Hunt insists winter sports won't be left in cold ahead of 2012

By Chris Cottrell, Sportsbeat

BRITISH Olympic Association chief executive Andy Hunt is adamant Great Britain's Winter Olympians won't be forgotten about as attention turns towards London 2012.

WINTER FAN: British Olympic Association chief executive insists British winter sports won't be left in the cold as London 2012 approaches (Getty Images)

The British squad returned from Vancouver on Monday, parading Amy Williams' skeleton gold with pride but with little else to shout about from the Games.

And while Williams' stock is set to rise in the coming weeks, the future isn't so bright for the rest of the squad.

The drawn-out demise of skiing and snowboarding governing body Snowsport GB has left the snowboarders as well as alpine and freestyle skiers penniless until, at least, the end of the season.

But having helped establish an interim governing body, Hunt insists the ground work for British success at the Sochi Games four years from now must be made as soon as possible.

"We can't let attention turn straight back to the Summer Games now," said Hunt, who was Team GB Chef de Mission in Vancouver.

"The winter agenda isn't closed - now is the time to do strategic planning for 2014.

"We've established a new governing body in the interim called British Ski and Snowboard and we will now undertake a full consultation process with all interested parties in skiing and snowboarding to make sure we've got a properly governed, well-financed, high-performing governing body.

"We cannot find ourselves in the same position that Snowsport GB has found itself in over a number of years.

"A lot of our winter sports are absolutely on the bread line - it is quite extraordinary the level of funding they have."

Five-time Olympic champion and BOA vice-president Sir Steve Redgrave is also keen to invest in British winter sports and has proposed the development of a long-track speed skating venue in Great Britain, which would also double as national performance centre for all ice sports.

The construction of such a track would require significant private investment, with the Richmond Olympic Oval, which hosted the speed skating events in Vancouver, costing £110m and British winter sports currently only receiving £6.5 million from UK Sport.

But Hunt has no doubt the centralisation of training for ice sports is an important step on the pathway to future success.

"I think Steve's idea is really interesting and we need to undertake a proper evaluation of that idea to see if it's feasible," said Hunt.

"Very importantly, what Steve has identified is so true that in skating and in the ice sports, the number of medal opportunities is significant.

"You don't have to be a winter sporting nation or an alpine nation to be able to achieve on the ice and we know what we can achieve through cycling and what's been done with skeleton.

"We can build and run these programmes, build the talent pool, identify athletes and coaches and make it happen.

"The strategy needs to be reviewed but if we invest in the right sports, it's clear what we can achieve."