‘A game changer’: AOC builds for Brisbane 2032 with $50 million backing of Australian athletes

The Australian Olympic Committee will dip into its $200 million war chest to provide new financial backing to athletes to support their Games dreams.

The AOC on Thursday announced a projected $50 million investment for Olympians competing from the Milano Cortina Winter Games in February to the Summer Olympics in Brisbane in 2032.

Its new Olympian Futures Fund is to feature a tax-free $32,000 retirement grant for each Games an athlete represents Australia at, to be paid in instalments beginning 16 years later.

There is also a new $10,000 grant for female Olympians who embark on returning to the top level after having a child, and $5000 team selection payments totalling $7.6 million for all athletes selected in Australian teams at winter and summer Games up to and including Brisbane 2032.

The cash will be drawn from a seed investment from the Australian Olympic Fund, which was established by former AOC president John Coates in the lead-up to Sydney 2000 after he struck a deal with Olympics minister Michael Knight to secure an $88.5 million home Games legacy payment.

“This is the AOC’s most significant funding announcement since the Australian Olympic Foundation was established leading into Sydney 2000,” AOC president Ian Chesterman said.

“Olympians don’t do it for the money, but there’s a financial sacrifice involved. Many athletes get to the end of their careers and have very little financially and this contribution will make a difference to their retirement. They could use this money to go towards their home, their education, their superannuation or to support their families.”

Coates’ pre-Sydney play has guaranteed the AOC’s independence in the years since, with the Australian Olympic Foundation balance ballooning to $200 million after a quarter of a century of investment.

It has reached that level even though $195 million has been distributed to the AOC over those years for Olympic teams and programs.

The new fund means athletes pursuing their ambitions over the next seven years will get a slice of the Olympic committee’s Sydney windfall.

It is being launched with a $20 million injection from the Australian Olympic Foundation, which is modelled on a 6 per cent return on investment and is forecast to more than double by the time retirement grants are handed out in the 2040s.

Athletes who compete at both the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028 and in Brisbane four years later would, for example, be eligible for $64,000 paid in instalments from 2044. The payments are being withheld until then to enable to fund to grow.

“It is not easy to be an Olympian and it’s not easy to have longevity as an Olympian,” said double Olympic gold medallist and Australian team chef de mission Anna Meares.

“We want to retain our Olympians for longer … to see the AOC backing every Olympian from the get-go is an empowering shift for the athletes and it gives a greater opportunity for them to be able to go to more than one Games. It shows that there will be something there for them financially at the end.”

Track and field sprinter Rohan Browning welcomed the news of retirement grants, saying they were “effectively a super payment for building career in sport which today doesn’t exist”.

The grants for Olympians who had become mothers was developed in consultation with athletes such as distance runners Genevieve Gregson and Jessica Stenson, basketball great Lauren Jackson and canoeist Alyce Wood, who had each returned to competition after giving birth.

Women don’t have to earn Olympic selection again after having a child to be eligible for the grant, but do have to demonstrate a commitment to return to high-level sport.
“I think being a mum made me a better athlete and being an athlete made me a better mum,” said Wood, who competed at the Olympics in Paris last year after becoming a mother to daughter Florence in 2022.

“I had a baby after Tokyo and I was lucky enough to make my third Olympics with Florence in tow last year in Paris and it was probably the most special thing of my career having her on the sidelines. It absolutely was not easy. Many times I questioned myself and I think having some funding for you is a game changer.”

“It actually acknowledges what athletes are dealing with and gives them the support they need to build long, sustainable careers, in sport and in whatever comes next.”

The AOC is also retaining its medal incentive funding which financial rewards for top-four finishes at the Olympics and world championships and up to $20,000 for a gold medal.

AOC chief executive Mark Arbib said multiple medal winners at consecutive Games could end up receiving as much as $214,000 between the new grants and selection and medal incentive payments.

The Olympic committee’s move to back athletes in the build-up to Brisbane comes as Arbib aims to attract more support for Olympians from wealthy Australians.

Mining billionaire Gina Rinehart has been a notable benefactor, tipping nearly $100 million into swimming, rowing, artistic swimming and volleyball since the 2012 London Olympics, much of it sponsoring Australia’s stars of the pool.