Cash crisis forces 2012 gymnasts club to close

The Sutton School of Gymnastics is the latest casualty of the funding crisis in British sport.

The lack of government funding means top gymnasts such as Ben Brown, who appeared on posters for the London 2012 bid seeming to vault the Gherkin, have to train in third-rate facilities and find sponsors.

Others, including Kirk Zammit, 23, from Sutton, and 19-year-old Daniel Cater, have simply given up the sport.

"They were serious medal contenders who were devastated when they had to give up," said Mr Brown, 23, who himself had to abandon gymnastics for a year before he managed to secure a commercial sponsorship deal.

"I don't know where the money is going because it's certainly not going towards any athletes.

"It's crazy that the club is having to shut when you think it has produced so many champions and should be one of the big clubs producing results in 2012. It's very sad."

The club, which is based at Wandle Valley School in Carshalton, was named best in Britain two years running and has produced top gymnasts including Lee McDermott, who competed at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996, and Ross Brewer, twice Commonwealth gold medallist and five times British champion.

However, its director, Lia Borrotzu, says she is exasperated by the lack of funds which force the gymnasts to train in a tin shack and the school gym and wheel out equipment every day.

Coach Simon Moore, one of the highest qualified in the world, had to work free of charge for years because there was no money to pay him.

Mrs Borrotzu, 45, said: "I have given up on sport in this country. It's an absolute disgrace. The Government has no understanding of what it takes to develop elite athletes in any sport. It just won't invest in the infrastructure."

England gymnastics squad coach Len Arnold said all London's clubs were struggling. "My own club in Bexley has been on a knife edge most of our 15 years," he said. "We don't get funded in any way - for buildings, equipment or coaches.

"At competitions Britain is up against even Third World countries with better facilities. I know of many kids in London who have given up."

Last week, the Evening Standard revealed that Lottery funds for sporting groups fell by nearly £30million in a year.

At the same time the chairman of Sport England, Derek Mapp, resigned in protest at the Government's policy U-turn on sports funding priorities. Mike Swallow, technical co-ordinator for English Gymnastics, said: "The Government has treated sportsmen abysmally. It has really let them down."

A Department for Culture, Media and Sport spokesman said: "Exchequer funding into community sport through Sport England has gone up 40 per cent in the last four years."