Tonight:
4°c
There is no hiding place at the top of elite-level sport.
I've been fencing since the age of 11; I'm currently ranked third in Great Britain at women's foil and I'm a member of the GB fencing team.
My aim is to qualify for the London 2012 Olympics, now fewer than 1,000 days away. I know that I have to make the sacrifices to get there.
Still, I wish we could make funding just a bit fairer for athletes like me.
For some years now, the official funding body UK Sport has had a so-called “no compromise” approach, targeting funding only at athletes deemed capable of winning medals.
So funding is finite, tightly controlled and largely targeted at the men's foilists who are Britain's main potential medal hopefuls in 2012.
So it's down to me to raise my own funds. I started my first year of full-time training a year ago, knowing that my limited personal resources would not cover it.
Last October I was in financial limbo, faced with the possibility of having to give up my sport. I very nearly did but with moral support from both my coaches and British Fencing, I decided to give it a go.
Needless to say, if you are not a “big name” athlete, finding private sponsorship is not an easy task.
I put together a sponsorship pack and dedicated almost half of every day to networking and meeting potential sponsors.
Many companies were sympathetic but reluctant to invest in individuals. And most companies understand rowing, cycling, swimming and athletics — but fencing? Isn't that an elitist, complicated sport? How would our customers relate to it?
Fortunately I managed to secure funding on a Young Excellence Scheme set up by Legal & General — a charitable commitment to the continuing development of talented young people — as well as £10,000 a year until 2012 from two private sponsors.
I also receive a discount from my kit sponsors, Leon Paul, and continue to be funded as far as possible by British Fencing for such things as flights and hotels, which I appreciate.
The time I devoted to finding sponsorship ate into my training time — but I knew that if it all came together, it would be worth it in the end. And now I fence with a controlled fury, to prove people wrong.
It is more than 50 years since Great Britain last hosted the Olympic Games, and it may be another 50 before we get the chance again.
There is much talk about creating a 2012 legacy for grassroots sport. Surely 2012 is a chance for the nation to showcase its sporting talent as fully as possible, to enable all sports to grow in the future?
The danger of a “no compromise” approach to funding is that it's too focused on the medals table. Following the wonderful performances of our athletes in Beijing, what if we do not match that medal tally in London?
What then? Would “no compromise” funding become “no funding”, with the potential decline of many sports like mine?
Meantime, we athletes will just keep on pushing to be the best. Funding or no funding, I know that achieving world-class results is down to me.
And I'm going to do everything possible to win a place on the podium in 2012.
Reader views (13)
I can sympathise with the situation you were in Claire as my boyfriend is a 100m spriter who has won several medals at high profile televisonised events running with people such as Usain Bolt and Tyson Gay, but too struggles with funding. I must stress these sports are FULL TIME with athletes training several times a day, making it impossible to work. These athletes sometimes have children to support, rent and bills to pay, but are caught in deadlock, do you give up your dream and get a job that makes you unhappy or do you put 110 percent in achieving your goals and dreams in life which means you have no money to live on while you get there. Funding is merly support to help these athletes who have shown the ability to achieve big things on there way. The athletes that work for and represent your country.
- Lori, London, 24/11/2009 13:58
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Bravo, Claire! I think you are exactly the kind of athlete we should be funding and helping as I know you give back so much to the sport that you love. However I also know that the notion of "fairness" has nothing to with anything. However good you are, in a minority sport like ours which holds (quite erroneously) an aura of eliteness, we are never going to evoke the same sympathy and support as professional so-called grassroots sports such as football.
Most of the criticism voiced above is small minded and comes from people who seem not to have challenged themselves to excel and be the best they can be in the way that you have. Keep smiling and congratulations on your article.
Carole
- Carole S, Durham, UK, 09/11/2009 18:30
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Obviously if you're good enough you'll get funded. I think this is where her problem lies!!!
- Jon, London, 04/11/2009 21:04
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Dear Misery functionalists (if there is such a word)
You are happy to cheer British success in international competition, but obviously do not want to pay for it. There is a spin off benefit to the country. The public psyche is raised by sporting success. It has been demonstrated that worker productivity increases and absenteeism decreases when the country enjoys sporting success.
If we only spend money on functional at the expense of the ephemeral until no-one is in poverty and no child is abused then we will have a flat boring world which I personally do not want bring children up in (and I am a teacher and a father.)
Claire is not asking to be kept in style, most fencers and other practitioners of minor sports are effectively putting their lives and carreers on hold to represent and achieve for themselves and their country.
In the case of most top level fencers, whose level of educational attainment is well above average, the oppportunity cost is high as they put off persuing lucrative careers. Please don't believe they are all born with silver spoons in their mounths.
A basic maintainance allowance for those deemed to have the prospect of representing their nation in Olympic competition is not a lot to ask. By the time these sportsmen and women reach this level they and their parents have spent literally tens of thousands of pounds at youth and junior level. They are NOT looking to get rich at the taxpayers expense.
signed - a basic rate tax payer.
- Paul, Nottingham, UK, 03/11/2009 19:47
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Michael, in answer to your question, Yes I do!
Sport has been ruined by becoming either a road to celebrity or (especially football) dominated by big business, with obscene wages for it’s "stars".
Season tickets are up to eight times what they were ten years ago. So real fans suffer whilst the sporting celebs make a packet.
My point is that sport in ALL its factions has achieved a status and dominance way above it’s value to the majority, and has been essentially ruined by becoming all too professional.
I may want to pursue a hobby after work, and excel in it, but I don’t expect everyone else to subsidise it or it to dominate the media.
As I said before, there’s a big difference between achieving a goal for the betterment of society using thought and ideas to make dreams a reality, and the personal ambition (even if it’s cloaked in nationalism) of physical achievement, whether its subsidised or not - do it if you like, but, yes, as an amateur, after your day job and at weekends.
The rest of us will cheer you on even harder then.
- Darius, London UK, 03/11/2009 07:49
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Darius, do you seriously expect someone to pursue a sporting career, whilst also doing a 9 to 5 job to pay for it? These athletes are funded by sponsors, clubs, and in some cases, the taxpayer specifically because it takes full-time dedication to be a success.
Almost every penny of that funding goes straight back into the economy in paying for equipment, travel, medical bills etc. Plus also, the events that they perform in draw crowds and sponsorship, which also fuel the economy. The point is, that this money isn't just being handed out for people to have fun with; these athletes work extremely hard. Although the benefits to society and the economy aren't as obvious as the benefits of what you do in engineering, they do have an impact in fuelling business and making people happy.
You clearly have a passion for what you do, and that is to be applauded, but I do not see why your passion for your profession supersedes hers. She obviously puts as much time and dedication into her profession as you do, and all that she is asking is that she is treated fairly when they're divvying up the funding.
She's not asking for any extra benefits but rather just a fair crack of the whip. She's not a Premiership footballer, moaning about getting only £100,000 p/w instead of £120,000. She's a dedicated athlete in a minority sport, simply asking for a bit of recognition and enough funding to make a decent fist of the Olympics that we taxpayers have spent so much on.
- Michael, London, 02/11/2009 16:36
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How bitter are some of the posters on this site?!
If you don't particularly like your job, then why don't you pursue something you do enjoy, rather than taking out your frustrations on this girl and trying to dent her ambitions?!
She's shown her desire to succeed in her chosen profession by relentlessly hunting down sponsors, despite the deck being stacked against her. This obviously isn't just a bit of fun for her, like some of the comments have suggested, but a serious vocation.
I say good luck to her.
- Danni, Peckham, London, 02/11/2009 16:06
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Micheal, London
You`re right, I have no talent when it comes to fencing, or any of the most "important" sports, and have certainly never had the chance to win any medals for designing and producing things that improve peoples lives.
However, Engineers are the people that make other peoples dreams become reality, whether it`s how to fly in the sky, automatically do the washing, cycle or fence a bit faster or get from a-b safely if you have no mobility.
So,in difficult times like these it grates a bit to hear the sporting world whining on about how hard done by they are, especially when you witness the obscene amount of hard earned middle income taxpayer money supporting that self indulgent sporting "elite" that call themselves "Olympians" - just what the world needs at these tender political times, more excuses for Nationalistic Narcissism!
Sportsman - If you really want sporting celebrity use you`re own money to finance it, and not yet more of everyone elses via the back door of taxation and sponsorship price rises.
- Darius, London UK, 02/11/2009 15:33
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@ Mikeh, Dubai and Darius, London.
I imagine if it was simply a "leisure pursuit" Miss Bennett wouldn't be pursuing it so hard. Maybe you haven't been talented enough at anything in your lives to want to pursue it with a passion, but she's obviously a talented athlete, who has been nurturing that talent since 11 years old, so why shouldn't she seek to make the most of it?
Would you prefer she gave up and her talent went to waste? I'll bet she works far harder during her full-time training schedule, than you do sat at your computers commenting on this website.
And she's not asking for any EXTRA handouts from the taxpayer, or funding for her every whim, she's simply asking for what funding there is available to be distributed more fairly and to include the minor sports, not just the major sports.
Since we have already invested vast sums in the Olympics, at a time of financial hardship, the least we could do is give every athlete a fair chance of performing at 2012 and making a success of their event.
Fencing may not be a major sport, but it is the athletes in these minor sports, whose job is made that extra bit harder by their sport's obscurity and lack of funding, who will provide the greatest surprises at 2012.
I wish Miss Bennett all the best with her training and her aim to win an Olympic medal.
- Michael, London, 02/11/2009 14:50
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What a warped sense of 'entitlement' this woman has.
I work for a living doing a job I don't particularly enjoy. But it pays the bills.
Perhaps it would be 'fair' if I could expect the taxpayer to fund my time doing something that I like, such as lying on a beach somewhere drinking Margeritas?
- George, London, 02/11/2009 13:43
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But we ALL wish funding were fairer for all of us - those who worked for a living would actually be much better off than those who choose not to, Engineering (that sport that turns fanciful ideas into reality) would be properly financed, and Sport would stand on it`s own two feet as opposed to being a burden on the taxpayer and business at a time of great hardship for many in the real world.
I guess, if wishes were horses, we`d just all end up knee deep in horse ****!
- Darius, London UK, 02/11/2009 13:18
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Good for you for persevering! Best of luck for making your podium place a reality.
- Mary Cohen, London, 02/11/2009 12:10
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Sorry, I must have missed something. Since when did funding from taxpayers to practice a leisure pursuit become an entitlement? Personally, I wouldn't 'support' any athletes but that's just me. Oh, and the same goes for most of the so-called 'Arts'.
- Mikeh, Dubai, UAE, 02/11/2009 11:18
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