THIS GUY HAAS DONE IT ALL, BEEN AN AUSSIE POLITICIAN, REPD IN SEVERAL SPORTS, WON OLYMPIC MEDALS, COACHING OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALS. WHAT HE SAYS SHOWED BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY…KK
Australia faces future with no gold medals warns Charlesworth
Monday, 09 November 2009
November 9 - Australia could soon face a situation where they do not win any gold medals at the Olympics if its top competitors have their funding cut, the Government have been warned by Ric Charlesworth (pictured), one of the country’s most celebrated sportsman.
The apocalyptic prediction came after it emerged that the much awaited Government-commissioned Crawford Report is believed to recommend a savage reduction in funding for Olympic sports.
Charlesworth, the coach of Australia’s men’s hockey team for London 2012, who led the women’s side to Olympic gold medals at Atlanta in 1996 and Sydney in 2000, reacted angrily to the news.
He said: "I am horrified.
"I’ve come back into a non-professional sport with less funding from the Government, much less resources.
"There is no way you can expect us to perform with this.
"I’m talking much less money than what I had 15 years ago.
“We currently can’t plan anything because we do not know our budget.”
Among the recommendations contained in the report, which has been undertaken by businessman and lawyer David Crawford and taken 14 months to compile, are withdrawing funding to most Olympic sports within seven years, transferring the Australian Sports Commission into the Health Department and awarding funding on participation numbers.
The 56-year-old Charlesworth was a member of the Australian hockey team that won the silver medal in 1976 and was also previously one of the country’s top cricketers having played for three Western Australian winning Sheffield Shield teams.
He was also a Labour MP for 10 years but is now concentrating on hockey.
Charlesworth said: "Sports like us are practically being told there’s no future for us.
“If we keep our eye off the ball, there will be an Olympic future where we won’t win any gold medals.”
John Coates, the President of the Australian Olympic Committee, has already warned that they will finish behind Britain in the medals table at London 2012 amid fears that the team have not been given long enough to prepare because of the doubt over how much funding they will receive.
Charlesworth has warned the Government that they will be wasting more than 30 years of investment in sport if they adopt Crawford’s recommendations.
He said: "I was part of the 1976 Olympic team that failed to win a gold medal that was the catalyst for the formation of the AIS (Australian Institute for Sport).
"It then took us 20 years to get back into the top 10 Olympic countries.
"As a country we punch above our weight on the world sports stage.
"It’s a minuscule amount of money we are asking for when it comes to the Federal budget.’’