The controversial review, headed by David Davies, the former executive director of the Football Association, and which has taken almost a year to complete, recommended that the Winter Olympics should be among those events offered up for delisting.

 

Martin told insidethegames: "I am disappointed to see the recommendations.

 

"Minority winter sports in this country benefit greatly from TV coverage, bringing in sponsorship to help our athletes of the future and raise awareness with youngsters about winter sports.

 

"It would be a great disappointment to lose the coverage on terrestrial TV."

 

The profile of curling was raised enormously in Britain by the coverage it received from the team's success in Salt Lake City seven years ago when six million people, including reportedly the Queen, stayed up beyond midnight to watch the final against Switzerland.

 

It received a further boost earlier this year when the Scottish men's skip won the world title in Canada and they will be one of the favourites for a gold medal at the Vancouver Olympics next year.

 

That is leading to growing interest in the sport.

 

Martin said: "The final of the European Championships in December is also being televised from Aberdeen.

 

"It would be a great loss to our sport if these recommendations were passed."

 

Kristan Bromley (pictured),  the 2008 world bob skeleton champion, is another of Britain's top winter sportsmen and women to criticise the findings of the review.

 

Bromley told insidethegames: "Winter-sport athletes are just as focused and committed as all summer sport athletes and deserve the same treatment.

 

"With minimal support, a lot of winter sport athletes can end up in huge debt pursuing the sport they love and free-to-view TV coverage once every four years is not a lot to ask."

 

Bromley currently heads Bromley Technologies, the company that provide some of the world's best winter sport equipment to elite members of the British team, including his partner Shelley Rudman, the 2006 Olympic bob skeleton silver medallist and Nicola Minichiello, a member of the two woman bobsleigh team that won the world title earlier this year.

 

Mike Maddock, the chief operating officer of Bromley Technologies, warned that if the Winter Olympics is taken off free-to-air television than it could cause untold damage.

 

He said: "We urge the British public to get behind the team which will raise awareness of winter sport and help us survive.

 

"If an event as big as the Winter Olympics is taken off free-to-air television, it would have a huge impact for winter sport in the UK.

 

"It could kill the sport in this country.

 

"The Winter Olympics is a huge event and it deserves to get the same recognition and same coverage as the Summer Olympics, not to be seen as a secondary sport.

 

"If you look at the figures, the Winter Olympics is a hugely popular viewing event for people in Britain and at the last Winter Olympics [in Turin in 2006] there was a huge interest in them as the rating suggest that they were watched by almost as many as people as Wimbledon were that year.

 

"Winter sport in this country is finally starting to get improved media coverage and public support so to take it off free-to-air television at this stage could not be a worse idea."

 

Maddock also claimed that less media coverage at winter sport's biggest event could lead to a drop in sponsorship that would prove critical to the majority of the athletes in the British team.

 

He said: "If the athletes were not on free-to-air television during the Winter Olympics, their profile would certainly drop meaning that their sponsorship money would also decrease and as a result, they might have to give up the sport all together.

 

"The forthcoming Olympics in Vancouver could perhaps see Britain claim more medals than they ever have before because we have world class athletes - such as Kristan, Shelley and Nicola – who have a great chance of taking the gold."

 

Any changes will not affect next year's Winter Olympics in Vancouver, which the BBC are already planning to show extensively.

 

Maddock said: "Perhaps, if the Vancouver Games are still shown on free-to-view television it will be clearly apparent how popular they are, how many people watch them and also give our best winter sport athletes the chance to become superstar names in Britain.

 

"In my view, it is essential that the biggest winter sport event in the world remains a 'Crown Jewell' and stays on a par with the Summer Olympics as it should do."

 

But, even if the Government do accept the recommendations of the Davies report, the likelihood is that the Winter Olympics will remain on free-to-air television because the International Olympic Committee (IOC) are unlikely to allow them to be shown on pay-platform.

 

Mark Adams, a spokesman for the IOC, told insidethegames: "The Olympic Charter, states that the IOC should take, 'all necessary steps in order to ensure the fullest coverage by the different media and the widest possible audience in the world for the Olympic Games'. 

 

"The IOC routinely contracts rights-holding broadcaster to show a minimum of 200 hours free-to-air for the summer Olympic Games and 100 hours free-to-air for the winter Olympic Games. 

 

"Regardless of whether a revised free-to-air events list is established in the UK, the IOC will continue to pursue the objectives of the Olympic Charter to achieve the widest possible access to the Games."

 

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]

 

 

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