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BEIJING - Sparc boss Peter Miskimmin has used the golden glow of Olympic Games success to call for more money to be spent on elite sports, saying unless that happens New Zealand will not be able to maintain standards set in Beijing.
New Zealand have won nine medals in China, four more than in Athens, five more than Sydney and three better than Atlanta, in 1996.
Sport and Recreation New Zealand (Sparc) invested $60 million in its high performance programme since the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, with the aim of winning more medals in Beijing, and has done that.
It allocated $51.5 million to just nine sports - athletics got $3.98m, with others in the money mix, cycling ($9.54m), rowing ($9.48m), swimming ($6.62m), triathlon ($4.33m), yachting ($8.08m), equestrian ($2.82m), hockey ($4.95m) and canoeing ($1.75m).
That was nothing by world standards, Miskimmin told NZPA in Beijing.
"Countries here are spending an extraordinary amount of money in their high performance programmes, far more than we do," he said.
"Our programme is around trying to extract as much value out of the resources as we can. These results give us a lot of confidence we're on the right path.
"Clearly this is a work in progress - this never stops. What we need to do now is look forward to London 2012.
"If our funding stays as it is, we're going to go backwards. Put a little bit more money in, it will probably allow us to tread water.
"What we need to do, if we're really serious and we want sustainability and keep the good performances going, is really look at where we need to put some more money in."
While Miskimmin was largely happy with how athletes performed in Beijing, he said it would review the Games effort with all sports.
A template for the review process had been set up, and the talks would be completed by Christmas.
"It's going to be important that we sit down and take a really long hard look and make sure that we don't gloss over and cover anything over.
"It's only through that rigorous critique, the good and the bad, that we'll determine a good course of action going forward."
He did not criticise equestrian or yachting, two sports that largely had a poor Games, though he hinted equestrian may have to take a look at its approach going to London in 2012.
The focus should not be on the funding that failed sports got, rather a critique of the campaign. This isn't about catching anyone out - it's about putting it out on the table and being quite honest about it."
Before Beijing there was nervousness in Sparc headquarters over whether a narrow focus on a spoiled few sports would pay off in medals, as other countries opted for broad brush funding across a wider range of sports.
Five of Sparc's chosen sports had won medals, swimming and canoeing had lived up to expectations, leaving equestrian and women's hockey as let downs.
While Sparc was around for the Athens Olympics, its programmes had not had time to bed in. Beijing was the acid test, and Sparc knew it.
"It's always a risky business because you're never quite sure of the conversion rate of those athletes that were in the top three or top eight in the world," Miskimmin said.
"They've done a really good job here, and we can hold our heads high when you rank us up against the rest of the world."
- NZPA
