No one home at Australian Institute of Sport’s Italian outpost

To outside eyes the Australian Institute of Sport campus in Varese, northern Italy is a folly.

The Australian Institute of Sport’s campus in Varese, northern Italy.

To outside eyes the Australian Institute of Sport campus in Varese, northern Italy, is a folly.

Swish training facilities in a country rich in delicious food, gorgeous scenery and the friendliness of the local population.

Australian taxpayers spend around $2.6 million a year on this training facility with a staff of six and used primarily by the Australian rowing team, but also by track and field athletes, cyclists, kayakers, winter athletes and Paralympians.

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To help affray the money it costs each year, the facility is also open, by invitation, to overseas teams and Australia’s arch rivals, the British, have been there. In 2017-2018, 23 teams visited the campus. In 2015-16 a total of 607 athletes stayed at the European base overnight.

Yet having a northern European base for athletes is a smart move. Athletes have the comfort of having quick access to prime medical facilities and diagnoses, and a rehabilitation area, if injured competing across Europe.

For the rowers and paddlers it’s a much appreciated storage facility for their boats, cutting down on costs of transport half way around the world. It gives a much needed connection to Australian expertise and is dubbed the “home away from home’’.

It is no surprise that the sports able to use the facility are some of the most successful on the international stage. On a minute scale, it replicates the old centralised AIS of having easy on-site access to facilities and support services.

Yet earlier this month The Australian sought to visit this AIS European base to prepare interviews before the Tokyo 2020 Olympics but was told no one was there. No Australian teams are due until mid April.

Apparently during the dismal winter months there is little demand for the services.

At this point in time, that’s a fortuitous scheduling. Coronavirus has spread through the northern areas of Italy, and the region of Lombardy — where the AIS is located — is part of a statewide closure of schools, institutions, churches and big events where people might gather such as football games.

The governor of Lombardy says the shutdown will stay until March 1 when it is reviewed. The AIS in Canberra says as of Sunday there were no known cases of Covid-19 in the immediate vicinity of the AIS campus and no teams from high-risk coronavirus transmission zones have been staying at the campus.

Unusually the AIS insisted the training centre was not officially closed, however, staff are constantly monitoring updates from the State of Lombardy.

According to the AIS, the Varese training facility enhances Australia’s ability to maintain its competitive advantage when its athletes are training or competing in Europe and provides medical support including emergency assistance by accessing the European Medical Network.

In May 2018, Senator David Leyonhjelm asked questions about the “athletes’ resort in the picturesque Lombardy … could the commission please tell us how much this verdant outpost with its eight full-time staff costs to run on an annual basis?”

The then Sport Australia chief executive Kate Palmer responded that the lengths of stay range between one and 36 nights and there were a number of athletes living in the local area that use the facility on a regular basis.

The AIS said on Monday about the coronavirus: “The AIS chief medical officer David Hughes is monitoring the situation closely and is working with relevant government health authorities, the AOC and Paralympics Australia and National sporting organisations to continue to ensure the wellbeing of athletes and high-performance staff here in Australia and overseas is a priority.”