Australian Olympic Committee Form Closer Partnership with AIS

The Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) and the Australian Sports Commission (ASC) have formed “Campaign Rio” with the aim of working closer together to achieve Olympic success.

Many athletes work alongside the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS), a division of the Commission, and now the AOC has invited AIS staff to join them in the build-up to Rio 2016.

As a result of the partnership, AIS director Matt Favier will become deputy chef de mission of the Australian Olympic team, whilst AIS chief medical officer Dr David Hughes and sports scientist Nick Brown have also been invited to provide athletes a familiar point of contact.

AOC President John Coates said: “In the past they’ve sort of sat back there. For some reason they noted our top five (goal), but never endorsed it.

“They just weren’t prepared to put their neck on the line as they’ve done now.”

ASC chair John Wylie admitted the partnership was long overdue.

“The AIS has been very successful over a long period of time, and that means, like all organisations, you can tend to repeat the things you’ve done in the past,” he said.