London 2012 hopefuls given 10m cashback from Visa
BRITISH chiefs believe they will be able to unleash their strongest team ever at the London 2012 Games after receiving a significant cash injection from Visa.
The credit card provider is believed to have paid around £10m to be Team 2012’s presentation partner, giving them promotional rights to more than 1,000 British athletes.
That represents a hefty slice of the British Olympic Association’s fundraising target of £25m, and chief executive Andy Hunt believes the investment will translate into medals.
“This is a multi-million pound deal and it’s a real step along the journey,” said Hunt. “We are hoping to raise up to £25m which would make a significant difference to having the broadest and most competitive team at the London Games.”
A deal was held up by negotiations with agents of some of Britain’s most high-profile athletes, such as 400m runner Christine Ohuruogu, cyclist Sir Chris Hoy and swimmer Rebecca Adlington.
It was feared the Visa deal may make it harder for the athletes to negotiate lucrative individual sponsorship contracts.
But an agreement was eventually reached after Visa pledged to use a minimum of four athletes from at least three different sports in any promotional images.
“This has not been an easy road,” said John Steele, the chief executive of funding body UK Sport.
“This is a completely new scheme but we have 100 per cent support from the sports and the athletes and that’s an incredible place to get to in the timescale that we have had.”
Sebastian Coe, chairman of the London organising committee, said: “It will help bring to reality the dreams of future generations of athletes in competing at the very highest level.”