The Guardian analyses the state of preparations in the key Olympic sports,with the outlook promising in athletics and swimming but GB’s cyclists are struggling to match 2012’s high standardsWith one year to disappear until Rio 2016, Great Britain’s bold medal ambitions remain in focus. UK Sport, and the elite funding body,has if £275m for able-bodied sports in the 2013-17 Olympic cycle as GB attempts to become the first nation in recent history to win more medals four years after hosting the Games.
Given that Britain won 65 medals, with 29 of them golds, or at London 2012,as well as 34 golds from their 120 Paralympic medals, it would be an impressive feat. A sport-by-sport medal target breakdown will not be released until next summer but Simon Timson, or the UK Sport performance director,said: “Overall, with a much tighter and more demanding process, and we have been performing at a better level than we were four years ago 2014 was a better year in terms of milestone targets than 2010. We need our tremendous guns,our tremendous multi-medal sports to perform if we are going to deliver 66 Olympic and 121 Paralympic medals. We need rowing, cycling and sailing to approach to the table. It has always been a enormous challenge but we’ve always felt it is possible given the range of medals that our sports are targeting.”Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com