A Paralympic athlete has had her funding suspended for appearing on The Jump – but she had no other choice

Channel 4 must be cock-a-hoop. There’s nothing like a bit of controversy to generate viewer interest ahead of a new series and the latest outing of The Jump is providing it with bells on.

For the uninitiated, the programme features sportspeople, actors and other celebs taking a crack at winter sports, specifically risky winter sports such as ski jumping.

It has made a name for itself as one of the most dangerous reality shows in TV history, with a number of serious injuries last year (former gymnast Beth Tweddle had to have two vertebrae fused as a result of one of them).

The controversy ahead of this year’s outing has been generated because of the participation of active Olympians and Paralympians who benefit from National Lottery Funding.

They include Jade Jones, the double Taekwondo gold medallist, and Kadeena Cox, the history-making Paralympian who won medals in both athletics and in cycling in Rio, making her the first British para-athlete to win medals in two sports in more than 30 years.

GB Taekwondo was first to express its unhappiness, growling about having “reservations” over Jones’s participation and saying it had held “extensive talks” with her about the obvious risks.

But there wasn’t a lot it could do beyond that. Jones is its star, and her medal winning brings with it funding that the sport needs. She has also publicly mused about a move to mixed martial arts, not something Taekwondo would like to see happening, at least not until she has picked up another medal in 2020.

Cox is also a star, but she’s a para-athlete – which makes her a second-class citizen. It also means she doesn’t have the option of leaving for another sport. Her funding is also in the gift of British Athletics, which has several stars. Surprise, surprise, it has taken the money away, at least while Cox is appearing on the show, with the support of British Cycling.

The spoilsports in this case are clearly the governing bodies, and shame on them for the actions they have taken, particularly in the case of Cox.

National Lottery funding provides athletes with the opportunity to become full-time pros and is therefore not to be sniffed at. But it is hardly generous. Athlete Performance Awards, to help with living expenses, top out at £28,000 for the very best – those winning medals at Olympics or world championships (and they have to be gold medals for para-athletes like Cox).

For being the very best at what they do (something few of us will ever be able to say), for bringing home medals, and for doing their “inspire a generation” bit, the athletes concerned get tuppence ha’penny and are expected to bow and scrape and tip their forelocks to their governing bodies to avoid having it withdrawn.

To put it in context, that maximum grant is a shade under the average British wage. The average wage for a Premiership footballer, meanwhile, is about £2.5m, and some decidedly mediocre players make quite a bit more.

Sports do not operate on a level playing field, or anything like it. If you’re male and get moderately good at the right one, you can make riches beyond the dreams of avarice. If you’re female, and especially if you have a disability, not so much.

The opportunity to make serious money simply isn’t available to female sportspeople who are not named Jessica Ennis, unless they happen to be world-class tennis players.

It is never available to para-athletes, male or female. Their only option is to work like demons and hope they can perhaps get into coaching, commentating or sports administration to make a living when their inevitably short careers are over.

So along comes The Jump with the offer of a TV fee. What would you do in that situation?

It is significant that the able-bodied male sports personalities featuring in this year’s season are mostly finished with active competition. They include former Liverpool player Robbie Fowler, former rugby players Gareth Thomas and Jason Robinson, and Sir Bradley Wiggins, fresh from having announced his retirement from cycling. These people have made their money and the show represents for them the chance to take on a fun new challenge, and to make a few quid while doing it.

There is an active male Olympian, gymnast Louis Smith, who has a Strictly win to his credit. But he could be considered as something of a special case. He’s in need of, shall we say, a little image rehabilitation having just served a two-month suspension for appearing to mock the way Muslims pray in a video that made its way on to the internet. We’ve yet to hear from UK Gymnastics on his participation.

When it comes to the two women, however, the fees they will be paid could be quite important and their sports should butt out. Both Jones and Cox have done what they have been asked to do. By winning medals, they’ve helped their respective sports maintain their funding from UK Sport, and also helped to keep coaches, administrators, physios, nutritionists, and the rest, in jobs. Jobs which probably pay more than they make.

As long as they keep up with their fitness and training regimens, and turn up to compete when they are required to do so (no one has suggested this might happen) then they should be able to do what they want. If they get injured, preventing that, that’s another issue. But they haven’t.

Your employer doesn’t stop you in doing risky things in your own time. I know mine doesn’t. And hey, sick pay! I know the athletes aren’t technically employees, but the principle holds.

Sure, The Jump represents a risk. I can understand why their sports might have misgivings about it, notwithstanding the fact that we are told that there has been a review of safety.

Thing is, however, either Cox or Jones could injure themselves in training tomorrow. Or just by walking their dogs.

Given the inequality female, and especially disabled, sports people face when compared to the men, it seems churlish in the extreme to fuss about their having the opportunity to make a few quid when they are presented with the opportunity to do so.