Sue Campbell fears hefty funding cut for 2012 Olympics

UK Sport chair Sue Campbell believes significantly cutting funding for the London Olympics in 2012 would be a mistake - and not purely from a sporting perspective.

A tough financial climate has raised concerns in some quarters about the money being ploughed into hosting the Games.

But former England netball international Campbell believes a successful Games could bring all sorts of benefits.

"We have to understand that sport used effectively is a really powerful tool in terms of health, crime and anti-social behaviour," Campbell told BBC East Midlands Today. "We know that sport can really change lives.

"It's tough. The reality is there will be cuts everywhere and sport can't expect to be exempt from that.

The language we are using is more medals in more sports UK Sport chair Sue Campbell

"But the Olympics will be here in this country just once in the lifetime of the vast majority of people.

"So it's really important we keep that balance and as we are driving towards 2012 we don't take it off the rails.

"But equally we have to play our part and the challenge here is getting that balance right."

There is also a challenge to be met in the sporting arena and Campbell, who was born in Nottinghamshire, educated in Derbyshire and went to Leicester University, is confident that Great Britain will enjoy a successful Games.

"The language we are using is more medals in more sports so we want to see the cycling, the rowing and sailing do exactly as they did in Beijing," she said.

"But we are also very hopeful for swimming, athletics, judo, boxing - for men and women.

"We are seeing improvements in hockey, we are seeing improvements in a number of disciplines in canoeing where we are being successful on the European and World stage so we would like to think we will get more medals in more sports."

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