BRITAIN’S top female bobsledder has accused her national governing body of “mismanagement” after it emerged the women’s team may lose its funding less than six months before the 2018 Winter Olympics.
Mica McNeill, a silver medallist at the 2012 Youth Winter Olympics and 2017 world junior champion, said she was “shocked and devastated” to learn she must now raise the estimated £30,000 herself to reach Pyeongchang.
The 23-year-old from Consett in County Durham was told by British Bobsleigh and Skeleton chiefs that funding for the women’s team was being cut due to a lack of medal contention – but cash for the three men’s crews will remain.
McNeill said: “When they sat us down originally to tell us the women wouldn’t be funded because we did not have medal potential, I asked them to explain why we had less chance than the men.
“I went away and got the data together to show that we were in a good position but to be told it was now up to us to get the money together to try to compete just left us shocked and devastated.
“It is hard to take just because someone has overspent and mismanaged the budget.”
McNeill has set up a crowd-funding page which hit four figures within an hour of the news breaking yesterday.
In a statement, the BBSA said: “The GB Bobsleigh programme is currently focusing resources on winning medals at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang. We are actively seeking commercial funding to further support our world class programme and we will continue to do so.”
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