Organisation: Shelley Rudman / Olympic funding

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Analysis and commentary by Echo Research.

It should have been a good week for British sport last week. Shelley Rudman's unexpected silver medal in the skeleton bob contained all the elements of a good media story - unknown female talent overcomes a lack of funding to take silver in a sport most of us have never heard of. " Rudman was in Turin only because of a whipround at her local pub" noted The Times (17/2); " Fame and fortune beckon for the girl on a tea tray" (Daily Telegraph, 18/2); " Consider that Britain does not even have a full bobsleigh track and it is Rudman's first full season on the top level circuit, and you begin to realise how remarkable her skeleton medal was" (bbc.co.uk, 17/2).

Rudman's victory was highlighted by a (coincidental?) political row over funding for the London 2012 Olympics, prompted by news that potential athletes were quitting due to a lack of money. The finger of blame was pointed at Gordon Brown, perceived as " dragging his heels about committing taxpayers' money to a venture on which he was lukewarm" (The Times, 17/2); " It will be a dead-loss London Olympics at this rate" warned the Daily Telegraph (14/2). While Brown fiddles, it seems the spectre of Eddie the Eagle will haunt the UK's Olympic performance for a while yet.