 Brailsford is happy with the changes announced by the Government |
The process of funding and supporting athletes has been streamlined in a bid to boost Britain's Olympic medal tally. The Government has announced that the �33m funding of elite athletes will be handled by UK Sport alone, rather than together with Sport England.
The move allows Sport England to concentrate on promoting grass-roots sports participation.
"Placing responsibility for performance with UK Sport is fantastic news," said cycling chief Dave Brailsford.
"I have been concerned for some time about the complicated and fragmented system of support for Olympic sport and have always said it is a distraction for performance."
Elite athletes from the home nations will continue to be jointly administered by UK Sport and the sports councils of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The changes will also see the further regionalisation of Sport England, leaving the organisation with 80 staff in London compared to more than 400 in 2002.
UK Sport will also take over the English Institute of Sport, the nationwide network of sports facilities which is headed by Steve Cram.
UK Sport chair Sue Campbell said: "We hope these changes will mean we can achieve our best-ever medal success at 2012 and beyond."
MMIX
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