30 Dec 06 -

If money is the root of all evil, it is also the root of most biathlon success. No matter how talented and dedicated the athletes and their support staff are, if the bank balance is poor, results will tend to be much the same.

Since the 1998 Olympics the BBU has managed to “get along” on an income of around £ 60,000 per year. This does not include contributions from the athletes or their (Army) Units & family, or some fluctuating and irregular income. The IBU effectively pays for 2 women and 3 men to compete at World Cups circuit, but not for their travel or the extra man in the relay or any support staff. This £ 60 K has to pay for that and all the office and administrative activities; the Waxman; on-snow training in Scandinavia; the Coach’s expenses; travel to Meetings (BOA, IBU & UK Sport etc); Development courses; professional and legal fees etc. The budget is presented annually at the AGM in Ruhpolding and the audited accounts have to be passed by the Members.  

£ 60 K is simply not enough to run a National Olympic sport properly. With 4 times that amount we would have a very realistic chance of a podium place at the Olympic Winter Games in 2014. Two or three times that amount would almost certainly guarantee a return to the World Top 20 in one season. Why? Because the BBU could employ more coaching and support staff; have a far more rigorous selection and training procedure; provide a sensible amount of admin and back office support.  

AFTER THE TURIN OLYMPICS (FEBRUARY 2006), THE BBU INCOME FROM "CORE" OR UK SPORT SOURCES WAS REDUCED TO £ 0 (ZERO) PER YEAR. 

This was due to the withdrawal of special funding from the BOA / UK Sport “Olympic Solidarity Development Funding” (OSDF). The OSDF money was cut from £ 22 K for Salt Lake City to £ 17.5 K for Turin. It was a joint venture from the BOA and UK Sport which went to the 16 non Lottery Funded Olympic Sports in the UK. Half way through the Olympic cycle UK Sport withdrew their share of the grant, and the BOA alone, and generously, continued to fulfil the promise of support for Turin. After Turin this grant has been spent on “deserving” summer sports for London 2012. (Good luck to them; the ball is now in their court ... Beach Volleyball … Handball … Softball …)  

Non Lottery Funded - “You must be joking?”, we hear you say. No, it is true. Unless a sport has a genuine medal chance or huge TV profile, forget it – Sport England has; they do not even recognise Biathlon as a sport (never mind our Olympic presence at every Games since 1960!).

London 2012? Given the vast reduction in income, it must be very doubtful whether Biathlon will still be an International sport in Great Britain by 2012 unless we can maintain a working level of sponsorship.  

An income of £ 10 K will just about cover unavoidable legal, medical and professional fees; insurance; and some basic expenses of the coach. It will not cover: 

• any other support staff (including the essential Waxman)
• any administrative or office costs
• any athlete training and travel expenses
• any Junior & European Cup Team costs
• any Development Courses

BUT IT GETS WORSE ... See 05 Aug below ... "BIATHLON MELTDOWN BY UK SPORT"

The Athletes are the most important "People" in the British Biathlon family. As in many countries they are drawn almost exclusively from the Armed Forces. There are few civilian cross country ski clubs in the UK, and only one civilian Biathlon Centre and just 2 civilian Biathlon Clubs. The Army has always provided the vast majority of National and Club athletes and there is a small RAF contingent. Just one man (Mne Joe BROOKS) is left from the once flourishing Royal Marines biathlon team. The withdrawal of the Marines is a sad legacy to their many National Biathlon and Olympic XC athletes of previous years.

The current GBR World Cup Team is all from Army, apart from Joe BROOKS: Cpls Emma FOWLER and Adele WALKER, LCpl Lee JACKSON (the Team Captain), LBdr Kevin KANE and Sgt Marc WALKER.  LCpl Paul WHIBLEY captains the European Cup Team and has Bdr Shane CLASH, LBdr Simon ALLANSON, ATpr Lee CUNNINGHAM and Spr Pete BEYER all from the Army and Cpl Carl CARRIER and Flt Lt Fay POTTON, the first two RAF biathletes to race for GBR.

All the members of the summer National Development Squads (NDS) and the BBU Biathlon Academy were from the Army. The concentration of military athletes, world-wide, is due to the very demanding training schedules that have to be undertaken by International biathletes, and partly to the historical development of the sport. The BBU simply has no money or capacity to develop promising civilian talent and thus relies on the Forces to do this. GBR is always likely to be at a severe disadvantage in International terms compared to the Scandinavian, Russian or Alpine Nations when attempting to attract potential athletes. The difficulties of shooting in a post-Dunblane era and of releasing experienced Military athletes, as coaches, from their operational and other commitments should not be underestimated.

Supporting the athletes are soldiers Sgt Jason SKLENAR MBE, 28 Engr Regt, the WC Team Coach and on snow Manager and (in the summer) Hldr Scott BANES, 4 Scots (HLDRS), the NDS Coach. Jason is a double Olympian on permanent attachment to the BBU, but until a few years ago we had 2 or 3 more military personnel on attachment to look after their soldiers and assist with administration, training and development. The WC Team Ski Technician ("The Waxman") is Martin GLAGOW, a retired Lt Col in the Germany Army and Father of German WC star Martina. There is no conditioning or specialist shooting coach and no dedicated medical or sports scientist staff, outside the limited help thankfully provided by the BOA.

Former World 110m Hurdles Champion Colin JACKSON CBE is the President of the BBU, having taken over from Lord Colin Moynihan (now Chairman BOA) in March 2006. The Board of the British Biathlon Union is elected by the Members (who are 95% active athletes), and is Chaired by David CRANSTON CBE. They give their time and effort on an almost totally voluntary basis. The only partially paid member of the Board is the part time Secretary General Mark GOODSON. He runs the Front Office; the Back Office and the Team Manager's Office. Only there is no "office" as such - it is a spare bedroom; there is no money!

Except for the Hon Legal Advisor they all, unsurprisingly, come from a military background and were all competitors at Regimental (Club) level; some are still serving. Technical Director Eddy LOWE BEM managed the team at two Olympic Winter Games, but there is now no Team Manager. Lt Col Bill LAURENCE who heads up Development has a pretty busy full time job; most of 2006 was spent in Afghanistan, most of 2007 will be in Iraq! USA based Jeremy HOPWOOD frequently dips into his own pocket as Sponsorship Director! We have no clerical support and rely on the goodwill of athletes, support staff and Board Members to ignore their mobile phone bills and get their wives, partners or friends to help out. This is not an acceptable way to run an Olympic sport.