FEBRUARY 12 - AUSTRALIAN sport has received a A$5.5 million (£2.5 million) bonus that will help it prepare for the 2012 Olympics, it was announced today.

 

The Australian Sports Commission (ASC) has the extra money to distribute to 10 sports after announcing a surprise profit, bucking the current economic downturn.

 

Olympic sports will receive most of the windfall the ASC has accumulated through its commercial activities in the past year.

 

Swimming Australia will be the biggest beneficiary, receiving a A$1.7 million (£775,710) grant to help finance its  national training centre, coach retention, junior development and travel costs.

 

Cycling will have an extra A$890,000 (£406,106) to spend on its track and road programmes and sailing will have A$500,000 (£228,049) to help set up a European base before the 2012 Olympics.

 

Other sports to benefit include athletics and hockey, who both receive A$470,000 (£214,366), hockey, which gets A$400,000 (£182,479), rowing A$375,000 (£171,074) and canoeing A$325,000 (£148,264).

 

Paralympic sports will also get A$60,000 (£27,372).

 

The ASC's acting chief executive Brent Espeland said the extra money had come from increased revenue.

 

He said: "In running our budget, we need A$23-24 million (£10.4-£10.9 million) to operate, we get A$9 million (£4.1 million) from Government and we have to find the rest from commercial activities."

 

These include tours and merchandising of the Australian Institute of Sport, and renting out its Canberra facilities to private groups for conferences, concerts and training camps when they are not required for national sports programmes.

 

Espeland said the extra funding would help to relieve the financial pressures associated with increased travel costs, a falling Australian dollar and a difficult sponsorship market.

 

He said: "Costs are going up, there's less opportunity for sporting events to be held in Australia, and for the Euro-centric sports it's very expensive."

 

Last week the Australian Olympic Committee said its sports would need an extra A$80-100 million (£36.5-£45.6 million) a year just to maintain their current standards.