Australia's Olympians rue 'pathetic funding'
Gold medallist Kim Brennan has joined a chorus of Australia's greatest athletes in pleading for the federal government to dip into its treasure chest and halt high-performance sport's "pathetic funding version of the Hunger Games".
More than 40 current and former Australian athletes joined rugby great Phil Kearns and Tour de France winner Cadel Evans in signing an open letter warning "high performance will inevitably transform into mediocrity" if sports are starved of funds.
Government funding of high-performance sport has declined by 12 per cent in real terms since 2010 during a time in which Australia's results on the world stage have stuttered.
"When our glorious record of achievement at the Olympic, Paralympic and Commonwealth Games is substituted for a pathetic funding version of the Hunger Games, you know it’s time to say enough," the letter, published in The Australian, said.
"Our reputation as a sporting nation and as a nation of healthy, optimistic people is under threat," it continued.
" ... as our results slip so does Australia's reputation, especially as we now are bronze medallist as the most obese nation in the English-speaking world. It is a gold medal we don't want to win."
Australia claimed a record 58 medals and finished fourth overall at the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000 but the nation has slowly slid down the ranks and settled for 10th at the 2016 Games in Rio.
Australia has fallen outside the top 10 in the world in high performance funding, having been fourth in 2004, with the likes of Great Britain, Germany and Japan surging past the green and gold.
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