive Games, the whole team worked tremendously hard to put that right for London, resulting in a gold and a bronze from two out of the three competing classes,” Derbyshire said.
“We’re delighted that these efforts have been recognised by UK Sport, and will allow us to build and develop our talent pathway to hopefully continue that success towards Rio and beyond.
The increase comes a day after the RYA heard their funding for grassroots sailing had suffered a small drop from £9.6 million to £9.3 million between 2013 and 2016 but the breakdown had shown a large increase in investment into the RYA’s talent pool
RYA Sport Development Manager Jon White said: “The RYA is hugely appreciative of the funding provided by the Government and the Lottery and will continue to work hard to drive participation in both able-bodied and disabled sailing and to inspire people to become lifelong sailors.
"We will also continue to nurture the talent underpinning our junior talent pathway.”
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