‘Arms race’ for medals too rich for Australia

Integrity report calls for hard line on doping, match-fixing

SYDNEY, Aug 1, (Agencies): Australian sporting success would no longer be measured solely by Olympic medals and world titles with the country acknowledging that it could not compete financially with larger countries.

The Australian Sports Commission, which has been rebranded as Sport Australia, released its national strategy for the next 12 years — Sport 2030 — on Wednesday and recognised they had been slipping behind countries since the turn of the century.

“High performance sport has become an ultra-competitive arms race where countries pour hundreds of millions of dollars into elite programs aimed at landing gold medals and pushing nations higher up the Olympic medal table,” the report said.

“Since the 2000 Sydney Olympics, Australia’s international sporting performance has been in decline with a decrease in both medals and medallists. “While we’ll never stop striving to be the best in the world in as many sports as possible, our aspirations must acknowledge that success in high performance sport is correlated to investment and we should measure our performance using more than just the medal table.

“The measurement of success must now also include the impact of athletes as role models, their engagement with the community, and delivering a respected system.”

Australia has often defined itself by its relative sporting success on the global stage. At the 2000 Sydney Olympics, the country won a national record 58 medals and finished fourth on the table behind the United States, Russia and China.

That tally has slowly decreased at every Games since, with the team winning just 29 medals at Rio in 2016 and finishing 10th on the table.

The ASC is the main sports funding body in the country but had been involved in a public battle with the independent Australian Olympic Committee after the Rio Games.

One of the criticisms of the ASC’s “Winning Edge” strategy, implemented after the London games in 2012, was that it targeted elite sports at the cost of grassroots and community sports.

The new policy will put greater focus on the lower levels of sports in an effort to get the country more active.

The AOC gave lukewarm support to the new plan but encouraged the government to continue funding both sectors.

“We support the plan’s insight that success in high performance sport is correlated to investment,” AOC chief executive Matt Carroll said in a statement.

“This investment is not just about medals but outcomes that inspire young Australians to take up sport and be the best they can.

“An appropriately funded high performance and participation environment will return the dividend the government is seeking.”

Meanwhile, athletes who pass information to bookmakers may be jailed and match-fixing will become a federal crime if the recommendations of a report into sports integrity in Australia are accepted.

The report, released on Wednesday after a review led by a prominent lawyer, recommends the establishment of a national integrity commission which will have powers to initiate criminal proceedings.

The commission will particularly target match-fixing and doping across all sports. Major sporting organizations such as rugby league and cricket which already have integrity arms, will be able to opt out of membership but the anti-corruption body will have the This July 6, 2018 photo provided by Seeker on Aug 1, shows Ben Lecomte in the water off Japan. The long-distance swimmer was suspended on July 31, 2018, in his attempt to become the first person to swim across the Pacific Ocean because of severe storms off Japan. Lecomte has swum about 800 kms (500 miles) of the 8,000-kilometer journey to San Francisco since leaving the Japanese coastal city of Choshi nearly two months ago. (AP)

power to investigate offending within those sports. In an address to the National Press Club Wednesday, Sports Minister Bridget McKenzie said “this

report presents Australia with an opportunity to safeguard our sport for decades to come.”

The report recommends the establishment of a national sports tribunal which would have sweeping new powers. Suspected drug cheats would be stripped of protection from selfincrimination and witnesses would be compelled to give evidence to the tribunal, which would have the powers of a Royal commission.

Senator McKenzie said the report had been with the government for three months and it had yet to decide which of the 52 recommendations it will enact. “It is a complex area and I’m taking advice from right across government,” she said.

The review found links between organized crime and sports betting and said risks will grow as the betting markets continue to develop.

The Australian Olympic Committee has backed the report which AOC president John Coates called the most comprehensive national response of its kind. Coates urged the government to act on a recommendation for Australia to sign up to the Macolin Convention, a European agreement on match-fixing.

“The threats to the integrity of sport are trans-national and Australia can no longer sit on the sidelines. We must be part of the global response,” Coates said. The Australian government has established a task force to respond to the report.