AN extra £700,000+ has been confirmed to help British riders win medals at Paris 2024.
The boost is part of an additional £11m funding from UK Sport, which is being spread across 33 sports in the build-up to the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Indicative funding for the Paris cycle was announced in December 2020, but this month’s news is an increase on that.
Equestrian sport will now receive £14,798,869 to help with preparations for Paris. This is broken down into £11,746,626 for the Olympic disciplines and £3,052,243 for para dressage.
This new total is a £701,662 increase on the indicative funding figures shared in December 2020.
Jim Eyre, British Equestrian chief executive, told H&H that the organisation is “extremely grateful” to UK Sport for this uplift in funding following the performances by its athletes in Tokyo.
“It certainly gives a welcome boost to our Paris preparations,” he added. “It means we can put support in where it’s most needed, as well as additional areas, to make sure our teams in 2024 are the best prepared ever and that they arrive in Paris in the optimal position to perform to their potential.”
Minister for sport, tourism, heritage and civil society Nigel Huddleston said the Government has increased its funding for athletes by “over 40% ahead of Paris 2024”. But while extra cash is positive news for horse sport, the total remains a reduction of just over £1.036m compared with funding received for the Tokyo cycle – not including the Tokyo “top-up” funding to support sports owing to the rescheduling of the Games, nor athlete performance awards.
The investments come as a result of the increased comprehensive spending review settlement, announced by the Prime Minister following the success in Tokyo, where riders won 13 of the 189 total British medals.
“The collective pride in what our brilliant Olympic and Paralympic athletes achieved in Tokyo this summer still shines brightly,” said UK Sport chief executive Sally Munday.
“The most exciting element of Tokyo was the breadth of success we saw across both our Olympic and Paralympic teams. To now be in a position to strengthen our investment across so many sports for Paris will undoubtedly help us in our ambition to reach, inspire and unite the nation.”
The increase means that more than 100 athletes in total can be added to World Class Programmes, with hopes this will also strengthen the pathway of those targeting Los Angeles 2028.
UK Sport chairman Dame Katherine Grainger said the organisation is “extremely grateful” to the Prime Minister and the Government for continuing to back sport and athletes.
“Together with the National Lottery, their support of Olympic and Paralympic sport is the fuel which allows our inspirational athletes to perform and succeed on the world stage,” she said.
“We have an ambitious mission to create the greatest decade of extraordinary sporting moments, and we know that we have a brilliant cohort of dedicated and hardworking athletes and coaches who can help us achieve that.”
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