Businessman David Crawford has hit back at criticism from Olympics boss John Coates over his report into sports funding, describing Games chiefs as powerful people who are used to getting their own way.
Crawford rejected claims from Coates that his report was “disrespectful” to Australia’s Olympic achievements and “insulting” to gold medal heroes in lower-profile sports such as diver Matthew Mitcham, kayaker Ken Wallace and pole vaulter Steve Hooker.
He also dismissed assertions he was “well-meaning but not qualified” to make recommendations on elite sport at international level.
Crawford’s report, commissioned by the federal government, delivered a stinging rebuff to the Australian Olympic Committee’s calls for an extra $100 million a year for 10 years for Olympic sports, saying that money would be better spent elsewhere.
Crawford described the AOC as a very powerful organisation.
“Clearly they don’t ever like anyone to talk against their particular interests, and clearly the people who run it are used to getting their own way,” he told AAP in an interview.
“They’re not used to people not agreeing with them.”
Responding to the claim his report was disrespectful, he said: “When people make such inaccurate statements and clearly haven’t read the report I discount them.
“If you read the report, you’ll see we in fact said the Olympic Games are a great event but they are only one event or avenue of sport.
“We have to look at the totality of sport.
“We didn’t in any way say anything that was disrespectful either of the Olympic movement or of Olympians.
“We merely drew a comparison between the amount of funding that went to the elite Olympic sports and other sports.
“I’m not quite sure where there was anything that was insulting about anyone in our report.”
Crawford said Coates was welcome to his view about him, but he was prepared to stand on his record after previously conducting major overhauls of both AFL and soccer.
“I’m happy to rest upon my performance in the past in reviewing sporting organisations,” he said.
“You have to say the AFL has been a success.
“You have to say the reconstitution of soccer has been a success.
“In both of those we brought structure and governance into play.
“In my view if you get that right you have a chance of success. If you don’t get it right you won’t be successful.”
The Crawford Report points to a funding bias in favour of Olympic sports.
It suggests more funding should go to mass participation “lifetime” sports which lead to a healthier society, such as netball, cricket, tennis, golf, the various football codes and surfing.
Asked if a slide down the Olympic medals table was such a terrible thing, Crawford replied: “I don’t think so.
“We’re not saying mediocrity is a good thing.
“We should be striving to be the best, but life is full of having to make decisions on priorities.”
Crawford, a director of several blue-chip companies including BHP, said he and his fellow panellists were asked to perform a role.
“My background is chartered accounting,” he said, “and our motto is ‘Without fear or favour’.”
Meanwhile the Australian State Sports Federations Alliance (ASSFA), which represents 600 state level sporting organisations across the country, welcomed the report on Monday.
The government is due to respond to the Crawford Report early next year.
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