AOC: The CEO of the Olympic Winter Institute (OWI) Geoff Lipshut will recommend a move to an expanded snowboard cross program for the next four years that will include Belle Brockhoff, Jarryd Hughes and Cam Bolton as well as Alex Pullin. 

“Program details will be formulated post games and will be subject to OWI Board approval and athletes accepting the terms and conditions that comes with a scholarship” Lipshut said. 

“We will look to continue to work with NSWIS to develop an even stronger program going forward for what is an exciting talent base” he said. 
Meanwhile Lipshut has defended the “target” funding program put in place for Alex Pullin despite a disappointing result in Sochi. 

“Four years ago the OWI built a program around Alex Pullin, It was tailored for Alex to win a medal at the Sochi Olympics. He missed a medal here in a very unpredictable sport but his performances over the past four years have warranted the support the OWI has given him” Lipshut said.

Pullin produced an outstanding performance at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics where he just missed a medal and then achieved rapid success straight after those Games.

“Alex was a logical choice at the time, as he was our only elite snowboard cross athlete at that time and had demonstrated immense talent and potential in finishing the fastest qualifier at the 2010 Olympics” Lipshut said.

Pullin reached his KPI’s over the past four years winning two world championships to become the most successful world championship athlete in the history of the OWI and Australian winter sports.

During that period he has also twice won the snowboard cross World Cup title.

“Alex achieved every Benchmark along the way winning the two world championships in a row and it is because of that success we have provided him with the resources to win at the Olympics”.

“If you are successful in sport you receive substantial funding, that is the way sport works. That is not unique to the OWI or Australia, that is the way of the world”.

Lipshut is clearly disappointed with the claims by some athlete’s parents that Pullin has received preferential treatment.

“Other Australian athletes are benefiting from Alex’s success” he said.

“Because he has been a trailblazer and put his sport on the map, Institutes including the Victorian Institute of Sport (VIS) and the New South Wales Institute of Sport (NSWIS) have reacted positively to Alex’s success and supported younger athletes including Jarryd Hughes and Belle Brockhoff”.

“Jarryd Hughes and Belle Brockhoff  currently have scholarships with NSWIS, which cover the cost of a personal coach each, a service technician, on-tour physiotherapist support, a personal trainer back home and other travel and living expenses. They are very well supported by the Institutes and it was the NSWIS support that underpinned their recent successes”. 

“But now the younger athletes have taken that next step, post Sochi we need to look at including them on the OWI program”.