Swimming Australia supports Australia’s Winning Edge.

 

   

Swimming Australia, September 1, 2016: SWIMMING AUSTRALIA today welcomed the Australian Sports Commission’s announcement of its continuing commitment to Australia’s Winning Edge strategy.

Swimming Australia CEO Mark Anderson said that the support of Australia’s Winning Edge had enabled swimming to make significant progress both in and out of the pool.

Australia finished seventh on the swimming medal tally in London, 2012 and in achieving three gold medals at the Rio Olympics, 2016 and 10 medals in total, Australia had jumped to second place.

 

“Australia’s Winning Edge is a 10-year strategy, and since 2012 we have made significant progress across all areas of our sport in collaboration with our high performance partners,” Mr Anderson said.

 

“Our swimming high performance system is delivered collaboratively with many partners across our network. The progress we have made together is evidence of the support and collaboration that has been achieved, and we greatly appreciate the contribution of all stakeholder’s in our progress and results.”

 

“Our team is a young team with much improvement still within them. Our individual gold medallists Kyle Chalmers and Mack Horton both debuted at the Rio Olympics, as did Madeline Groves who won silver in the 200m butterfly. Emma McKeon who finished the Games with four medals, the most of any Australian athlete, is another young member of the team. In total, it was the first Olympic Games for 24 members of the team.

 

“We are also very fortunate to have a number of successful and experienced team members, mentoring and providing guidance.

 

“In relay events we managed to secure a medal in five of the six events, including gold and a new World Record in the Women’s 4 x 100m freestyle relay. The signs are strong for the future.

 

“What we don’t step away from is that we did not maximise all of our opportunities in Rio and that we will review all elements of our program to improve further.

“What has delighted me throughout and following the Rio Olympics is how every member of the team and the organisation had responded to the victories, defeats and challenges. Without exception, every individual at every level of our organisation has responded well.

 

“We are united in our pursuit to build on the progress we have made. We will challenge ourselves to improve further on our performance. And together, we will work collaboratively with all of our partners to ensure that we apply the lessons and build on the progress that we have made. Australia’s Winning Edge strategy is the foundation that will ensure that this all occurs.”

 

Swimming Australia President, John Bertrand AO said, “We have made progress and we have the talent to challenge the world again in Tokyo 2020. We can and will learn from our Rio experiences.

 

“Like any high performance organisation, we continually review all aspects of what we do. This process has commenced already.We will continue to challenge ourselves, benchmark ourselves across world’s best practice and implement the findings.

 

“We are pleased and endorse the ASC’s announcement that, in line with their previous plans, they are undertaking a review and refining Australia’s Winning Edge following the Rio Olympics. This is a good process and is aligned to our own plans and we will work with them to ensure both reviews work in tandem.

 

“We support the core fundamentals of Australia’s Winning Edge. It is a rigorous process that evaluates and sets benchmarks on all areas of our sport, and as a sport we accept accountability for the results that we achieve.

“We achieved a number of the targets that we set for Rio but not all. In reviewing our program and performance we will ensure we apply world’s best practice to all areas of our high performance program. We have a great base to build on as we look forward to the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in 2018 and the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2020.”