A late gold medal surge in sailing and men’s hockey has produced “mixed messages” in the AOC’s final Benchmark study for 2011 with Australia finishing 4th on the gold medal tally behind the superpowers China, USA and Russia.

Three gold medals at the World Sailing Championships in Perth and the Champions Trophy success of our men’s hockey team resulted in a total of 15 gold medals for Australia.

“Fifteen gold is our third best result ever in Benchmark or Olympic competition behind Athens 2004 (record 17 gold) and the Sydney 2000 Games (16 gold),” said AOC President John Coates.

The four gold won in the last couple of weeks shot Australia past Japan, France, Germany and Great Britain, all with 14 gold. And behind only China (45 gold) USA (38 gold) and Russia (28 gold).

“Still the 2011 Benchmark produced mixed messages,” Coates said. “The gold medal result is very pleasing but we still have ground to make up on the overall medal tally as we head towards London.”

Australia finished 8th on the overall medal tally with 34 medals, 15 gold, 12 silver and 7 bronze. We trailed Japan (7th) with 41 medals, France (6th) with 43 medals, Germany (5th) with 54 and Great Britain (4th) with 58 medals.
China (104 medals), USA (86 medals) and Russia (77 medals) made up the top three nations.

“34 medals and 8th on the Benchmark is our worst result since we started keeping these records. Previously our worst result was 37 medals in 1997. Since then we have hovered in the 40’s for close on a decade until a significant drop post Beijing. In 2009 we finished with 39 medals and we have slipped even further in 2011. 

“This is compounded by the fact we have only won medals in 9 sports disciplines which is also our worst result since we started measuring,” he said.

“At the Sydney Olympics Australia won 58 medals, 16 gold 25 silver and 17 bronze but importantly we won those medals across 20 sports”.

Coates is buoyed by the large number of 4th and 5th places recorded in 2011. Australia had 37, 13 (4th) and 24 (5th) placings.

“I think this is the most we’ve ever had and the challenge is now for our sports to convert these into medals in London. It can be done and I remain optimistic we can reach our goal of a top five finish in both gold and overall medal tallies.”

Australia is meeting stiff opposition from countries like Germany, France and Great Britain who have poured money into funding their athletes.

“It is no secret we have been out-funded by our opponents. History shows extra funding has resulted in outstanding results. 37 medals in 1997 to a record 58 medals in 2000 was not only due to the home Games but the significant funding provided to elite sport by the Keating Government and continued on by John Howard who recognised the importance of sport to the nation. The current Federal Sports Minister, Senator Mark Arbib, also understands the need to do well at the Olympic level and we are very appreciative of his Green and Gold funding initiative.”

The Green and Gold program targets ten key “medal” sports with $2.5m in funding. The Australian Sports Commission found savings of $1.05m and added this money to the pool. This is on top of $23m in funding delivered in November 2010.

“The Federal Government is spending money to try and get kids off the couch and out playing sport. To do that kids need role models, the Olympic Games provides those role models. Elite sport and grassroots or community sport go hand in hand,” Coates said.

AOC