In recognition of the hard work of Australia’s high-performance athletes, coaches, and support staff, particularly through the challenges of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the nation’s government has pledged a $54.5 million investment.
Spanning two years, the allocation of funds is aimed at ensuring the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) can maintain its baseline support for National Sports Organizations (NSOs) and, by extension, Olympic and Paralympic hopefuls.
Australian Sports Commission (ASC) Chair John Wylie said the additional investment is a huge boost for Australia’s high-performance system. “No sector has been immune to fallout as a result of COVID-19 but our Olympic, Paralympic and Commonwealth Games sports have been doing it really tough.
“I’d like to thank Minister Colbeck and the Federal Government for the strong support through this and a range of other measures.
“I am also incredibly proud of the work our own team has been doing day in-day out, together with our sport partners to work through these challenging times. This is fantastic news for those athletes and coaches who have just returned to training and striving for success in the green and gold next year and beyond.
“Sport is a foundation of the Australian way of life and at the ASC, we are passionate about helping athletes – at all levels – be the best they can.”
Over $3.9m will be directed towards supporting technology and innovation through key sporting infrastructure, including projects for Australia’s swimmers, paddle and winter sport athletes, along with an infrastructure funding pool, managed by the AIS and enabling a wide range of smaller sports to access the very best in sports technology.
The funding boost represents a counterpoint to the cuts Swimming Australia alluded to having to make due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“We haven’t had to lay people off yet but like every other sport, the next financial year looks ominous so we’re making some really prudent financial choices to make sure that we can keep our team of staff together as much as possible,” Swimming Australia CEO Leigh Russell told the Sunday Tasmanian.
“The challenge for us is we’ve got the Olympics and we don’t want to compromise our performance and to do that, we’ve got to have a number of things behind the scenes,” Russell added. “It’s a delicate balancing act so we’re trying to do out modelling for the next financial year from pretty optimistic to ‘this is Armageddon.’”
The high-performance investment also comes just days after the 2032 Olympic Games hosting bid by the Australian city of Brisbane has been put on hold.