Australian Sports Commission Reveals Athlete Cash Injection

The Australian Sports Commission (ASC) have announced a $2 million injection into the direct athlete support (DAS) scheme, with the Australian Commonwealth Games Association (ACGA) kicking in an extra $1 million.

More than 600 athletes who have earned less than $60,000 per annum over the past four years are eligible for DAS funding.

ASC chairman John Wylie said the annual investment in DAS was now $11.4 million.

“It is vital support is delivered direct to athletes at the right time in their pathway to enable a commitment to pursue sporting excellence,” said Wylie.

“The DAS scheme is all about providing targeted and means-tested financial support for our most deserving elite athletes that are not accessing the strong financial returns that some sports can from commercial broadcast contracts.”

ACGA president Sam Coffa said under previous DAS criteria, many potential Commonwealth medallists fell through the funding net.

“Today’s announcement recognises that we need to invest in our best athletes if Australia is to top the medal table in Glasgow in 2014,” Coffa said.

The ASC will announce its 2013-14 funding allocations to individual sports on Monday.