POSTED: July 28th 2010
NewsUpdate
Hoy urges special treatment from Government for Olympic funding
KEIR RADNEDGE / Sports Features Communications
LONDON: Sir Chris Hoy took the opportunity of London 2012’s “two years out” party to speak up on behalf of funding for Olympic sports after cutback cautions ahead of the Government's autumn spending review.
Olympic champion Hoy stepped off his pedals in the skeleton of the new Olympic Park velodrome to insist he could not have reached his four-gold heights without the benefit of Lottery cash. While he answered media questions Mayor Johnson could not resist taking over the cycle for several spins of the velodrome himself.
Hoy said: “It's important to invest in sport. It's important for the success of the nation to be doing well in home Games and for future generations. For many reasons it's important to invest in sport.
“Lottery funding came on board in 1998 just when I was finishing university and it could not have come at a better time for me. I personally benefited massively from that and the public can stake a claim to being part of all the success we have had because they have essentially funded Olympic sport in this country."
No guarantees
Sports minister Hugh Robertson has said the £550m pledged to Olympic sport in the run-up to 2012 could not be guaranteed though much of it had already been handed over.
Hoy was participating in a London 2012 celebration day which saw LOCOG chairman Lord Coe, ceo Paul Deighton and Mayor Johnson take the seven-minute Javelin Train trip from St Pancras to Stratford International and then review construction developments.
Assisting in the venue demonstrations were not only Hoy but John Amaechi in the basketball shell and US track gold medallist Michael Johnson in the new Olympic Stadium itself.
Keywords · London 2012 · Hoy · Coe · Boris Johnson · Deighton
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