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Athletes of Great Britain for the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro assemble for the Rio 2016 Victory Parade at Trafalgar Square in London, Britain, October 18, 2016, /CFP
UK Sport, the government agency responsible for investing in Olympic and Paralympic sport in the UK, plans to invest 352 million pounds (about $47.6 million) in 43 Olympic and Paralympic sports for the Paris Olympics in 2024, announced the agency on Thursday.
The new funding represents an increase on the 345 million pounds (about $619.9 million) invested for the Tokyo Olympics.
Newly added climbing, skateboarding, and surfing will receive between 1.3 to 1.5 million pounds (about $2.3 million to 2.7 million). Funding for breakdance will be decided in 2021 when there will be about 3 million (about $5.4 million) available for sports that are not included in the group of 43.
Max Whitlock of Great Britain poses for photographs with his two gymnastics gold medals in front of the Olympic Park at Rio Olympic Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, August 15, 2016. /CFP
Compared with what they got in the last funding plan, archery and badminton saw their investments grow from 930,000 (about $1.67) to 2.13 million (about $3.83 million) pounds and 660,000 (about $1.19 million) to 3.15 million (about $5.66 million) pounds, respectively.
Not all sports share that luck. Athletics, gymnastics, rowing, and swimming all saw cuts of their funding by about 10 percent. However, they will still receive more than 10 million ($13.5 million) pounds – the funding for athletics and rowing even exceed 20 million (about $2.7 million) pounds.
"These are pretty tough times in terms of the financial envelope that is available to us and we have looked across the piece," said UK Sport chief executive Sally Munday on the decision to cut funding for a number of sports. "We wanted to reach more sports than we've ever been able to before and as a result we have had to make some pretty tough decisions. I believe that the sports that have been consistently successful will continue to be successful with the funding that they have received."
Team GB cyclists celebrate with the British national flag and the gold medals they win at the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro after arriving at Manchester Airport in Manchester, Britain, August 18, 2016. /CFP
Cycling, which has been UK's forte, will enjoy even bigger funding, growing by another three million pounds (about $4.06 million) to more than 27 (about $36.5 million) million.
The UK won 67 medals, including 26 golds in the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro in 2016. Their total medals won continued growing for five straight Games from Sydney to Rio.