Mike Stanley, a former Olympic rower and now the President of the NZOC, admitted the organisation could potentially go $3million (£1.3 million) over budget by the end of the the Games in London.

He plans to approach New Zealand's Government-funding agency Sport & Recreation New Zealand (Sparc) about the shortfall, which also has the potential to impact on next year's Commonwealth Games, it is feared.

Stanley told the Sunday News: "We budget about $20 million (£8.8 million) over a four-year period and we have to raise about half of that via sponsorship and other funding.

"We are active in the sponsorship market [but] looking over the period until the end of the 2012 Games, we think two or three million dollars [of that] might be a challenge to raise.

"That amount is just to keep us in a zero position."

Sparc invests approximately $40 million (£17.6 million) per year into its high performance programme, which includes direct funding to National Sports Organisations (NSOs), performance enhancement grants for the country's top athletes and funding for the New Zealand Academy of Sport.

In the four years up to and including 2008, Sparc also invested $1.84 million (£810,000) in the NZOC, an amount which included an additional Beijing Olympics investment of $500,000 (£220,000), where New Zealand finished 25th overall with nine medals, three of them gold, including shot putter Valerie Vili (pictured).

It was their best performance since the Seoul Olympics in 1988.

This year alone, Sparc, which has an investment agreement with the NZOC of $250,000 (£110,000) per annum, has given $675,000 (£297,000) worth of funding.

Peter Miskimmin, Sparc's chief executive, is seeking more details of the NZOC's cash crisis.

He said: "The NZOC, in our mind, their job is about delivering, selecting and organising the logistics around our Games teams.

"We fund people based upon need against our high performance criteria.

"At this point in time, I haven't had a proposition from Mike saying they would like extra money from Sparc.

"What we would do is sit down and look at what their needs are – as we have done in the past.

"In principle, we are very much behind the NZOC.

"They do a really good job.

"We have supported them in the past and we want to support them in the future.

"They deliver a critical component of the high performance system."

Stanly's predecessor as NZOC President, Eion Edgar, had first issued a similar warning nearly two years ago ago when he claimed that they were struggling to continue to provide the back-up help that the country's top athletes needed to maintain their progress.

If the NZOC are unable to raise the necessary extra funds they could introduce a policy that athletes selected for next year's inaugural Summer Youth Olympic Games in Singapore may have to help fund their own trip.

Stanley said: "Already, we have made the decision that the Youth Games have to be 'user-pays'.

"Again, it's the young athletes whom the cost tends to fall on but that's just a pragmatic situation.

"We are not pleased with it but it's the way it goes.

"It's a process that every organisation has to go through and we have to ask ourselves where our priorities lie.

"We do not want and will not compromise in terms of the environment our athletes go into - in terms of high performance - at the Games.

"We will look at the Games budgets and work out the certain things we must do and then things we might look at reviewing.

"There will also be other areas of our operation that we will also have to review if we can't meet our financial goals.

"We are attempting to put our finances on a more sustainable footing, with a permanent reserve that will earn income and take care of any rainy day situations.

"But more importantly this will allow us to plan with greater certainty and it's vital to the part we play in making sure we provide a high performance environment for our Games athletes, promoting sport amongst youth and providing a strong return for our commercial partners."


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