Olympic Games: Aussie athletes strike gold wth $257 million boost before Paris 2024 Olympics and Paralympics

Australia’s Olympic and Paralympic stars have hit the jackpot after their incredible success in Tokyo securing a record breaking amount of federal funding to prepare for Paris 2024.

Australia’s Olympic and Paralympic stars have hit the jackpot after their incredible success in Tokyo this year by securing a quarter of a billion dollars in federal funding to prepare for Paris 2024.

Totalling $257.5 million, it is an eye-watering amount that smashes all the previous records for our Olympic and Paralympic teams, but that’s just the cherry on top.

The real bonus for Australia’s high-performance sporting bodies is that for the first time, the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) and the federal government have agreed to fund sports through to the end of the next Olympic cycle.

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Aussie swimming superstar Emma McKeon took home an amazing 7 medals from the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Picture: Getty Images

That means sports that rely heavily on taxpayer funding can begin making their long-term plans for Paris immediately without having to wait every 12 months to find out how much cash they’re getting for the next year.

AIS chief executive Peter Conde said the new funding model – which comes on top of existing direct athlete grants ($14.6 million) and the government’s $82.2 million wellbeing and pathway programs – not only recognises the amazing success of Australia’s athletes in Tokyo, but also the way they lifted the mood of the nation during the gloom of lockdown.

“The Tokyo Olympic Games and Paralympic Games inspired us all,” he said.

“We have worked with Government to secure longer-term funding to forward plan and continue building on that success.”

Many taxpayer funded sports are currently only funded until June this year – just prior to the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England – but federal sports Minister Richard Colbeck said sports will now receive grants from 1 July 2022 through until December 2024.

Dylan Alcott was once again the tennis standout bringing home gold at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games. Picture: Getty Images

“This funding provides the perfect platform to perform in Paris,” Colbeck said.

“This will be the first time that sports have received funding certainty so far out from an Olympic and Paralympic Games.”

The exact details of exactly how much each sport will receive will be made public in January but it can already be revealed the biggest winners include the Dolphins swimming team, the Matildas, canoeing, women’s rugby 7s, rowing, surfing and skateboarding and para table tennis.

Swimming, which provided the bulk of the Australian gold medals won at the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, remains the highest-funded sport.

The Matildas may have missed out on a medal in Tokyo but Sam Kerr’s team have struck gold after getting $1.9 million specifically for Paris, plus a further $8.83m over two years to support their campaign for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, which is being co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand.

The women’s rugby 7s program will receive $2.5 million per year, an increase of 39%, while para and able bodied canoeing – featuring superstars Jess Fox and Curtis McGrath – will get $7.15 million annually.

Women’s rugby 7s are set to become massive winners from the cash injection. Picture: Dylan Robinson

The rowing programs will receive in excess of $10 million year while surfing gets a 30% rise to $2 million and skateboarding increases to $850,000.

The biggest increase was to para table tennis, which got a 74% boost to $900,000, after winning a record six medals in Tokyo, led by Ma Lin, the one-armed Chinese-born Aussie whose limb was bitten off by a bear when he was a kid.

“We are in the midst of an exciting time for Australian sport,” Australian Sports Commission Chair Josephine Sukkar said.

“Paris is now only two and half years away, and our commitment to longer term success, the green and gold runway to Brisbane 2032, is also front of mind.”