By Simon Stone, PA Chief Sports Reporter

In four years' time, the world will gather at the Olympic movement's spiritual home in Athens ready to celebrate the pinnacle of athletic achievement.

On the evidence of the last 17 days, British competitors have a lot to look forward to.

After the dismal showing in Atlanta, there was a general recognition that something had to be done to stop our sporting slide.

Much is made of how much the Australians love sport but the British certainly match them.

Our climate may not be as conducive to participation as that enjoyed on the Gold Coast but that shouldn't be seen as diminishing interest.

So the decision to channel money into sport, both at elite and grassroots level, via Sport England and UK Sport, should be applauded.

Privately, before the Games, Sport England were getting their excuses for failure ready.

Quite rightly, they pointed out, their body and direct Lottery funding had not been in existence long enough for medals won in Sydney to be used as a guide to their own success.

Even in the wildest dreams, they could not imagine that British athletes would fly home with 28 medals, 11 of them gold - a haul not previously achieved since Antwerp in 1920.

But Sport England were wrong and, in the nicest sense, the triumphant athletes have told them so.

Time and time again, medallists have stepped down from victory rostrums to declare that Lottery funding has proved pivotal to their chances of success.

What Sport England were prepared to declare was no matter what results were achieved in Sydney, given the same amount of funding, improvements could be made for the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester and in Athens two years later.

The problem is that there are still doubts about whether the current level of funding will be maintained.

UK Sport, Culture Minister Chris Smith and Sport England deny it, but heptathlon champion Denise Lewis is among the high-profile figures who claim that official letters have been sent out stating that grants are about to be cut.

Lottery tickets sales are falling, so simple facts state that revenues from them will dip too.

Prime Minister Tony Blair attempted to address athletes' concerns by announcing an extra £750million would be ploughed into school sport over the next three years.

This should produce a number of community-based centres which widen sports participation at both adult and junior levels.

But there is nothing which will encourage the Great British public to rise out of their armchairs more than the sight of their fellow countrymen collecting medals in major championships.

The method of distributing cash may need tinkering with and some sports, notably swimming, have shown little sign that the extra resource is delivering improvement when it matters.

Some governing bodies have an in-built reluctance to allow Sport England to demand where money is spent. If this continues, funding for that sport should be withdrawn and the world should be told why.

But what must not happen is for the government to be allowed to slide away from its responsibilities to sport as a whole, as it did during the Thatcher era.

John Major recognised the wider value of sport to the nation and it is taken on trust that his successor as Prime Minister does also.

If those who have represented their nation so bravely and boldly over the past two weeks, bringing a smile to factory floors and office blocks across the country, now find that their efforts are worthy only of a pay cut, the Government should hang their heads in shame.