News of the World demise could hit British athletes

The fall-out from the News of the World's demise could hit British medal hopes at next year's London Olympics after News International's deal to offer support to the home team's elite athletes came under scrutiny on Thursday.

Rupert Murdoch's News International Group had agreed to support Team 2012, an elite athlete fundraising body set up jointly by the London 2012 organising committee (LOCOG), the British Olympic Association (BOA) and UK Sport, as the official media partner.

But after the far-reaching phone-tapping scandal that brought down the Sunday tabloid, Team 2012 is now reviewing its partnership with News International and may look elsewhere for an alternative media partner.

"The Team 2012 joint venture, including Visa as its presenting partner, has had a contract with the News International Group as its official media partner," a statement from Team 2012 said on Thursday.

"As a result of the closure of News of the World the contract can no longer be fulfilled as originally envisaged.

"All parties in the joint venture remain totally committed to Team 2012 and are working to make sure that we continue to give the 1,200 plus athletes from Team 2012 Visa the best chance of achieving success by competing for Team GB and Paralympics GB at London 2012.

"To help drive national support for Team 2012 we are now exploring media partnerships across a range of channels."

Team 2012 was established in September to fill a funding shortfall and raise private sector income for the British team. It has set a target of bringing in between 20 and 25 million pounds ($41,000,000) in the period to the start of next year's Games.

News International's other titles include The Sun, The Times and the Sunday Times.

As "official" newspapers to the British Olympic team they would have enjoyed greater access to top British athletes in the run-up to and during next year's Games. ($1 = 0.613 British Pounds)