Australia’s elite athletes boosted with $50 million in government funding
They have been allowed back to traiing and now Australia’s elite athletes, including Cate Campbell, have an extra reason to smile as they turn their attention to Tokyo 2021.
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Australia’s high performance athletes have been given a massive lift as they return to training after the COVID-19 lockdown with the federal government pledging an extra $50 million bonus to fund their golden dreams.
Just days after they were given the green light to get back to work, Australia’s elite athletes have been given another surprise gift - an extra $25 million for each of the next two years.
”This will help safeguard the careers of athletes,” Australian swim queen Cate Campbell told The Sunday Telegraph.
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“This gives athletes a sense of certainty in a time that is so uncertain.”
Federal Sports Minister Richard Colbeck is expected to make a formal announcement on Sunday but the Sunday Telegraph can reveal the cash will cover all the bills for next year’s rescheduled Tokyo Olympics and Paralaympics as well as the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics and Paralympics and the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, UK.
“With the Tokyo 2021 Games likely to be one of the first major international sporting events to take place following the COVID-19 pandemic, Australian athletes are set to inspire the next generation of athletes,” Colbeck said.
Australian Olympic Committee president John Coates said the government’s decision to make the announcement immediately rather than wait for the budget would put nervous athletes at ease after they had feared the worst.
“This is the certainty that our Olympic athletes and sports were looking for as they pick up the pandemic pieces and resume training for the Tokyo Games next year,” Coates said.
The postponement of the Tokyo Olympics, originally due to start next month, left Australia’s high-performance athletes genuinely worried about whether they could afford to keep training for another year because their existing funding programs were about to expire.
Aware that money was tight during the pandemic, Sport Australia chairman John Wylie went cap in hand to the government asking for an extra $25 million to cover the team through to Tokyo and was blown away when the government gave the nod and tacked on another 12 months through to mid 2022.
“That was a little bonus,” he said.
CATE’S FORTUNES TURN FOR THE BETTER
AN optimist at heart, even Australia’s swim queen Cate Campbell can see her luck turning now.
Less than three months after her dream of adding to her golden stockpile at the Tokyo Olympics was put on hold for a year due to the coronavirus pandemic, Campbell’s fortunes are suddenly changing.
Allowed back in the water, she’s the beneficiary of two unexpected gifts she hopes will pay off big when she gets to Japan next year.
The first was a $50 million funding bonus from the Federal Government that will cover the costs of Australia’s high-performance athletes for the next two years.
The second was some fancy hi-tech toys that could make all the difference for Australia’s crack swim team.
As part of a stunning funding announcement, Sports Minister Richard Colbeck will also throw in $3.9 million of infrastructure upgrades at high-performance facilities around the country, The Sunday Telegraph can reveal.
These include $1.25 million for Paddle Australia, $800,000 for the Olympic Winter Institute of Australia and $725,000 of technology to be installed at selected swimming pools around Australia — including the Sydney Olympic pool and Ariarne Titmus’ training pool in Queensland.
The gadgets will include underwater cameras, new starting blocks and cutting edge analysis software designed to help Australia’s swimmers improve their turns and shave tiny fractions off their times that could turn silver into gold.
“Even if it only gives you a 100th or 10th of a second, that’s the difference between winning,” Campbell told The Sunday Telegraph.
“For us to have any extra bit of technology that gives your coach eyes underwater, it’s really an advantage because you’re looking to make any gain anywhere because our sport has such small margins.”
Like everyone in the Australian team, Campbell was unsure what the future held when the Tokyo Olympics were postponed and feared the worst because funding for elite athletes was about to run out.
For coaches, athletes and staff whose contracts were also about to expire, that meant nothing was guaranteed but Colbeck’s announcement will provide some reassurance, with the government chipping in $50 million to cover all the bills for next year’s rescheduled Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, as well as the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics and Paralympics and the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, UK.
Originally published as Australia’s elite athletes boosted with $50 million in government funding
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