KEY POINTS:
Before the first fireworks signal the start of Beijing 2008, New Zealand's sports funding agency plans a bold strategy for success four years later.
Sparc chief executive Peter Miskimmin and high-performance boss Marty Toomey hope to launch a New Zealand Academy of Sport in Europe to help athletes prepare for London 2012 and later.
While the idea remains in its genesis Miskimmin told the Herald on Sunday the radical proposal was far more than pie in the sky.
"We will start to seriously discuss it in December," he said, following a pre-Beijing media briefing.
While the money needed to run such a venture would seem prohibitive, the amount of time New Zealand's elite athletes are spending in Europe during New Zealand's winter could see it ending up being cost-efficient in the long term.
The European academy would enable athletes, usually competing in extended campaigns on a shoestring budget, to access a range of sports science and sports psychology services.
Last year Sparc undertook a sometimes painful streamlining approach to its Academy of Sport operations, lancing the central academy based in Wellington in order to concentrate on more efficient delivery of services in its northern and southern operations.
This literally far-reaching plan is acknowledgment, if any was needed, that a homegrown approach can only take this country's athletes so far and the reality is that elite athletes will be spending at least six months each year, sometimes more, in the sporting hotbeds of Europe or the United States.
While there could be a case made for a bricks and mortar approach it seems more likely Sparc would seek a partnership from an already existing facility or facilities.
Location will be all important. Ideally Sparc would be seeking a facility near the coast for its sailors, near flat water for rowers and kayakers, near a major winter sports facility and near a major international transport hub.
There are several locations that would fulfil that criterion in France and Italy but anywhere in those two countries - Australia has a facility in the north of Italy - would likely be at the top end of the cost scale.
Belgium was mentioned, even if only in passing, as a possible academy site.
