British ski team will compete in Vancouver

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Britain's Alpine ski team will reach the start hut at the Vancouver Olympics despite the British Ski and Snowboard Federation facing the possibility of administration, the British Olympic Association said on Tuesday.

Financial problems have haunted the BSSF for months given the lack of major interest in winter sports in the country.

"We're working hard behind the scenes to help the governing body, to make sure they survive," Andy Hunt, the BOA's chief executive and the British team's Chef de Mission for the Winter Olympics, told Reuters after the four-member ski team was named.

"If they can't survive, we will do whatever we can to make sure the athletes get to the Games. And I've made that commitment to the skiers and snowboarders who have sacrificed so much to be compete at the Olympics.

"We've built contingency plans that we're ready to go with should the federation go out of business. Right now, I can give that assurance to the athletes."

Hunt played down the target of three medals set by UK Sport this week, saying that the financing of winters sports in Britain was tiny compared to that of those in the summer Games.

"Winter sports get one and a half percent of what the summer sports get through funding," he said. "We've always been very clear, we're not setting a medal target.

"We want to build on Turin, we want to make sure every athlete achieves their personal best.

"When it is over we will have to look at the funding of sports governing bodies because clearly we can't have a situation like that with the ski federation again."

Chemmy Alcott, Britain's most successful female skier, leads the British team. Earlier this week she said in The Times that she was 20,000 pounds (USD32,000) out of pocket after having to pay for all her summer training.