British Olympic Association (BOA) boss Andy Hunt has told national sporting bodies that plans for a 550-strong Team GB at the 2012 Games depends on cash.The BOA is £4m short of the £8m needed for a team that size and if money is not found the team could be nearer 350.
"We'd like to have the most competitive team across all sports we can but we need to figure out the cost," he said.
"We want to enable people to get their head around the different dynamics and the costs of different team sizes."
Densign White of the British Judo Association said the London Olympics were a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and should be seen as such.
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"My view is that we should send as large a team as we can," he said.
"£4m is the salary of a Premier League footballer. In the greater scheme of things that's not much."
"Efforts should and will be made to find that extra money.
"We do not want to bankrupt ourselves but as this is a home Olympics it is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."
Hunt insisted the announcement was just part of the consultation process and that no decisions had yet been made.
If you have 550 athletes you probably have 1,100 in the team including officials and the cost of kitting out 1,100 people is enormous
Andy Hunt
"What we did was set out a number of different scenarios from having a completely full team taking every home nation place, down to an option where we go for an incredibly competitive team with a reduced number of athletes," he said.
He also pointed out that the mere fact it was on home soil did not make it any cheaper putting the team together.
"There are as many disadvantages being at home as advantages. It is far more complex not taking the team away to one location," he said.
"If you have 550 athletes you probably have 1,100 in the team including officials and the cost of kitting out 1,100 people is enormous."
