The Western Australian Institute of Sport welcomes the Federal Government’s $54.5 million investment in high performance sport, announced June 14 by the Minister for Sport, Senator the Hon Richard Colbeck.
With just over a year to go until the rescheduled Tokyo 2020 Games, the investment is recognition of the hard work of Australia’s high performance athletes, coaches and support staff, along with the efforts of the ASC and AIS in assisting national sporting organisations (NSOs) in particular through the challenges of COVID-19.
With $50.6m allocated over two years, the funding enables the AIS to maintain baseline support for NSOs, thereby providing certainty for Olympic and Paralympic hopefuls, and athletes looking toward the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic and Birmingham Commonwealth Games.
Western Australian Institute of Sport Chief Executive Officer Steve Lawrence said, “The funding announcement is fantastic news for our athletes and staff who are targeting the Tokyo Olympics next year and other major international events. Our sport programs are run in partnership with NSO’s and this funding will allow us to continue to work with them to deliver world leading support services.
“I congratulate the AIS for their work in securing this funding and thank the Federal Minister for Sport, Senator Colbeck and the Australian Government for their commitment to high performance sport.
“The COVID-19 pandemic and postponement of major events has created challenges for athletes and our staff continue to work hard to support our athletes physically and mentally towards their future goals.”
Australian Sports Commission Chairman John Wylie said the additional investment is a huge boost for Australia’s high performance system.
“No sector has been immune to fallout as a result of COVID-19 but our Olympic, Paralympic and Commonwealth Games sports have been doing it really tough,” Wylie said.
“I’d like to thank Minister Colbeck and the Federal Government for the strong support through this and a range of other measures.”
