After a year-long review and report process by consultation firm Deloitte to assess any possible conflicts between the commercially sponsored Team Sky and the Lottery funded Olympic track side the all “clear has” been sounded. With UK Sport, the agency responsible for public fund allocations, having raised the purse for cycling to £27m for London 2012 – an increase of £5m over the Beijing Games – there had been fears that the pro team established and sponsored by BSkyB (under the banner of Team Sky) undermined the credibility of the Olympic programme. The situation was made more complex by the involvement in Team Sky, which includes a number of foreign riders, of several key coaching players from the British Olympic cycling team.
But fears now seem to have been dispelled by the release of the Deloitte report which makes only a handful of suggestions, including the recruitment of a finance director by British Cycling, with UK Sports Chief Executive Liz Nicholl voicing the relief of all by concluding, “The fact that the review identified no major risks to the World Class Performance Programme is good news for everyone involved and indeed our aspirations generally as we look towards London 2012.”
