Popularity contests mean nothing in medal mantra

BRITAIN’S schizophrenic approach to sport continues to disappoint, although it can no longer shock anyone paying even scant attention to recent trends. The latest round of funding decisions — announced, entirely coincidentally, on the same day of WADA’s report on Russian doping — boasted almost the right amount of bad news to be buried. Almost. UK Sport are the ones getting it in the neck, naturally. Yet they are only following orders, working to government instructions that require them to chase Olympic medals as their first priority. Actually getting young and old to take part in games, promoting activity and generally making everyone less likely to keel over, that isn’t part of the formula. So they are effectively forced to keep denying basketball a single penny of Lottery funding. However popular it may be as a participation sport, Britain is never going to medal in a discipline dominated by the Americans and an assortment of European nations. Well, we certainly won’t now. You may well believe that ignoring repeated chances to improve the lot of the general populace is an offence bordering on criminal neglect. You might even look at the tens of millions thrown at rowing, a sport taken seriously by maybe half-a-dozen nations, and see such pursuit of easy medals as a cheap trick. Sit down, shove some nachos down your neck — and don’t choke when you start cheering all those dressage bronze medallists in Tokyo four years from now. And, if you’re really determined to actually get involved in sport, well, why not try rowing yourself? Just pop down to the nearest facility and have a crack at making the local pub team coxless eight. Now you mention it, there was a magnificent rowing lake at our comprehensive school in Kirkcaldy. It was otherwise known as ‘the bottom pitches’ and, for about three days after a heavy rain, it could easily have hosted the boat race. Or a sailing regatta, come to that. Quick, somebody get UK Sport on the line. There could be a grant in this…