On the Scene: Australia Olympic Festival Closes, New Funds Needed

Gymnast Jie Cui of China, winner of the women's floor event during the medals ceremony. (Getty Images)The fifth Australian Youth Olympic Festival comes to a close in Sydney with the possibility that the event will switch from a two-year to four-year schedule unless new funding is found.

The 2009 festival ended Sunday after five days of competition featuring 1,500 athletes from 31 nations. The AYOF, funded by the Australian Olympic Committee, began in 2001 as a legacy from the Sydney Olympics.

AOC chief John Coates is seeking government funding so that the event can remain biennial.

He says the 2009 installment of the AYOF failed to meet New South Wales state government funding criteria through its major event arm, Events NSW.

“It was our most successful festival,” Coates says.

“The response from the British, Kiwi’s, USA and the Hungarians is very positive. All of the participants want to come back to Australia.”

But Coates says the failure of the state government to fund the AYOF means the AOC can no longer afford to keep the event on its two-year schedule.

It cost the AOC $3.11 million to stage the event this year, representing more than double the cost of inaugural festival, but AOC figures place the economic benefit to the state at more than $5.4 million.

Coates is particularly peeved at a decision by the NSW Government to put funding of motorsport ahead of the AYOF, which aims to unearth the future crop of Australian Olympic champions.

“We were disappointed we did not meet the Event NSW criteria for funding for the 09 AYOF,” he says.

“V8 Supercars is another event which didn't meet the criteria for event funding but the NSW government dealt with it separately and is providing $16.9 million funding for the V8s also located at Sydney Olympic Park."

Coates hopes to be able to continue to hold the AYOF every two years.

“The four-year cycle is going to miss some athletes vying for Olympic selection," he says.

Australian Olympic Committee President John Coates with Tokyo 2016 CEO Ichiro Kono. (ATR)The crucial role of the AYOF in preparing athletes for the Games campaign is clearly showcased by the statistics: In 2008, 76 AYOF athletes won selection in the Australian Olympic Team in Beijing, winning 24 medals.

British Olympic Association chairman Colin Moynihan was ubiquitous at the festival, taking every opportunity to watch the Team GB athletes in action.

He joined Coates at the gymnastics competition and agreed with his Australian counterpart that some of the under-14 athletes will be among those who compete in London.

More importantly, Moynihan regards the AYOF as a means of fast-tracking the success of Team GB at the London Games.

The British delegation in Sydney included 120 athletes and 63 officials competing in 11 sports, covering a total of 16 Olympic disciplines. The BOA says its participation in the AYOF is part of its strategy to discover future Olympic champions.

Moynihan tells Around the Rings it takes two Olympics for some athletes to reach the podium and the AYOF might be a shortcut to that experience.

A crowd of about 500 was on hand for gymnastics, which Coates believes is a healthy turnout for the AYOF.

Throughout the festival, it has become clear that the AYOF is not intended to be a mass spectator drawer, with the stands appearing largely to be filled with competitors, their family and friends and team officials.

In the track and field sports, apart from some challenging windy conditions for athletes, The Daily Telegraph reports they also had to deal with crucial instances of technology failure.

“They spent $250,000 [U.S. $170,000] resurfacing the red synthetic track, but should have saved something for the automatic photo timing mechanism which failed twice The U.S. and Australia football match, won by the U.S.,was the final event of the AYOF. (Getty Images)for the boys' and girls' 100-meter sprints,” the newspaper says.

Only two 2016 bid cities – Tokyo and Rio - were at the AYOF, each sending two representatives. Representing Tokyo were chairman Ichiro Kono and international relations chief Asami Saito. The Brazilians in Sydney were International Relations Director Mario Cilenti and Brazil Olympic Committee CEO for Sports Markus Vinicius.

Along with Coates, IOC members at the AYOF included fellow Australians Kevan Gosper and Phil Coles, Robin Cook of Fiji and Ser Miang Ng of Singapore. Ng was one of two dozen delegates from the Singapore 2010 Youth Olympics who travelled to Sydney as observers.

On the sports side, Australia, unsurprisingly, continued its tradition of dominating in the pool, claiming gold medals in all but two of the nine events.

Staying true to its aim to unearth future stars, the performance of Sydney schoolboy Kenneth To at the AYOF confirmed he will be one of the swimmers to watch in London.

On the final day of the AYOF, he snatched gold in the men's 200-meter breaststroke and 200-meter individual medley.

To smashed the long-standing 200-meter individual medley record of Olympic great Ian Thorpe at the NSW championships in mid-January.

A healthy crowd was on hand at Valentine Park in outer western Sydney to witness an avalanche of goals on the decisive day of the football competition.

The U.S. claimed the final gold medal of the AYOF, thumping Australia 5-nil while Chile trounced China 11-0 to claim silver, with the hosts taking bronze.

Written by

Anthony Stavrinos

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