Australia's Winning Edge targets world best results

Details of Australia's Winning Edge 2012-2022, the high performance game plan for Australian sport have been unveiled at the Melbourne Cricket Ground today by the Australian Sports Commission (ASC).

ASC Chair John Wylie AM said the plan outlined a new business model for Australia's high performance sport sector.

The Winning Edge plan sets high targets for Australia to be a top five nation at the Olympics and Paralympics, top 15 at the winter Olympics and Paralympics, number one at the Commonwealth Games and have more than 20 world champions annually.

Funding to sports will be based on a new set of investment principles that will assess sports ability to provide sound evidence that they can contribute to the targets. The details of how sports perform against their plans will be made public every year through a 'State of Sports' report giving transparency to national and international performance.

There will be a greater focus on investing, developing and retaining coaches and more money invested in supporting more athletes. The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) will allocate an additional $20 million in these areas between now and 2016.

Talent identification will also become a focus with an annual 'Sports Draft Camp' to be conducted to spot potential champions in Olympic, Paralympic and Commonwealth Games sports.

As Australia's national high performance agency, the AIS will be responsible for funding recommendations of sports to the ASC board and open its campus doors to more athletes to use its state of the art training environment and world leading sports science, recovery and rehabilitation facilities.

Over time the AIS will also transition out of directly delivering sport programs to empower sports to manage their entire high performance pathway.

Wylie explain "in the past our international sporting achievements were the envy of the world. However, many countries have now replicated our innovations and tapped in to our expertise.

"International competition is intensifying and improving all the time and we believe Australians want, and indeed expect, us to respond to the challenge and restore our pre-eminent position in world sport.

"To do this we need a long-term plan to invest in sports where there is the best chance of success, implement a robust and goal-oriented planning cycle and ensure best practice governance and the right support is in place."

ASC Chief Executive Simon Hollingsworth stressed that the plan in no way diminished the achievements by our athletes over the past decade, adding "in any area of human endeavour, there is one truism past success is no guarantee of future performance.

"The success of these changes is dependent on all involved in high performance sport working together to move from world class to world best."

Federal Minister for Sport Kate Lundy has welcomed the plan, adding "the Crawford Report - David Crawford's 2009 review of sport funding and governance - highlighted that Australian sport was at a critical junction. Australia's Winning Edge is our plan to ensure Australia remains among the world's top sporting nations.

"Australia's Winning Edge sets the long-term vision for high performance sport in Australia so we continue to innovate and develop.

"I fully endorse the new direction we are taking in high performance sport with Australia's Winning Edge."

For more information go to www.ausport.gov.au/ais/australias_winning_edge

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