Do we owe our Olympics medal successes across all the sports to

[kerilli]

John Major?
My mother seems to think so, told me today that it was his idea to pump all this money into training, facilities, etc etc. from the Lottery Funding, i guess?
Must admit, apart from the Equestrians, Team GB has done absolutely amazingly well...!
anyway, is this true? i'm a bit crap on recent-ish politics!

 

[dieseldog]

I would go with Lottery funding as well. It's allowed people to be full time athletes rather than fitting it in around their jobs.

 

[Bubblegum]

Yep - Lottery funding.
I have heard several interviews praising the help it has provided. Don't know who was behind it all but.... our Lottery money seems to have helped!

 

[Puppy]

QR - From what I heard discussing it on the radio today, then lottery money is the biggest contributor that has made a difference

 

[kerilli]

but who instigated it? i really want to know now!

 

[EmbarrassingEllie]

John Major gets the credit it for it as it was his conservative government who started the national lottery though whether the main thinking behind it was for Olympic success I don't know. Probably some poorly paid civil servant suggested it on a drunken christmas night out!!!!!

 

[skewbaldpony]

[ QUOTE ]
I would go with Lottery funding as well. It's allowed people to be full time athletes rather than fitting it in around their jobs.

[/ QUOTE ]

So off at a tangent, maybe equestrians should try to be full time athletes, whereas a lot of them are a) trainers b) horse dealers and c) businessmen as still at the 'sponsorship' stage that other athletes were at before lottery etc funding.

How many of our equestrian Olympians would you describe as full time competitors?

 

[kerilli]

didn't seem to do Heinrich Romeike any harm...

mind you, he does have one of the most exceptional horses on the planet, that helps!

 

[skewbaldpony]

Now that is true.
And he had lovely teeth, did you notice?
(Heinrich, not the horse)

 

[teapot]

Lottery funding and the money being fed into the Olympic sports because of 2012.

The lottery started in 1994 so yup would have been during John Major's stint as PM. Also don't forget that the government makes money out of the lottery so sounds like your Mum's onto something

 

[the watcher]

John Major, lottery funding...



...and private schools, where competitive sport is still encouraged and supported

 

[Weezy]

Interesting point m_h...now if anyone has the time or inclination I wonder how many of our medal winners are/were privately educated...

 

[BBH]

I did hear a news report that said it was lottery funding that has made such a difference, and there was also a mention of a review of the not so successful disciplines not getting as much / any future funding. I would imagine the equestrian camp might fall into this category. In terms of value for money it would be hard to argue a case for large sums. A million buys you one decent horse just to get you started, which as we have seen can go lame, or pump that money into sports with little or zero equipment costs ie swimming trunks and here's where the value is.

 

[the watcher]

[ QUOTE ]
Interesting point m_h...now if anyone has the time or inclination I wonder how many of our medal winners are/were privately educated...

[/ QUOTE ]

my view on that is the nature of the sports where we have done well - rowing for example.......

 

[saddle]

There was an article in the Sunday Times saying that 40% of our Olympic competitors were from private schools, yet only10% of children are privately educated (apologies if I've got the figures slightly wrong, I'm doing this from memory!)
So that is a huge slant towards privately educated children with their superior facilities, encouragement & competitive spirit.

 

[miller]

I know the lad who won bronze on the Pommel horse isn't privately educated as he's local to me and went top a local comprehensive school (heard that on radio the other day)