Rio success may spur funding boost
Much like their rising young star Eliza Mccartney, Athletics New Zealand is looking to make a significant leap as 2016 draws to a close.
For Mccartney, the 19-year-old feelgood story of New Zealand’s Rio Olympics campaign, the big jump came when she soared from international rookie to Games bronze medallist with a sensational effort in the pole vault.
For Athletics NZ, the hope is they can make an equally significant bound from tier-two Olympic sport in the eyes of the national funding body back to the top echelon.
The Kiwi track and field team brings four medals home from Rio (Valerie Adams’ silver, along with the bronzes won by Mccartney, Tom Walsh and Nick Willis), which makes them New Zealand’s equal most successful sport alongside sailing (a gold, two silvers and a bronze).
They also doubled their target of two set in conjunction with national funding body High Performance Sport NZ. In terms of bang for their buck, athletics can make the case they produced the best return on investment among the major codes.
Over the four-year Rio cycle athletics received $8.3 million in core funding, and $14.5m in total support (including specific athlete funding). In terms of core backing that’s just over $2m a medal.
The upshot of what high performance director Scott Goodman termed an ‘‘extraordinary’’ Games for the Kiwi athletics team is that they hope to be one of the sports set for a financial upgrade for the Tokyo cycle.
‘‘It’s the first time we’ve ever had four medallists at an Olympics in athletics [the Kiwis won four in 1964, but two went to Peter Snell],’’ Goodman said from Rio. ‘‘It’s take a little bit of time to sink in, but we couldn’t have asked for much more.
‘‘There was no way we could have expected this 12 months ago . . . maybe we had a chance at two medals if we were able to get Valerie back, but at that time even that was a big question mark.’’
Now Athletics will head to its November 15 post-rio review with HPSNZ with a spring in its step.
‘‘We’re a tier-2 sport, and to be tier-1 you’re required to be capable of winning multiple medals,’’ added Goodman. ‘‘We think we’ve got a pretty strong case to say we should be tier-1. I’m hopeful we’ll get extra support which will enable us to expand on a few things we’re doing.
‘‘We’ve got a strong case to say we’re now in the upper echelon of sports in terms of funding.’’
Athletics NZ are hopeful that all four Rio medallists might end up going through to Tokyo, and with Jacko Gill, Jake Robertson and Quentin Rew all capable of taking major steps up, a solid group of 1500m runners in behind Willis and a promising wave of youngsters on the horizon similar success could be in store.
But Goodman says funding support remains imperative. It had been a ‘‘challenge’’ to provide the backup and campaign financing required for Rio, and every extra dollar would be hoovered up.
‘‘We’re not looking for a massive increase, but if we could keep our coaching structure and philosophy around key athletes and have a bit more money to support their campaigns, and then look after a couple of other younger athletes we hope to bring through for Tokyo, that would be great.’’
Goodman anticipates further spinoffs. Having a young, successful face like Mccartney’s is a potential boon for the sport, and the possibilities for a spike in interest in pole vaulting are exciting.
‘‘It’s take a little bit of time to sink in, but we couldn’t have asked for much more.’’ Athletics NZ high performance director Scott Goodman
●➤ The cost of a medal B12