Clarity on the Funding Issue

To clarify the funding issue, I’ve had a great 2006 - there’s no disputing that. I love athletics and I’m greatly supported within my sport. I don’t compete for money, any money generated through athletics is icing on the cake for me. I am a Telstra ambassador, which although has a sign on fee, provides payments for appearances - which is really quite generous. Admittedly, I have been requested to do one appearance which is supposed to be tonight but since I’m in Ireland I had to decline.When I’m jumping well, I do quite well out of athletics. There are plenty of expenses generated from athletics like travel, medical expenses and equipment. I’d never ask for additional funding - that’s why I work, so I don’t need to worry about making mortgage repayments and meeting other expenses.

There is much fuss about Athletics Australia investing in the future of athletics and this is crucial for the longevity of the sport. Also imperative to make athletics big in Australia, you need to have role models for children to admire and want to be like. Sports like football have financial backing to enable junior stars to be drafted into squads and teams and be provided with financial contracts from an early age if you’re good enough. Something that Athletics Australia isn’t in a position to do at this stage but would like to do. Sport is a highly competitive market these days, all the sports are looking for the best athletes and vying for sponsorship dollars to support their organisations. High Performance becomes an area demanding funding to enable performances on the world stage and thus the establishment of role models.

As we all know, there are plenty of ways to skin a cat (yes I’m a dog person), and the way the money is distributed within high performance could be achieved in a variety of ways. The thing I don’t understand is the inequity around Australia. In the late 80’s / early 90’s there was a push to decentralise sporting excellence to allow athletes to stay at home in their familiar environments to get the best of their sport - what a great idea! I have been a scholarship holder at the Queensland Academy of Sport since 2000. They have always stepped up and helped me out with funding whenever I needed it. Where the system is flawed, is that the QAS don’t have a formal Track and Field Program - this means that there are individual scholarships based on performance without the specified program manager and head coach. There is still a manager who also managers other sports and does a great job making sure the athletes are catered for. The QAS are even going to fund a biomechanist over to help out in my final preparations for the World Cup which is immensely appreciated.

The downside to this system is that the there is no coaching support in Queensland. Athletics Australia are trying to put in place a coach within Queensland to help with junior development while there are a couple of coaches providing great results without any support - one being the best coach in Australia - Gary Bourne! Now I may be biased, but Gary’s credentials do add up - if someone else can show me another coach in Australia with more credentials than Gary then I will have to eat my words.

Coaching in athletics is different from swimming, swim coaches do alright out of their profession and most swim coaches are full-time coaches and derive their living out of the sport. Very few coaches in Australia can live on an athletic’s coaches wage. You take out of the equation the number of coaches that are employed by the state academies/institutes and Athletics Australia and I’ll bet you that there are less than a handful who do.

Gary works full-time and being the humble person that he is, he does not expect all his athletes to pay him and he never asks for more money. He contributes his time (and a lot of it) because he wants people in the sport to succeed. Although I’m more than willing to help him out, there is a limit to my financial resources. I currently don’t have any sponsorship, maybe this is because I haven’t performed well enough or I’ve failed to promote myself. With three months in Europe this year, competing, I still need to make sure I meet my mortgage repayments and pay my expenses while I’m overseas. Prize money from meets, which can be very good, is paid generally about three months after the competition. A government grant for making the Commonwealth Games team along with prize money from the Melbourne Telstra A meet and the Japan GP have provided me with a buffer for my European campaign since I’m not deriving a wage within Oz to pay my bills. The prize for winning the Telstra Athlete of the Year will also help me out when it comes through.

I’m willing to pay for Gary’s travel and accommodation expenses for him to join me in Europe because I believe the advantages of having him here outway the costs. Where I don’t feel I have the capacity to support Gary is in wage replacement. It is one thing for him to contribute his time to the sport and have his expenses paid for but he too is a regular person with a family and a mortgage and he needs to pay his bills too. This is what I’m frustrated about. There are a number of funded coaches throughout Australia who aren’t producing the results that Gary is and they don’t have to worry about time off work because going overseas is their work as a paid coach.

I’m hoping that Athletics Australia and the QAS will help Gary out a little to get here. Gary being the proud man that he is, doesn’t expect or want me to have to pay his way to Europe. It’s just baffling when the sporting body doesn’t fund their best coach.