FEBRUARY 3 - A NEW report published today has warned that Australia will continue to fall behind Britain in the Olympic medals table unless the Government seriously invests in its preparations.

 

The review commissioned by the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) after they slipped from fourth to sixth in the medals table in Beijing , finishing behind Britain for the first time in 20 years, predicted that they will slip even further behind at London 2012 unless an extra A$80 (£35.8)-100 (44.8) million is pumped into the system.

 

The AOC conducted a detailed analysis of both the Australian sports system and those of its competitors, under the direction of respected major event consultant Craig McLatchey, a former AOC secretary-general.

 

AOC president John Coates estimates that Australia needs an 80 per cent increase in funding if it is to compete with its direct rivals, who also include France and Germany.

 

It is the latest of a series of dire warnings issued about funding by Coates and several other leading Austrralian officials.

 

Coates said the research had found that Olympic sport received a combined A$454 million (£203.4 million) from Federal and State Governments and the AOC in the lead-up to Beijing.

 

Coates said: "Germany and France spent over A$1.2  (£537 million) in the last four years, and Britain will spend A$1.3 billion (£582 million) preparing for London."

 

Britain finished fourth in the medals table in Beijing with 47 medals, including 19 gold, ahead of Australia, who claimed 46, 14 of them gold.

 

Germany were fifth in the medals table with 41 medals, 16 of them gold, and France 10th with 40, seven gold.

 

Coates said: "Our Beijing result was very very good if you look at the pure funding comparison.

 

"We expected Germany and France to be stronger in Beijing, but I think neither of those countries handle competing in Asia that well.

 

"However, London is on their doorstep.

 

"It means that not only are we going to be competing against Britain at home, but Germany and France."

 

In a message that Britain perhaps should heed, Coates said that Australia's performances were now suffering as the effects of funding for the 2000 Sydney Olympics began to fall-off.

 

He said: "Up until Beijing we were still benefiting from the funding we had before Sydney because some of those athletes were still there

 

"In the lead-up to Sydney we hosted so many international events in Australia, but now we have to chase sports events internationally and it's more expensive for us, at the same time as there's been a drop in the dollar.

 

"Our competitors in Europe don't have that expense and we are not getting anywhere near what they are getting.

 

"But we think we can be competitive with another A$80 (£35.8)-100 (44.8) million.

 

"That's two-thirds of what the others are spending.

 

"And we can do that because we started with a blank piece of paper in 1980 [the year the Australian Institute of Sport was established] and built a good system."

 

The AOC has met with all sports and asked them what they need to achieve their Olympic goals across the areas of direct athlete funding, facilities, coach retention and education, international competition and sports science.

 

Speaking on the opening morning of the two-day High Performance Plan Forum in Sydney today, Coates acknowledged that the economic climate was tough but that the benefits to Australia were far greater than medals.

 

He said: “In these tough economic times, we should not be backward in reminding Government there is a business of sport.

 

"Our business generates thousands of jobs.

 

"It generates thousands of dollars for the economy and we know that sport plays a key role in maintaining the health of the nation and encouraging young Australians to participate.

 

“How can you put a dollar figure on an Olympic or Paralympic medal?

 

"How can you calculate what the feats of Dawn Fraser, Herb Elliott, Murray Rose and Marjorie Jackson meant to Australia back in the 60’s?

 

"How do you put a price on what benefits we will derive from the achievements of Olympians Stephanie Rice, Steve Hooker, Matthew Mitcham or Ken Wallace from the Beijing Games?

 

"How do you measure the inspiration derived by those in our community with a disability, from the careers of our Paralympians - Tim Sullivan, Louise Sauvage, Priya Cooper and Libby Kosmala?"

 

Olympic silver hockey medallist and four-time Olympian Ric Charlesworth also addressed the 150 coaches and high performances directors from all the institutes and national sporting federations of Australia.

 

Charlesworth, who guided the women’s team to gold in Atlanta and Sydney and was recently appointed men’s head coach, spoke of the negative changes since he was part of the high performance programme leading into Sydney 2000.

 

He said: “The scary thing for me is eight years later many of the advantages we once had seem to be diluted and in some ways we are the victims of our own success with many coaches and their ideas now overseas."

 

Charlesworth said the impact of funding not increasing with inflation and the weak Australian dollar meant the funding in real terms is 30 per cent less.

 

He pointed out that the reason that Australia went from no gold medals at Montreal 1976 to a top 10 Olympic nation at Atlanta 1996 was due to Government funding in four areas – facilities, athlete support, coach support and international competition.

 

Charlesworth said: “If you want to succeed internationally you have to do all of these four things and you must do them consistently over a period of time."

 

Coates warned that if the Government did not listen to the warning then they would very soon see a slip in standards, starting at London in 2012.

 

He said: "With this money top five is still a reasonable target.

 

"Without the extra funding holding a top 10 position would become very, very hard."