SportConnect: Former Olympic champion puts next generation on path to gold

Memories of travelling around Europe, sleeping in the backs of cars while trying to climb the world triathlon ranks inspired Hamish Carter to make life a little easier for what he calls the next generation of world champions.

"Financially it was bloody hard at times," Carter said of his early years in the sport.

This week the former Olympic gold medallist and wife Marisa launched SportConnect, a project that has been two years in the making.

It is a simple formula. Sky Television donates some of the advertising money it gets from businesses to SportConnect, which distributes it to athletes who "are on the cusp of greatness". The business becomes the athlete's supporter.

SportConnect has 22 athletes on its books.

There will be a maximum of 10 athletes in the first year who will get $20,000 a year for two years through the partnership with Sky.

The Carters hope to increase the amount of grants handed out in future years.

"The aim is twofold," Carter said. "We want to give athletes some financial support and we want to bring them into a corporate relationship. At the end of their two-year programme we want them to have built a strong, sustainable relationship with their corporate supporter.

"We are challenging the athlete to work out how they can provide value to their supporter."

Carter said a big part of his success and longevity in the sport was his ability to build his "brand" and to connect with his sponsors. He also said he had noticed during his career that there was a correlation between good athletes and business acumen.

The programme targets those athletes outside the top 10 in the world; the ones who are knocking hard at the door to be considered among the elite in their sport but who do not necessarily get the funding.

"The hardest thing is New Zealand's location and its limited resources for athletes below the radar.

"You have to get to Europe and that's expensive so you come home and spend your summer working your arses off to get back there for the next campaign," Carter said.

Ryan Sissons, who at present is the seventh-ranked under-23 triathlete in the world and hopes one day to emulate Carter, explains how a small leg-up can go a long way.

"[The cost of] living, training, competition or travel are ongoing and for me something that limits my ability to totally immerse myself in triathlon," said Sissons, who recently finished 19th in the ITU world championship series opener won by Bevan Docherty.

The initiative is not meant to highlight cracks in New Zealand's high-performance funding either, with Carter saying Sparc could not be expected to do everything.

The money is not just handed over as a gift. The athletes must provide the company with a detailed budget it can measure against.

SPORTCONNECT ATHLETES

Teresa Adam (triathlon)
Jo Aleh & Olivia Powrie (sailing)
Mitch Brown (snow sports)
Tony Dodds (triathlon)
Mitchey Greig (snow sports)
Juliette Haigh (rowing)
Nikki Hamblin (athletics)
James Hamilton (snow sports)
Penny Marshall (swimming)
Sam Meech (sailing)
Jaime Neilsen (cycling)
Sophie Pascoe (paralympics)
Rebecca Scown (rowing)
Tom Scully (cycling)
Ryan Sissons (triathlon)
Erin Taylor (kayaking)
Paula Tesoriero (paralympics)
Marc Willers (cycling)
Sara Winther (sailing)
Geoff Woolley & Dan Wilcox (sailing)