SIR Steve Redgrave and other British Olympic medal winners will today ask Tony Blair to give extra funding to help elite athletes to prepare for the Games.
The meeting at Downing Street follows the decision this month to cut lottery cash to sports such as athletics, gymnastics and judo over the next four years.
The Prime Minister will be hearing the views of competitors such as Sir Steve, Denise Lewis and Jonathan Edwards just before he meets the Evaluation Commission of the International Olympic Committee, at which he will underline the Government’s commitment to hosting the 2012 Games.
Although the talks will focus on how the top competitors have been involved in planning London’s bid to stage the Olympics, funding of sportsmen and women will be on the agenda.
The money allocated this month to Olympic preparation for 2005-9 is £75 million compared with £70 million over the past four years. This is a funding freeze when inflation is taken into account.
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UK Sport, which distributes lottery cash, has increased the money to sports that were successful in Athens, such as rowing, cycling, sailing and equestrianism. But triathlon, gymnastics and judo, which failed to win any medals, have had their share cut.