New leadership at AOC can help us rise to challenge in Tokyo

Swimming Australia president John Bertrand at Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre yesterday. Picture: David Geraghty.

International competition, particularly at Olympic level, is fierce. The bar is always being raised.

What we do know is the level of excellence by Tokyo 2020 will be higher than what we saw in Rio. History tells us that.

Increased success in Tokyo is a challenge for us all and if new leadership at the Australian Olympic Committee could help drive this, it should be seriously considered.

Although the current chairman has done an outstanding job in the past, his tenure of 26 years, 30 years if he is re-elected, is a very long time. Long tenures risk an ingrained culture, less likely to adapt to the necessary change and innovation needed to compete with other nations who have adopted best practice and are raising the bar.

Global best practice in business and in sport call for tenures no longer than eight years for a director and 12 years maximum in the chair. Organisations need new talent, new energy and new ideas to continually improve.

Even the IOC and now FIFA have maximum terms of 12 years for people in the chair role.

Since the London Olympics, I have been watching with interest all the changes in leadership with the major British sporting bodies and how they have come together to lift the nation’s sporting performances. Both the British Olympic Association and UK Sport have a frequent turnover of directors and chairmen to bring in new energy, ideas and innovation.

Britain achieved a solitary gold medal at the Atlanta 1996 Olympics. At Rio last year, they produced an amazing 27 golds and climbed to No 2 in the world rankings. A phenomenal result.

Astute application of increased funding plus excellent co-operation between the BOA and UK Sport have been key.

I am passionate about Australians achieving on the world stage, in swimming and across all sports.

Australians have something special and for a small nation we already do well, but I know we can do even more.

We need to keep evolving. As such, we should not be afraid to consider change. What will a world-class, high-performance team really look like by 2020? We are all focused on this at Swimming Australia.

At the end of the day in this democratic process, I and Swimming Australia will fully support the elected leader of the AOC to collectively achieve our best.

John Bertrand is president of Swimming Australia.