The BBC has confirmed that it will send 455 staff to Rio de Janeiro to cover this year's Olympic Games, a reduction of 40% on the size of the production team for London 2012.

The corporation is undertaking huge cost-cutting measures that have already seen it surrender rights to broadcast Formula 1 and The Open, as well as closing BBC Three as a television channel.

BBC head of sport Barbara Slater insisted that the BBC would broadcast the same volume of content as it did for London 2012, but at a significantly reduced cost.

"We know that staff numbers can often attract criticism, but to put these into context we are deploying about one-fifth the size of the team of the US broadcast rights holder," Slater told The Guardian.

"We are planning to deliver roughly the same volume of output as London 2012 but with 455 accredited staff being sent to Brazil – around 40% below the total number of accreditations for London 2012 and 35% below Glasgow's Commonwealth Games in 2014.

"We have purposefully re-prioritised resources over the last four years to ensure we deliver the best possible coverage of Rio 2016."

Slater also confirmed that the BBC has no plans to replicate its TV offering from London 2012, which saw 24 dedicated Olympics TV channels launched, but would stream every sport online instead.