大象传媒

Picture the scene in a school playground.

Some of the most senior people in British sport lined up. Waiting to be picked.
Desperate to catch the eye of one man, and one woman.

That's what it must have felt like this morning, as the chairmen and chief executives of and sat by their phones, waiting for a call which would shape their plans for the next four years.

The call came from either Liz Nicholl, director of Elite Sport at , or John Steele, its chief executive.

And the subject was funding.

UK Sport is finalising its plans to distribute 拢400m to elite British athletes, ahead of , and will announce its final budget in December. .

Some of the more successful sports - is one of them - have been given a figure. Not an exact amount, but enough reassurances with which to begin their own individual budgets. In effect an indication to use as a financial planning tool. Other sports, however, were not told a number. And they should be concerned.

So why can't UK Sport be precise?

Because a significant part of its budget is yet to be confirmed. is supposed to be raising 拢80m privately, but at the moment, as 大象传媒 sports editor Mihir Bose revealed, only 拢20m of that is secured. That will be provided by the government.

UK Sport's Board last week discussed how it would deal with any shortfall if the 拢80m isn't raised. And under the organisation's , members approved a plan to cut funding from the bottom, not across the board.

In other words, sports with little to shout about in terms of performance, potential, or governance, could find their budgets slashed.

That's why certain sports are none the wiser this evening. UK Sport simply don't know yet how much, if any, money it will be able to hand over.

We find ourselves in a curious situation where Olympic and Paralympic associations within the same sport get different outcomes.

, for example, may well find they get a decision on funding deferred, partly because they've been given an overall red light in UK Sport's ongoing Mission 2012 tracker system.

, however, were awarded an overall green light, and could well be given a provisional funding figure.

How sports are run is just as important as how many medals they deliver. , for example, has little prospect of winning a medal in 2012 - but I understand they have little to worry about.

A phone call with no figure is the equivalent of being handed . And it means an agonising wait until December, to find out which sports can realistically go for gold in 2012.