The governing bodies of 12 British sports have demanded an end to a funding policy that puts Olympic medals above all else.

Describing the current model as "divisive", the bodies – which include Badminton England and GB Wheelchair Rugby – have called on UK Sport to apply "at least a baseline level of funding" to all Olympic and Paralympic sports.

"We believe that giving many millions of pounds to some sports but none to others is divisive and will prove self-defeating. We think the British public believes in fairness and equality of opportunity, and the best way to achieve this is to provide at least a baseline level of funding to all Olympic and Paralympic sports. We are confident that this can be achieved without sacrificing current medal success."

Great Britain has enjoyed unprecedented success at the Olympic Games since the no-compromise approach to funding was introduced in 2004. At Rio 2016 Team GB won 27 gold medals and finished second in the table. In so doing they also became the first country to improve their medal tally at five consecutive Games.

This success has accompanied a narrowing of funding, however. While 70% of Olympic and Paralympic sports were funded at London 2012, less than 50% are expected to receive public money before Tokyo 2020.