Money not the answer: athlete

BETTER governance in athletics needs to come before funding, according to a Townsville Olympics aspirant.

Sport Minister Richard Colbeck announced the Federal Government’s $54.5 million investment yesterday in high performance sport – aimed at guiding athletics through the confronting environment coronavirus has created for the sport.

Over the next two years $50.6 million will be rolled out to enable the AIS to maintain baseline support for national sporting organisations as athletes accelerate their bids to qualify for the rescheduled 2021 Tokyo Olympics.

But heptathlete Tori West said there was a broader picture to consider.

Money would only get the sport so far at its top level, the athletes needed consistent support to challenge themselves against elite competitors consistently and harness the grassroots of the sport.

“To be honest I won’t be convinced it’s anything good until we get support,” West said.

“Most athletes don’t get support in athletics, so I honestly don’t know what it will look like for high performance athletes like myself.

“I would prefer better governance than more money. I just think here isn’t enough done for high performance athletes to cover practical needs.

“I’m completely self-funded, I don’t even get an email to ask how I’m going. I got into the European circuit but I had to do it myself, I didn’t have Athletics Australia helping me.

“You need people who actually care about athletes, it seems the people in the (Athletics Australia) roles don’t understand grassroots athletics and don’t put in an effort to engage with up-and-coming athletes.”

A further $3.9 million will be directed towards supporting technology and innovation through key sporting infrastructure, including projects for Australia’s swimmers, paddle and winter sport athletes.

It is a “big bubble” that intrigues West, as she is developing her own app to support athletes.

If done well she believes this could be crucial funding, however there were other areas that needed consideration to get the best out of Australia’s athletes – particularly those living in regional North Queensland areas.

“I think it’s a good thing the announcement, it is a little bit of hope for athletes to show the Government is thinking about athletics for next year. But it’s just hope, it would be great to see action,” West said.

“I think the main one is the travel. We need to compete against other people to get better and we just can’t do that, it’s such an individual sport.

“We have to go out there and compete but at the moment we won’t be able to go overseas for qualifiers until next year.”