Britain’s Olympic and Paralympic athletes are get an extra £50m in funding to help them beat the record medal haul of Rio in 2016 when they compete at the Tokyo Olympics next year.

At Rio Team GB athletes won 27 gold medals, second only to the USA, and more medals overall than at the London Olympics four years earlier.

Boris Johnson, who was London mayor during the 2012 games said the extra money would support athletes “every step of the way” in their final year of preparations for the Tokyo competition.

UK Sport, which administers the funding, is offering financial support to a host of sports for the first time, including Paralympic taekwondo, para badminton, sport climbing – a competitive form of rock climbing – karate and BMX freestyle after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) approved for them to take place at Tokyo 2020.

Mr Johnson said: “The UK has repeatedly shown itself to be an Olympic and Paralympic powerhouse, with our athletes putting in truly extraordinary performances over multiple Games.

“This further investment means we are right behind our elite athletes, backing them every step of the way as they strive towards medal success at Tokyo 2020.

“I have no doubt their efforts will inspire the nation, encouraging even more people to get involved in sport – just as we saw after our record-breaking performances at London 2012 and Rio 2016.”

London and Rio represented high points for Team GB’s Olympic history as hundreds of millions of pounds in lottery funding for sport finally paid off.

Among those to benefit was Dame Katherine Grainger, who topped the podium in 2012 with her partner Anna Watkins in the double skulls, before taking silver with Victoria Thornley in Rio.

Now chair of UK Sport, she welcomed the additional funding saying it would would “give our athletes the best chance to achieve their dreams and inspire the whole nation”.

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