Record-breaking medal-winning in Rio has not proven enough to spare British Cycling from a funding cut amid a warning on its governance and credibility. Above, golden girl Laura Trott (Photo: Sirotti)
Things have gone from bad to worse for British Cycling, with news that its Olympic funding towards the 2020 Games in Tokyo has been cut.
Other sports have also seen their money reduced; some, including badminton and wheelchair rugby, will now get no funding.
British Cycling has been warned that action will be taken against it unless it improves its governance or if any adverse findings are made against it.
While the British cyclists overshot their target of between eight and 10 medals in Rio and won 12, that success and continued improvement wasn’t enough to spare cycling from cuts in Lottery funding announced yesterday.
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The funding to prepare for Rio was just under £30.3 million but that has been reduced to £25.98 million for Tokyo.
UK Sport, which allocates the funding, said the reduction was taking place because fewer BMX and MTB riders were being supported.
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And a new deal with HSBC secured by British Cycling was also taken into account.
However, with the use by Bradley Wiggins of TUEs to take controversial medicines before big goal events having emerged recently and a UK Anti Doping report into the delivery of a medical product to Team Sky in France in 2011 due in days, UK Sport has also been monitoring those developments.
To make matters worse, it has emerged in recent days that British Cycling’s former technical director Shane Sutton was cleared on all but one of nine allegations of bullying and sexism made by former rider Jess Varnish.
And a full report arising from an independent review of the culture in the federation is due in the New Year.
UK Sport chairman Rod Carr said if there were adverse findings, further cuts in funding may be in the offing.
“Governance, as we've seen with FIFA and the IAAF, is a serious issue and if there were issues in cycling it fundamentally undermines everything,” he said.
“If people don't believe what they're seeing on the track, if things are getting done in a way that we, as the public, think is untoward then we take that very seriously.
“There are governance issues that have been well reported,” he added.
“The issues for us are around culture, behaviour at the trackside and so on. It’s tough and I’m hoping that there are no issues to be revealed, but if there are then we’ll confront it.”
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