Australia s potential medal winners have access to all the support, coaching and science needed to turn them from potential winners to actual winners. As a result not only do our athletes flourish, but Australia has become a world leader in scientific research relating to sporting performance. That is a heck of an investment and given our expected medal haul at Sydney, it s a heck of a success too. Hogan and Norton found a significant linear relationship between the money spent, and the number of medals won. In other words, this is public policy that works.
Research shows that investment of money and leadership in elite sport pays off.
Gold medals capture the imagination of the nation and make us all proud to be Australian. Backing gold medallists is a political winner. But, to be quite honest, sporting glory doesn t actually improve the wellbeing of the general population, or return any significant savings down the track to the Commonwealth. There are certainly other areas of public policy that would benefit from long-term bipartisan commitment and a decent amount of money and maybe even deliver us more return for the investment. The concurrent example that applies to this case is the level of physical activity among the general population.