UK Sport’s Mission 2012 programme has found that several sports – including athletics, swimming and boxing – need improvement in terms of coaching and funding before the London Olympics.

An independent survey carried out by Sheffield Hallam University for UK Sport found that while nine out of 10 athletes are happy with the coaching they receive and 85 per cent are pleased with the overall services they get from their sport – including sports science and medicine, equipment and overseas training opportunities – there is still room for improvement.

Only two thirds of athletes said that morale was high, while three quarters said that the programme in their sport is well led.

Each sport was measured using a traffic-light system and while around half of Olympic sports received green lights, athletics, swimming and boxing received amber ratings. Target shooting and the Paralympic sport of Goalball both received red lights. The latter is apparently at a “critical junction” due to the limited budget available to it.

John Steele, chief executive of UK Sport, said: “The fact that athletes themselves are largely happy with their current situation is good news.

“But Mission 2012 highlights that there is some work still to do in the system, which is a timely reminder that there is no room for complacency in high-performance sport. What that demonstrates is the continued need for all of us to work together to develop a performance system that ensures tomorrow’s athletes are even better supported than today’s.”