The Australian Olympic Committee and Paralympic Committee have completed a detailed High Performance Plan (HPP) which calls for an urgent increase in funding for Australia’s Olympic and Paralympic athletes.

The plan has been sent to Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and the Federal Minister for Sport Kate Ellis.

AOC President John Coates and his counterpart at the Australian Paralympic Committee Greg Hartung will seek a meeting with the Prime Minister to take him through the HPP.

They will ask Mr Rudd to allocate the extra funding in the May Budget.

“It is now more than six months since the Beijing Games and it is critical that the additional funding be available from 1 July 2009 if it is to have the desired effect on Australia’s performances at the London Olympics and Paralympics in 2012,” Coates said.

They will also be meeting with Ms Ellis to take her through the HPP and have forwarded copies to the Expert Independent Sports Panel chaired by David Crawford which the Minister established to review the Australian sports system.

In his letter to Minister Ellis, Coates stresses the need for urgent action on funding for athletes.

He wrote “the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games in Vancouver are now less than one year away, while our Summer athletes are well and truly into their preparations for London 2012. It is therefore critical that the plan be embraced by your Government over the next few months if our athletes are to be given every opportunity to remain competitive."

Coates is adamant that our Olympians and Paralympians enjoy the overwhelming support of the majority of Australians.

“Australians take enormous pride in the feats of our athletes especially when they are competing on the world stage. We are acutely aware that these are very tough economic times but if the Government is looking at positive ways to overcome the gloom, there is no better way than helping our Olympic and Paralympic athletes."

Current funding for high performance Olympic and Paralympic sport from all sources (ie including AOC, APC & Australian Commonwealth Games Association [ACGA] and State Institutes & Academies of Sport) is currently $128.3m per annum; of which $73.6m is provided by the Federal Government through its Australian Sports Commission and Institute of Sport. In addition, the AOC, APC & ACGA fully fund their respective Team participation costs of $31.8m or $7.9m annualised.

The HPP recommends Federal Government funding of high performance Olympic and Paralympic sports be increased by $108.8m per annum.

Coates said the proposed increase was not excessive in comparison to what other nations are spending on their elite athletes and the financial projections of the National Federations, in many cases, were considered conservative.

“The additional funds will be used to provide the opportunity for hundreds and perhaps thousands of Australians to excel on the global stage and to pursue their dreams of representing all of us. The money will support their preparation programmes and will complement existing base funding as well as the separate funds contributed by the AOC, APC and ACGA. This is not a claim for additional funds for the AOC or any of the other umbrella bodies. The additional funds will go directly towards offsetting costs of athletes, securing great coaches and allowing them to train and compete overseas. Australia must also be smarter and innovate if we are to beat the much higher spending competition so applied research and development and targeted initiatives will also be funded,” said Coates.

“The HPP shows Australia’s medal performances are in decline at a time when our direct competitors Great Britain, Germany, France and Italy are significantly outspending us”.

The HPP concludes, “this is a material sum in a climate of global economic uncertainty. However the risks of failing to invest are considered more significant, as it will expose Australia to the real possibility of sustained declining performances, which will be very difficult and more costly to reverse”.

The HPP argues that the injection of funds from the Federal Government will:

• Increase grass roots participation in sport and associated health benefits
• Enhance employment opportunities in the business of sport.
• Provide opportunities for increased community cohesion and correctness through Olympic and Paralympic sport.

“Many of the recommendations in the HPP are relevant to the terms of reference of the Crawford Review but I repeat time is of the essence, the Government needs to act now, if the outcome of this Review is to have any relevance to the performances of our Olympians and Paralympians in Vancouver and London,” Coates said.

A survey carried out by Sweeney Sports in August 2008 found:

“Almost half of all Australians support extra government funding of Olympic sports if it results in more gold medals being won”.

“Six out of every ten people consider that good performances at the Olympic Games are good for Australia’s sense of optimism”.

A report by Woolcott Research done in September 2008 argued “although the current economic crisis makes provision of extra funds for sport a difficult choice for governments, it could be an important step to boosting national morale”.

Click here for the full High Performance Plan>>>

AOC