THE will to win is part of the collective Australian psyche, The Australian editorialised yesterday.
I couldn't agree more. It has been demonstrated time and again since the mid-19th century that Australians do not strive for mediocrity. They want to win.
So why would we even consider changing our direction when our Olympians and Paralympians enjoy the overwhelming support of most Australians, who take enormous pride in their feats when they are competing on the world stage? Yet that was the extraordinary suggestion in a report released by federal Sport Minister Kate Ellis that was written by an independent panel led by Lend Lease and Fosters Group chairman David Crawford.
Crawford's report claims there is a funding bias in favour of Olympic sports that should be corrected. The report calls for the present level of sports funding to be maintained but for the money to be redirected to mass participation sports.
The panel also recommends that Australia aim for a top 10, rather than a top five, position in the Olympic medal tally. And the report says that if another $100 million a year is invested in sport, it should be directed to other priorities.
Commentators on this topic, from the Prime Minister down, seem to have a markedly different view. Kevin Rudd said last year at the Sport Australia Hall of Fame awards, "When you reflect on the history of sport in this country and on how it has been ingrained into the nation's soul, you cannot separate the two. Our sporting heroes are part of the soul and the spirit of the nation."
During their attendance at the Olympic Games in Beijing last year, the Prime Minister and the Sports Minister surely must have observed at first hand how sport enables countries to forge closer ties. Certainly Austrade was happy to ride on the back of Australia's outstanding successes in Beijing and is hoping to do likewise in Vancouver and London during the next few years.
As I said at my press conference on November 17: "Sorry, guys, but you don't deserve any extra funding, but by the way, we want to hang off your coat-tails again and knock over a few more trade contracts and business deals in Vancouver and London and beyond".
US President Barack Obama demonstrated his understanding of the link between elite sport and international trade when he supported Chicago's bid for the 2016 Olympic Games, travelling to Copenhagen to present the his country's bid. And UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has been reported as saying "sport builds bridges", presumably referring to personal, as well as international and commercial ones.
Ellis should think long and hard before rejecting the AOC bid for an additional $100 million in funding. Australia's funding in real terms has not increased since the Sydney Olympics and in fact this nation has fallen behind in comparison with Britain, Germany, France and Italy. The Rudd government will repeat the mistake of the Fraser government in the 1970s if it again allows the elite sports system to run down, as is being suggested by the Crawford report.
For example, at the Montreal Olympics in 1976, the Australian public was appalled at the dramatic decline in this country's Olympic standing, when we dropped from 36 medals in 1956 to only five 20 years later, and none of them gold, as well as a fall in the medal tally to 32nd place.
A Gallup poll at that time recorded that 70 per cent of Australians expressed the opinion more government aid was necessary if Australian sportsmen and sportswomen were to compete with the rest of the world on an equal footing. Prime minister Malcolm Fraser became so unpopular that he asked minister Robert Ellicott to redevelop the Australian sports system, which his government had only recently dismantled.
This led to the establishment of the Australian Institute of Sport, which then encouraged the development of the state institutes of sport. Since that time, Australia's medal tally has steadily risen from nine medals in 1980 to a total of 46 last year.
Ellis has stated: "Investment in sport and recreation is an investment in the health and wellbeing of the nation." But Australian children need elite role models, otherwise there is no motivation for those at grassroots level to strive for excellence.
John Coates is president of the Australian Olympic Committee.
The Independent Sport Panel Report, set up to look into sports funding, was published in Australia last week, prompting debate and speculation for the future of sport in the country. Many in the sector believe the report will prompt changes in the way sport is funded and administered in Australia.

John Coates, President of the Australian Olympic Committee, criticised the report, and several elite sports people have joined Coates' calls for sustained funding to Olympic level sport. Other commentators have welcomed the recommendations, challenging commonly held beliefs that Australians benefit from funding high performance athletes. Such positions call for more resourcing of sport at a participation level rather than performance level.

Key recommendation areas in the report are:

* Defining Australia's national sports vision
* Reforming the Australian Sports Commission to lead the sports system
* Merging Australia's institutes of sport
* Building the capacity of Australia's national sporting organisations
* Putting sport and physical activity back into education
* Building community sport with people and places
* Ensuring Australia's sports system is open to all
* Sustaining the funding base for sport

Australians now await a Government response to the recommendations.