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Home / Sport / Olympics

Olympics: Rich-listers to provide Olympic boost

Michael Burgess
By Michael Burgess
Senior Sports Journalist·Herald on Sunday·
6 Dec, 2014 04:00 PM4 mins to read

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Hamish Bond and Eric Murray helped push New Zealand's Olympic medal success from four in 2000 to 13 in 2012. Photo / Brett Phibbs

Hamish Bond and Eric Murray helped push New Zealand's Olympic medal success from four in 2000 to 13 in 2012. Photo / Brett Phibbs

An ambitious project launched by two of the most powerful sporting organisations in New Zealand aims to take Olympic success to unprecedented levels.

A joint venture between the New Zealand Olympic Committee and Sport New Zealand will target private investment from some of the most successful and wealthy individuals in this country and around the world to help fund high-performance sport and compliment the Government's investment.

No specific financial targets have been set but the programme, called Black Gold, could conceivably glean tens of millions across a four-year Olympic cycle.

"There are plenty of people out there who want to do big things for New Zealand and we want to provide that avenue for it," says Sport New Zealand chief executive Peter Miskimmin. "In sport, we can say we are world-leading - there are not many industries that can say that - and there are a lot of passionate Kiwis who recognise that. We aim to tap into them."

It's well recognised that New Zealand's performances - and incremental improvement - over the past 12 years at Olympic level have been staggering. From four in Sydney in 2000 to 13 in London two years ago, total medals have increased more than 300 per cent. That amount also includes a 600 per cent increase in gold medals over the same period.

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"People around the world are noticing," says Miskimmin. "Especially with the colour of our medals and our depth of sports. Canada got 19 medals [in London] but only one gold. Jamaica won all their medals across one discipline of one sport. Another country might specialise in judo or shooting. Ours were spread across six sports."

New Zealand are one of a small number of nations (among more than 200 at Olympic level) who have increased their medal haul at each of the last four Olympics, to rank fourth in the world per capita in 2012.

The improvement has come off the back of a sharp increase in government funding of sport, especially at elite level. In 2002, direct investment in the high-performance programmes for the six targeted sports was $2.3 million. By 2013, that figure had increased to $23.1 million.

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The impact is easy to measure. In 2002, there were three podium finishes in world championships among the 'big six'. In 2013, 16 athletes achieved top-three finishes.

"The system is working and it's working extremely well," says Miskimmin. "We do an incredible job for the amount of money that comes in. There's no debate about that and we have one of the most efficient high-performance systems in the world. However, there are always gaps and always sports that need more money. There are always more requests than there is supply of money.

"It's a continual challenge. We have a small population, are millions of miles away, have constantly-increasing travel and qualification costs and we can't take anything for granted."

The project is fairly new but it's quickly gathering momentum. Long-time Team New Zealand administrator Ross Blackman was appointed as the director in September and Miskimmin was in Chicago during the All Blacks visit, when he hosted a number of prominent business figures - "Kiwis and also friends of New Zealand," he says - conveying the message and selling the dream.

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"When you tell them our story - how many kids we get playing and participating and how that translates into more winning on the world stage - they get very excited," says Miskimmin. "I think the unique power of sport, both in terms of enriching people's lives and inspiring us as a nation, people get that and that is what has encouraged us."

Philanthropic investment in New Zealand sport is not new - from Sir Michael Fay and the first America's Cup ventures and Sir Colin Giltrap with motorsport and sailing to Sir Owen Glenn in hockey and Sir David Levene supporting Lydia Ko - but the structured, unified approach certainly is.

"We've done philanthropic things in the past and so has the NZOC," says Miskimmin. "We've had some success but probably not as much as we think we can. I don't know of any other nations taking such a systematic approach and we have certainly had some interest from other countries about our model."

Miskimmin says there are a variety of ways a potential donor can help.

"It comes down to where the donor wants to support the system. It could be directly into a campaign or in talent development or talent identification."

He adds the programme can also be aimed at participation level.

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