Olympic sprint hurdler Andy Turner has failed in his appeal against having his funding cut.

UK Athletics, who removed Turner from its list of lottery-funded athletes in November, has now rejected the 28-year-old’s challenge to the decision.

Sutton-based Turner said: “They are writing me off now but I am only getting started – I think they have made a mistake.

“They have made an example of me. Others have said the same, but I don’t know what goes through their minds.”

Turner, who won Commonwealth and European bronze medals in the 110m hurdles in 2006, was the highest-profile absentee when the 33 athletes to receive financial support in the build-up to August’s World Championships in Berlin were announced.

Turner added: “UK Athletics said I was too old to run a personal best and too old to make a major final, but that is completely ridiculous.

“I will be 31 by the 2012 London Olympics.

“American Allen Johnson won a world indoors medal at 38. I am a late developer – some people are –but UK Athletics don’t care.

“I look at the list of people they are funding and half of them have got no better chance of making a final than me.

“So I don’t really know what they are on about.

“I ran 13.2 in 2007 and that is going to make most finals.

“That kind of time is probably going to put you fourth or fifth in an Olympic final, but anything can happen in hurdling. People fall over, and a medal is possible.

“Colin Jackson won silver (at the 1988 Olympics) in the same time as my personal best.”

While Turner remains Britain’s number one in the event, and third on the UK all-time list behind Jackson and Tony Jarrett, he has struggled since running his personal best 13.27 seconds in the semi-finals of the 2007 World Championships.

Having been dogged by a succession of injuries, Turner’s best time in 2008 was 13.41. And he failed to get further than the second round in Beijing, clocking 13.53.

UK Athletics said funding was for athletes who demonstrated the ability to finish in the top eight at a World Championship or Olympics – or had already done so in the past two years.

“The process does not take into account an individual's personal circumstances, but considers only their ability to succeed on the highest stage,” said a spokesman.

Turner is determined to prove UK Athletics wrong, but admits it will be a huge task now his £18,000 annual grant, plus medical support, has been taken from him.

He continues to train full-time with Lloyd Cowan, who also coaches Beijing gold medallist Christine Ohuruogu, but, with a mortgage to pay, and a young family to provide for, the future looks bleak.

“It is difficult, it’s been my whole life for 10 years and my dream since I was a kid,” added Turner.

“All I can do now is run a personal best and prove them wrong.

“I am so frustrated by the whole thing I’m just going to get on the line and show them that they have made a mistake.”