For twenty years, a British woman swimmer had not won a gold medal in the Olympics and then at Beijing in 2008, Rebecca Adlington took away two, breaking a record time, which had also stood for twenty years, in the eight hundred metres as she did so.
Rebecca believes the support she received from the UK lottery draw was key to her success. The money she and other athletes received enabled them access to first class training, coaching and medical support. Of course they are all looking to the next Games, those at London in 2012, and the National Lottery has confirmed its continued support.
For the 2008 Beijing Olympics the British National Lottery allocated £265 million in the World Class Pathway scheme. This was the initiative that supported the athletes and was vindicated by the haul of over 140 medals brought home by the sportsmen and women involved. With its continuing funding, the National Lottery authorities are expecting an even better haul from the London 2012 Games.
Rebecca believes the support she received from the UK lottery draw was key to her success. The money she and other athletes received enabled them access to first class training, coaching and medical support. Of course they are all looking to the next Games, those at London in 2012, and the National Lottery has confirmed its continued support.
For the 2008 Beijing Olympics the British National Lottery allocated £265 million in the World Class Pathway scheme. This was the initiative that supported the athletes and was vindicated by the haul of over 140 medals brought home by the sportsmen and women involved. With its continuing funding, the National Lottery authorities are expecting an even better haul from the London 2012 Games.
The Government has appointed a body, the Olympic Lottery Distributor, to oversee the distribution of funds. The Distributor will have a total income of £1.83 billion from the UK lottery draw to support the London Olympics and Paralympics.
This money comes directly from the stake money paid by lottery players. Twenty-eight percent of the money is allocated to good causes and five percent goes direct to the Olympic fund.
The facilities required for the London 2012 Games will be partly financed by £2.2 billion from British National Lottery funds. Not only will this have the short-term benefit of the Olympics themselves but will also represent a long-term legacy for the people of London and the UK as a whole. The funds invested in the infrastructure will not be lost however. According to the Government, once the Olympics and Paralympics are over, much of the land will be sold and any profits paid back into the lottery fund for use on other projects.
17000 athletes and officials will be housed in the Olympic village during the competitions and 6000 during the Paralympics. Once the Games are over the area will then be used to add to the regeneration of the London borough of Stratford and will provide 4000 new homes, leisure facilities and office buildings. A new shopping centre will also be constructed.
The British National Lottery is, also sponsoring other projects related to the Olympics, yet probably not so well known. For example, Unlimited is a project providing opportunities in arts and sports to deaf and disabled residents. The lottery fund has donated £3 million to support this as part of the 2012 London Cultural Olympiad.
Previous Olympics have proved to be expensive affairs so the organisers of the 2012 London Olympics must be pleased to have the help of UK lottery draw funding. In any case, there is no doubt Rebecca Adlington is grateful. She thanked the players of the British National Lottery in a recent interview.
To find out more about the operation of the lotteries, go to UK lottery draw
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