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At least half of Britain's Olympic sports could have their funding cut before the London 2012 Olympics if the Government spending review in the autumn demands further belt tightening.

Peter Keen, the director of performance at UK Sport, told the Guardian he would be willing to divert money from 50 per cent of the country's sporting bodies to athletes who have a more realistic chance of making the podium at the London Games.

"Like all publicly funded organisations, we'll soon hear our budget," he said. "You must remember that our London mission was funded by a dramatic increase in exchequer funding, not lottery funding. But we're dependent on exchequer funding that will be determined in the autumn.

"We're £50m down on the original budget we had in 2006. It was a £600m investment and it's a shame we don't have that now. But it's more important to focus on our mindset rather than the money.

“With any reasonable budget we will give the backing those [prospective medal-winning] athletes deserve. And so if that means we can only fund half the sports, then that's all we can do. What we really don't want to do is dilute our commitment to excellence."

Keen revealed sports with a reasonable chance of winning medals – among them cycling, athletics, rowing, sailing and swimming – could take priority.

"My ultimate loyalty is to elite sport,” he added. “I learned early on that if you compromise, if you don't look the monster in the eye, you invariably fail. If you distribute money to the point where you are spreading it so thinly then you're not recognising a key point: that to do it properly does cost.

“There are no shortcuts for our rowers and sailors and swimmers. They often travel the world more than 100 days a year. Somebody has to pay to allow them to compete in these world events. Our whole rationale about how we award funding is built on that fundamental insight."