Review to call for funding overhaul

OLYMPIC GAMES Athens 2004: Increased professionalism within the governing bodies and an overhaul in the funding of Olympic athletes are expected to be among the main recommendations in the Athens Review, which is published later today.

The 80-page report, which was commissioned by the Irish Sports Council last July, assesses the preparation and performance of the Irish teams in both the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Unlike the review of the Sydney Olympics published this time four years ago, the Athens Review is believed to be far less damning of the two main parties in Olympic preparation - the Sports Council and the Olympic Council of Ireland (OCI) - but there is still some finger-pointing when it comes to the organisation of certain national governing bodies.

According to one source, the review is best described it as a "sanitised report" compared to the Sydney review and that the OCI in particular had "come out very well".

There were 29 recommendations contained in the Sydney review, several of which pointed towards improving the high performance end of governing bodies. While the Athens review is certain to acknowledge progress in that area, it will also make it clear that there's a lot more to do.

The continuing professionalism of governing bodies is seen as essential if Ireland is to remain competitive on the Olympic stage, but it will also be necessary to target sports where Olympic success is more realistic. That process will also mean a change in the way some Olympic athletes are funded.

Just last month UK Sport announced that their support for elite athletes would also be better targeted, which meant weeding out athletes unlikely to be medal contenders, and targeting the money saved on those who were left. It is already known that the Sports Council have started working off a similar backdrop.

But the overhaul on funding is unlikely to stop there. There is speculation the OCI will be brought back on board in the funding process, especially when it comes to Olympic grant aid, rather than leave all the work to the Sports Council.

Changes in the international carding scheme are also expected, and the days of handing over money and saying good luck are over. It is believed that the contracting of athletes is now recommended, similar to the Australian grants system.

All the governing bodies and a large sample of the athletes who competed in Athens were interviewed. Ironically, some of the harsher criticisms of the governing bodies are understood to be in the athletes' comments, rather than in any of the specific recommendations.

The OCI management and its president, Pat Hickey, are expected to escape criticism, and compared to four years ago - where around 20 of the 29 Sydney recommendations affected the OCI - there has clearly been a vast improvement in their state of affairs.

The selection policy of the OCI is also believed to be defended, which included the acceptance of only A-standard qualifiers and an early cut-off date.

Generally, however, the Athens review is set to be as much a blueprint for the future as an assessment of the past. It will lay down recommendations that will improve Ireland's Olympic competitiveness in the long term rather than focus all its efforts on getting things right for Beijing in 2008.

Present at today's announcement in Dublin will be Dan Flinter, the former chairman of Enterprise Ireland who chaired the review steering group, and Neil Tunnicliffe of Wharton Consulting, the UK sports consultants appointed to carry out the review last July.