National lottery contributes to British success in RIO 2016 / 英國奧運大豐收 樂透基金扮推手　　　　　　　　　　

England won a total of 67 medals at the Rio Olympics, finishing second in the medal table right behind the U.S. The UK's success at Rio can be attributed to the athletes' hard work as well as lottery funding. While the revenue of Taiwan's sports lottery is mainly used for public welfare, the UK's National Lottery has been used for sports development since 1997. The UK Sports Association points out that potential medal prospects typically train for 8 years, and it costs around $208 million NT Dollars to train an Olympic medalist. A Boeing 747 brought British Olympians back home. 366 British athletes participated in the 2016 Rio Olympics, and 130 of them medaled. With 67 medals in total, the UK secured second place in the Olympic medal table right after the U.S. The fruitful result did not come out of thin air. The UK's success at the Rio Games came from long-term investment in sports and athletes. ==LIZ NICHOLL, Chief Executive, UK Sport== The National Lottery plays an absolutely tremendous role in British success. And has done since we've been able to allocate resources to athletes and sports to support medal potential since 1997. But it's had a growing impact. About two thirds of our strategic investment comes from the National Lottery. Back in the 1996 Games in Atlanta, Team GB received only £20 million in government funding and won just 15 medals, only one of which was gold, to finish 36th in the medal table. Due to the dismal performance, the UK decided to funnel money into sport from the National Lottery in 1997. As the funding increased, so did the success. At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, 48 medals were won on the back of a £235 million investment, with Team GB finishing fourth. By 2016, the funding increased to £274 million, meaning each medal at Rio cost the UK around £5 million. That is, NT$ 208 million. Usually, potential medal prospects are identified up to eight years in advance of a Games. The selected athletes do not have to worry about expenses such as coaching, equipment and medical care because the funding covers everything. The funding enables athletes to put forth their best efforts to win. ==GAIUS THOMPSON, gymnast== It does help an incredible amount because we can just focus on our sport. We can focus on the thing we love most and we don't have to worry about doing a job or anything like that. It is one of the best things about having funding. The Gymnastics team has been one of the success stories of UK Sport's funding model. British Gymnasts won 6 medals at Rio this year, 2 more medals than at London 2012. Gymnastics funding increased from £10.7 million to £14.6 million. Conversely, though, a sport may suffer a funding cut if it fails to meet expectations. All in all, the National Lottery has contributed a great deal to British success at Rio. TRANSLATED BY：ARIEL HSIEH 飛機前端特別塗成金黃色的波音747客機，將英國奧運代表團成員載回家。2016里約奧運，英國派出了366名運動員參賽，其中130人抱得獎牌歸，奪牌率超過35%。這次英國奧運代表團總共拿下67面獎牌,包含27面金牌，總獎牌數排名僅次於美國、名列世界第2。這樣豐碩的戰果,靠的正是對體育項目與運動員的長期投資。 ==英國體育協會執行長 尼克爾== 國家樂透在英國成功 扮演極關鍵角色 從1997年起我們能夠 調配資源給運動員與體育項目 支持有得獎潛力者 這影響持續增加 我們策略投資有三分之二 都來自於國家樂透 感謝英國國家樂透的買家 每個星期都買彩券 我們在里約這裡獎牌 是他們貢獻出來的 時間回到1996年的亞特蘭大奧運，當年英國奧運代表團從政府獲得2000萬英鎊的微薄贊助金，結果只獲得包含1面金牌在內的15面獎牌，排名全球36。為了一雪前恥，英國從1997年開始加重對於體育運動的投資，而隨著贊助金年年提高，英國選手的奪牌率也大幅提升。 2008年北京奧運，贊助金來到了2億3500英鎊，英國奧運代表團拿下48面獎牌，總獎牌數排名世界第4。今年里約奧運的投資金額,更高達2億7400萬英鎊，平均培養一位奪牌選手的成本,就要500萬英鎊,折合新台幣兩億八百萬! 至於挑選奪牌潛力運動員的工作，更早在賽事舉行8年前就開始進行。中選的運動員無論是在教練費用，還是器材服裝費用，甚至醫療費用,完全不用操心。2020東京奧運體操奪牌希望的湯普森說，贊助金對選手的幫助,真的很大。 ==體操選手 湯普森== 幫助真的非常大 因為如此一來我們可以專注在體育 我們可能專注在我們最喜愛的事 我們為了找工作之類的操心 這是有贊助最好的事 里約奧運英國體操代表隊拿下6面獎牌，比上屆倫敦奧運又多了2面。而他們今年出賽的經費也從原本的1070萬英鎊，增加到1460萬英鎊。不過,相對地,表現成績不如預期的項目，可能面臨贊助金減少的命運。總歸一句，英國國家樂透,對於奧運奪牌率,絕對功不可沒! 記者 王蕙文 報導