Games gold fever fuels $16m grant for centres

The Government is making a $16 million one-off payment to finance three high-performance sports centres for the next four years - a move it hopes will boost New Zealand's medal tally at Olympic Games.

The centres, in Auckland, Wellington and Dunedin, will be based in existing establishments.

They will open their doors on July 1.

Sports Minister Trevor Mallard said New Zealand was still some way from catching up to Australia's commitment to elite athletes but the funding was a move towards the successful approach employed across the Tasman.

"This is about getting more gold medals and winning more, and it is about excellence," he said.

"It is about winning more golds in the 2004 Olympics.

"I will be very disappointed if we don't get a more qualified team winning more medals in 2004 than we have in the relatively recent past."

Mr Mallard said sporting success was important to New Zealand's identity and the mood of the country.

It also encouraged people to be healthy and enhanced tourism and trade opportunities.

The package, amounting to $4 million plus interest a year, is a $1 million annual increase on present high-performance sports funding and is intended to last until the 2004 Olympics in Athens.

The centres will assist athletes ranging from top juniors to world champions such as discus-thrower Beatrice Faumuina and rower Rob Waddell.

It is hoped the $4 million annual funding will be doubled through sponsorship and other income.

About 1500 athletes will receive assistance, compared with about 650 at present, and the money will be used to provide top facilities, equipment, medical support, sports science and nutrition.

In Auckland, the new highperformance bases will be at the UniSports section of the University of Auckland's Tamaki campus, the Auckland University of Technology in Northcote and the North Shore Bays Trust's developing Millennium Centre at Albany.

Waikato Polytechnic will act initially as a satellite resource centre.

The northern sites will be under the collective banner of National Sports Institute North.

The Dunedin centre is to be known as the South Island High-Performance Sports Centre and the Wellington unit - based at the WestpacTrust Stadium - as High-Performance Central.

Sports Foundation chief executive Chris Ineson said the guarantee of funding was a quantum leap for high-performance sport and would help the foundation's move to a new, more effective system of helping top athletes.

"If we get it right there's no reason we can't be up with Australia."

- NZPA, STAFF REPORTER

The Olympics – a Herald series

Official Sydney 2000 web site