Investment hailed as key to Olympic success
Careful financing of the right areas has been credited with playing a key role in Britain’s outstanding recent performance at the Olympics.
Team GB finished fourth in the overall medals table, above the likes of Australia and Germany.
Heavy investment in sports planning, coaching and equipment has since been highlighted as a key factor in the success.
Last month’s performances were a vast improvement on the 1996 Atlanta Games, when Britain ended up in 36th place in the final table, winning just one gold medal.
Simon Clegg of the British Olympic Association told BBC radio that cash for the best coaches and systems were needed to “get success on a consistent basis”.
He also warned other nations would now be looking ahead and investing in their own development before the London 2012 Olympics.
Officials are now planning to expand the country’s competitiveness across a wider range of sports after the UK saw most of its gold metals clustered in a few sports.
Britain’s cyclists did particularly well at the Beijing games, while a haul of golds were also collected in water-related sports.
Team GB came eighth in the table of athletics-related medals, seen by some as a slightly disappointing showing.
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