Swimming: Sport's battle for liquid assets

By TERRY MADDAFORD

Clive Rushton has no doubt what is needed to find - and, more importantly, to retain - another Danyon Loader.

Money. Lots of it. Poolside in Wellington this week for his second national championships, New Zealand Swimming's director of coaching said lack of support from the corporate sector had been the biggest disappointment since he took over in 2001.

Rushton, 55, who swam for Britain at the 1972 Munich Olympics, reaching the 100m backstroke semifinals, said the sport here was struggling for money.

"When you compare the funding available here with our traditional rivals such as Australia, Britain and Canada, you quickly realise they are putting in significantly more - in some cases 30 times as much.

"Our ability to access offshore competition is a major issue. Our top swimmers need to compete in the Northern Hemisphere at least two or three times a year. They need to be in North America or Europe for extended periods.

"To prepare a top New Zealand swimmer for the Olympics we need to find funding of between $50,000-$100,000 a year for at least two to three years. Some countries have been prepared to do that for five or six years and have been rewarded with a gold medal."

Rushton said top British swimmers were paid around $60,000 a year. They also attended training camps and various competitions at no cost.

"With that kind of support, they can afford to stay in the sport."

Although that level of funding is way beyond the New Zealand national body's reach, Rushton would like to see significant prizemoney or incentives at the highest level.

"We could offer bonuses for any swimmer qualifying for the world championships or the Olympics, and an added amount for reaching a final," he said. "We have to be radical. Catching up is not an option. We have to leapfrog. Why should swimming be different than any other sport?

"New Zealand is different to the rest of the swimming world. The minimum we must aim for is to have at least a level playing field."

Rushton arrived after the era of double Olympic champion Loader. He admits all sports needs a hero, a shop window.

He sees the North Shore club, coached by Jan Cameron and based at the Millennium Institute of Sport and Health, as leading a much-needed resurgence.

"The task for us is to replicate what they are doing throughout the country. In eight to 10 years I can see that happening. In the short term the lack of money will hold us back.

"This group [the North Shore swimmers] will be looking at other things after the Athens Olympics. That's when it will be particularly hard."

It was a concern that Sport and Recreation New Zealand had concentrated on talent identification but not talent retention.

Rushton and Swimming New Zealand's education manager, Mark Saunders, are leading the way with a review of the coaching certification process. The new system, to be announced next month, will give coaches a better grounding.

"It is a long-term fix which is absolutely essential. It all comes back to educating coaches - not the swimmers. Whatever programme the swimmers are in, we have to give coaches the tools to do the job."

He would not say he was reasonably happy with the situation, but did describe the Millennium Institute as a "bright shining star."

"There are other pockets around the country, but there is still a tremendous amount to be done. Retention is the key. And the need to put in place the financial rewards.

"We need to identify the late developers and track them. Toni Jeffs is one such example. There could be many more like her out there.

"But we don't know."