Around £24m has been pledged to help talented athletes in the run-up to the 2012 Olympics, through a strategic partnership between UK Sport and sports charity, SportsAid, formed this month.

TASS 2012 has come about as a result of changes to the Talented Athlete Sponsorship Scheme (TASS), which since 2004 has supported 3,000 athletes. From 2008, around 800 athletes, from 35 sports, will be helped with grants of up to £10,000 a year.

Shelley Rudman, Olympic silver medallist at the 2006 Winter Games, praised the scheme: “I can’t speak highly enough of the support TASS provides.

As an athlete, it gives you a real sense of solidity and allows you to concentrate purely on performance.”

The success of the programme was borne out at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, when 21 TASS alumni came home with medals, five of which were gold.