Funding boost for elite athletes

The country's world class athletes will receive significant funding boosts worth tens of thousands of dollars annually.

Sport and Recreation New Zealand (Sparc) announced today that under its new performance enhancement grants (PEGs) criteria, a world champion in an Olympic discipline will get $60,000, up from $40,000, and a medallist in an Olympic discipline will get $55,000, up from $35,000 previously.

Sparc said it had also introduced multi-year grants under the new criteria.

The new grants have been back-dated to take effect from July 1 this year.

In individual sports, the grants will go down to 16th placing worth $20,000 while in team events, they go down to eighth, also worth $20,000.

Cyclists Alison Shanks and Sarah Walker are two who have promoted themselves up the PEGs rankings.

Walker was fourth in BMX at last year's Beijing Olympics (worth $27,500 in funding) but should now qualify for $60,000 for her recent BMX world titles, one of which was in an Olympic class.

Shanks was fourth in the women's individual pursuit at the Beijing Olympics but won the world title in Poland earlier this year and added a silver medal in the women's team pursuit.

Sparc high performance general manager Martin Toomey said the grants would help New Zealand's top athletes to dedicate time to training and competing.

The increases, the first since PEGs were introduced in 2005, had been decided following feedback from Olympic sports.

"When we spoke to athletes, coaches and those running high performance programmes there was unanimous agreement around the impact PEGs have had on the improved performance we have seen from New Zealand athletes over recent years.

"However, there was recognition that the previous levels weren't adequate to provide athletes with enough support to maximise their performance, and we're hopeful these changes will go some way to improving that.

"They also asked for greater flexibility so that PEGs grants could be paid over a number of years.

"This means world class athletes having a lighter competition year to recharge will still be eligible, and we hope those sports in danger of losing top athletes to other disciplines will be in a better position to retain them."

Sparc's board approved the increase in the grants, which are effective immediately.

No changes were made to the PEGs criteria for athletes in non-Olympic sports.

NEW SPARC FUNDING
(Previous funding levels in brackets)

Olympic disciplines
Individual athletes - world champion $60,000 ($40,000), medallist $55,000 ($35,000), 4-6th placing $47,500 ($27,500), 7-8th placing $40,000 ($22,500), 9-12th placing $25,000 ($15,000), 13-16th placing $20,000 ($15,000).

Teams (award per athlete) - world champion $35,000 ($22,500), medallist $30,000 ($20,000), 4th placing $25,000 ($17,500) 5-8th placing $20,000 ($15,000).

Non-Olympic sports
No change - individual medallists $15,000, teams (per athlete) $15,000.

- NZPA