Australia to miss out in Beijing?

Past Australian successes in Olympic sport are unlikely to be repeated unless there is urgent reform of the way sport is funded and administered according to sports administrators. A recent report in Melbourne's The Sunday Age suggested that, at best, Australia might salvage a haul of 42 medals in Beijing (down from the record 58 in Sydney and 49 in Athens) and the tally could slip to below 30 at the 2012 London games. According to The Sunday Age, Australian Sports Commission Deputy President, Sydney broadcaster and former Wallabies coach Alan Jones, Australian sport is suffering. As he states, "the Howard government failed, to commit the sort of money we have been asking for several years and there is no doubt we are suffering from that. But other serious challenges are that countries overseas are just spending so much more money funding sports that we are slipping behind. "We are also finding that our coaches are being pinched, and we will struggle to fill the vacuum left by the departure of top multiple medal winners like Ian Thorpe. Those sorts of sportsmen don't come along every day." The Sunday Age also reported that newly appointed Federal Sports Minister Kate Ellis acknowledged that there are "major challenges" facing sports administration and funding, which she pledged to address quickly, stating "we need to take a very close look at who is taking responsibility for sports funding, the different roles being played by federal, state and local governments, (and) we need to get all the key stakeholders together, work out where the gaps are, and develop a unified long-term goal."