AOC President Ian Chesterman has highlighted a year with Australia’s best-ever performance at a Winter Olympic Games, strong growth and investment in the AOC’s core community programs, enhanced commitment to sport as a vehicle for Indigenous reconciliation, the delivery of the organisation’s inaugural Climate Action Plan and a strong financial year with surplus for the year of $3 million.  

“Australia’s reputation as a winter sporting power continues to grow with Jakara Anthony’s gold in the Moguls, Jackie Narracott and Scotty James winning silver in the Skeleton and Snowboard Halfpipe respectively, and a bronze for Tess Coady in the Snowboard Slopestyle. When you add a record number of top five and top six finishes, our winter Team in Beijing represented Australia with distinction, both on and off the field of play.

“At home, our commitment to our vision of inspiring Australians through the power of Olympic sport could not be better exemplified than through the impressive milestones achieved in the Olympic Unleashed programme. More than 250,000 students have now received visits from athletes delivering messages around goal setting, decision making and coping with adversity. Also making an impact is our Olympic Change-Makers Program which recognises young leaders in schools and communities. One thousand young people applied to be Change-Makers last year and ultimately 24 were selected by our Panel of Olympians. Australia’s future is in good hands.

Mr Chesterman also highlighted the progression of the AOC’s Indigenous reconciliation journey with the conclusion of the first “Reflect” Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) and the significant steps taken towards the next phase, the “Innovate” RAP which is due to launch in 2023.

“The AOC is really focused on practical outcomes and we successfully delivered an Indigenous Basketball Coaching Scholarship program in 2022 in conjunction with Basketball Australia, The Indigenous Basketball Foundation and our partner Toyota. I witnessed this program first-hand on the ground in the Torres Strait and it was outstanding. The AOC will now progress this concept to other sports.

The AOC has strengthened its commitment to climate action with the launch of its inaugural Climate Action Plan in late 2022. The Plan outlines the AOC’s commitment to a 30% reduction in emissions by 2024 and net zero by 2040.

“This is not only the right thing to do, but also what our athletes expect, and rightly so.

“A healthy planet is vital to the future of sport, and we can all be part of the solution,” Mr Chesterman said.

In achieving a surplus of $3 million in 2022, AOC Chief Executive Officer Matt Carroll pointed to the investment by AOC commercial partners of more than $15m in sponsorship during the financial year, and the ongoing support of the Australian Olympic Foundation which provided $7m in distributions during the financial year despite a highly volatile period in investment markets. These are the funds we use to support the Olympic Movement in Australia, from athletes, to member sports and the wider community.

“The surplus for the year has further bolstered the balance sheet with $9m in retained surpluses which will be used to support the significant financial commitment to the Australian Team to Paris in 2024, creating the best performance environment for our athletes. Thanks to all our commercial partners for their commitment and investment which means the AOC remains on track to achieve the revised Paris Quad target of $70.9m in sponsorship and licensing."

In 2022, we strengthened our very productive relationship with the Australian Sports Commission and Australian Institute of Sport, along with State and Territory Institutes and Academies. With our industry partners, Commonwealth Games Australia (CGA) and Paralympics Australia (PA), we worked on a number of joint initiatives and collaborations to the benefit of our Member Sports. These included progressing the 10+10 Submission with CGA and working closely with PA on the legacy of Brisbane 2032.

“I particularly thank the State and Territory Governments of NSW, WA, SA, ACT and Queensland for their investment with AOC in Olympic Unleashed,” Mr Carroll concluded.

AOC President Ian Chesterman also announced that the AOC’s highest honour, the Order of Merit, would be bestowed on three individuals at the Annual General Meeting this year. Three-time Olympian and Gold medallist and former Chair of the AOC Athletes’ Commission Steve Hooker OAM OLY, Seven West Media Chair Kerry Stokes and Channel Seven’s former Head of Olympics Andy Kay will all receive the Order of Merit for their services to the Olympic movement in Australia.

AOC President Ian Chesterman announced that the AOC’s highest honour, the Order of Merit, would be bestowed on three individuals at the Annual General Meeting this year. Three-time Olympian and Gold medallist and former Chair of the AOC Athletes’ Commission Steve Hooker OAM OLY, Seven West Media Chair Kerry Stokes and Channel Seven’s former Head of Olympics Andy Kay will all receive the Order of Merit for their services to the Olympic movement in Australia.

Mr Chesterman also noted that that the Australian Olympic Foundation, in a difficult year in global financial markets, outperformed many other funds across the 12 months to finish the year with Net Assets of $171.8m. The investment portfolio performance was down by 2.1 per cent, comparing favourably to the industry benchmark of 3.3 per cent down. He thanked the Foundation’s management and the AOF Investment Advisory Committee for their diligent work in achieving that result.

The 2022 AOC Annual Report and 2022 AOF Annual Report can be found here.

The Agenda for the Annual General Meeting can be found here.