Furious GB skiers demand answers after funding scandal was revealed by Sportsmail

A group of former international skiers have written to UK Sport and GB Snowsport demanding answers after Sportsmail’s revelation that athletes are being charged up to £33,500 to be part of the national programme.

Eddie ‘the Eagle’ Edwards, Britain’s favourite Winter Olympian, has also called for an overhaul of the ‘unfair system’, which he says will price poorer skiers out of the sport.

A Sportsmail investigation revealed that Olympic hopefuls have been forced to pay thousands of pounds to join the GB Snowsport set-up, while directors have been paid six-figure fees through consultancy contracts.

Payments to directors Vicky Gosling and Dan Hunt totalled £417,163 for the 17-month period from May 2019 to September 2020

Billy Major had to crowdfund to afford being a member of the GB Snowsport programme

Even Eddie Edwards has weighed in and called for a complete overhaul of the system

That has led to a letter being sent to non-executive board members of GB Snowsport from an alliance of Olympians, coaches and the chief executive of the British Ski Academy, Malcolm Erskine, about what they claim is a ‘funding scandal’.

UK Sport, who provide £11.1million in Olympic funding to GB Snowsport, have been copied in on the letter and have been urged to conduct ‘their own audit’ of the governing body.

The letter says: ‘With parents of team athletes speaking to the national press and people speaking publicly about officers’ pay, we urge you to scrutinise the management accounts and publish a breakdown of funds that are spent on head office expenses versus those deployed on the athletes directly.’

The above is a bill for £33,500 for alpine skiers

It also questions why GB Snowsport chief executive Vicky Gosling and alpine director Paul Trayner were paid as consultants rather than as employees, as exposed by Sportsmail’s investigation – asking: ‘Do you consider it ethical to pay high levels of salary from public funds through related party transactions?’

Meanwhile, Eddie the Eagle, the much-loved former British ski jumper who came from a humble background to achieve his dream of competing at the 1988 Olympics, has hit out at the ‘disgusting’ athlete charges.

He told Sportsmail: ‘It widens the gap between the haves and the have nots. It is saying the British team has a pricetag.

‘The athletes with rich families or good sponsors can do it, but other athletes are left by the wayside. I think that is disgusting.

‘It needs looking at and there needs to be a fairer system. Sport is for everybody. Everyone needs an equal amount of opportunity to represent their country.

‘I don’t think they should be charging that kind of money, especially when the chief executive and other directors are on six figures.

‘I can’t think of any logical reason why these guys are getting this kind of money for doing that kind of job. It is ridiculous.

‘When the Lottery money started going to sport, all it did was increase the wages of the directors at the federations. It should be looked into. It should all be open and transparent.’

A fundraiser was set up for 15-year-old Candice Bomberg to raise money for her to compete

Sportsmail has also heard from the father of 15-year-old Candice Bomberg, a dual-nationality junior slalom champion who switched allegiance from France to Great Britain but has been forced to crowdfund.

Tim Bomberg said: ‘As a family we have set up a gofundme page and set up a public profile Instagram account, as we see the potential in sponsorship for social media influencing.

‘This is the only way we can see of funding Candice’s skiing future and keeping her on the right trajectory from being from French U14 slalom champion to representing GB at the highest levels.

‘It may ultimately come down to a purely financial decision. Due to her dual-nationality, winning medals for France may be the only realistic and affordable option.’