Officials slam costly Olympics boot camp
To its detractors, Gold Medal Ready has been labelled an “awful waste of money”.
To its detractors, Gold Medal Ready has been labelled an “awful waste of money”. To its supporters GMR, as it is known, could just be the program that helps Australia’s athletes on their journey to Olympic gold.
The GMR program involves army special forces taking potential Olympians heading to Tokyo through their paces.
The Weekend Australian understands it is funded to the tune of well over $1 million.
Olympic gold medal “alumni” Kim Brennan and Steve Hooker, as well as star coaches such as Ric Charlesworth, have served as mentors on the program, which will put 150 athletes through their paces before the Tokyo Games.
Promotional videos show athletes carrying logs and tractor tyres in teams and, in a “marine environment”, one clip shows drenched athletes doing push-ups on the pool deck.
“What we’ve tried to do is to replicate some scenarios to enable them to test their cognitive ability and mental agility while under a physical and mental load,” Major G says in the AIS video.
But with sports struggling to fund high-performance coaches and officials — initiatives like GMR have infuriated many who are struggling for cash. In the past year, a number of Australian athletes have come forward with shocking stories of having hardly have enough money left over to feed themselves, or are sleeping on lounges and having to walk to training because they can’t afford to pay for transport.
One high-ranking sport’s official is infuriated by the GMR program. “Honestly? It’s a waste of money,” they said. “This military thing is just wrong. You are not going to learn anything, skills are quite specific to the task.
“Going off to a ra ra camp, it’s an awful waste of money. That is just one of the examples of the AIS’s lack of collaboration. None of us were consulted. We were just told it was happening.
“I mean, we are struggling to employ coaches. We are struggling just for the basics.”
Another said while he appreciated the GMR initiative, “the core of the sport just isn’t in place”.
Some sports have also turned down taking part in GMR, while some athletes have suffered minor injuries including a chipped tooth, ankle sprain, and minor inflammations with shoulder, back and knee on the commando course.
The AIS created the GMR program in response to what they thought was a weak link found after reviewing team performances at the London 2012 and Rio 2016 Olympic Games. That is that the team needed to learn “mental toughness” and “resilience”. The program was not based on any psychological research.
“The Gold Medal Ready program aims to support medal potential athletes and coaches to be “ready” for the stress, pressure and expectation to perform to their best and win at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games,” reads a statement on the AIS website.
“More than 150 athletes and coaches will participate in the program prior to the 2020 Olympics, including education, skill development, mentoring and specifically designed activities delivered in partnership with the Australian Army’s Special Operations Command. It enables our top athletes to develop in order to reach their peak performance and sustain that under Olympic conditions.”
AIS chief Peter Conde declined via a media adviser to be available for interview on the Gold Medal Ready program and other AIS issues that have been raised in recent days.
New coaches to lead rowing into future after Paris disaster
Rowing Australia has installed new men’s and women’s head coaches to lead its program to the LA and Brisbane Games after its worst Olympic return in more than 30 years.
How Stingers went from ‘dark place’ to 24-year best
Today she is glowing, off to the top European water polo club – a year ago Abby Andrews and the Stingers were in a ‘volatile’ position. The star reveals how they turned it around in time for Paris.