Athletes Missing the Point on Lottery Funding?

I was distressed to read this week that Andy Turner, the British 110m hurdler has decided to appeal against his lottery funding. When UK Athletics start making the tough decisions that they can't avoid if they are to produce the goods in London, the athletes start whinging to the press.

Turner strikes me as a decent international athlete, but he's not World Class. Stating that he'd need to find a sponsor or work part-time he complained, "It's going to be tough but I have to do it as I've still got dreams of winning a medal in the Olympics."

You know what, maybe he will, but it doesn't strike me that he's demonstrated his that to date.

Meanwhile many other athletes that narrowly miss out will accept that a ruthless focus on the athletes that can bring back medals is what this country needs, if it is to build on the success of Beijing.

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Rob Robson
Co-founder, iStadia.com