Australia's new Olympic chief hopes to leverage Brisbane 2032 in battle for talent
Australian Rules football and rugby league have long dominated the country's professional sports market, offering the kind of salaries and support to young athletes that Olympic sports struggle to match.
The Reuters Daily Briefing newsletter provides all the news you need to start your day. Sign up here.
Arbib, confirmed on Wednesday as the replacement for outgoing Chief Executive Matt Carroll, said the AOC needed to compete hard against the National Rugby League (NRL) and the Australian Football League (AFL) to lure talent.
"I am a big fan of the NRL and a big fan of the AFL, I love those sports," he told reporters in Sydney.
"They are absolute commercial giants, they are juggernauts.
"And we need to ensure that we are on a playing field and that we are fighting for every dollar and for every athlete.
"Because they are working very hard and they have been very successful in what they are doing.
"For me, that is one of the greatest challenges ... fighting for athlete talent.
"Brisbane is the best way for us to leverage that."
A long-serving AOC board member and former federal sports minister, Arbib has held various roles in sports administration, including posts at the World Anti-Doping Agency and directorships at professional sports clubs such as NRL team South Sydney and A-League soccer team Sydney FC.
One of the 53-year-old's priorities will be securing more government funding to support Olympic athletes and ensure Australia builds on its record haul of 18 gold medals at the Paris Games.
With 13 of those golds won in women's events, Arbib said the AOC were concerned about potential Olympians being lost to the women's competitions set up by the AFL and NRL in the past decade.
"Their women's competitions are extremely successful, so we are competing for talent now in the women's sports space," said Arbib.
"And what I don't want to see is that impacting upon our results.
"We need to ensure we are inspiring kids to join us to become Olympic swimmers, to become Olympic athletes - that is the dream."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
3 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Footy star reveals the shocking job he had to do to get enough money to afford nappies for his newborn baby despite being contracted to an NRL club
Cronulla star Sione Katoa is flying high in 2025, but the hulking winger has revealed he struggled for money so badly early in his NRL career that he had to collect cans and bottles for recycling just to make ends meet. Katoa, born in Hamilton, NZ, has played on the wing for the Sharks at NRL level since 2018, making 120 appearances and scoring 79 tries. Internationally, he represented Tonga between 2022–24 and in the 2019 Rugby League World Cup 9s, earning four Test caps and three appearances in the 9s tournament. His journey to the NRL began when he was just six years old and his family moved to Australia, setting roots in Sydney's west in Granville. Katoa was always the naturally gifted one amongst his friends in Sydney, dominating basketball contests that would stretch until 1am at the local youth centre because they had 'nothing better to do'. 'The youth centre days were some of the best, most fun days I've had in my life,' he said. 'If I did go to school, that's where I would be after. If I didn't go to school, that's where I would be. If I didn't go to school, it was because I would stay until 12 or 1 in the morning playing basketball. 'I can honestly say that place helped me a lot, looking back now.' It helped them stay on the rails in a tough environment, with many of their peers living on the street, getting involved with drugs and facing a bleak future. Eventually, Katoa's athletic talents were noticed by the Cronulla Sharks, and he was offered a minimum wage contract to start in 2018 when he was just 20 years old. 'Coming through I didn't think "I want to play NRL", it just slowly happened,' he said. 'I enjoyed it, I had fun and that's how I got there.' However, his rags-to-riches story didn't quite play out that way in the beginning. While Katoa grew up poor and humble, he now had a young family to feed and the first contract he signed with the Sharks didn't go far in the gentrified Shire. Once a surfer's hangout, Cronulla became a coastal paradise with luxury homes lining the foreshore, and Katoa spoke about what he needed to do just to make ends meet after leaving Sydney's inner west for the Shire. 'I got married young,' he told the Bros and Cons podcast, hosted by friends he has known since childhood. 'Because I got my wife pregnant. In the Tongan culture, we got married. 'So we had a little wedding and then we had a newborn and then I had to move into the Shire.' That was the moment Katoa realised the road to the NRL was not paved with gold. 'It was my first time moving out of home,' he said. 'At that time, my contract was not that much. The minimum was about $60k [a year] or something. 'When you move to the Shire, you've got to pay rent, bills and all these [expenses].' Katoa quickly realised that the $60,000 contract was not going to stretch far enough once all those bills were factored in. 'There was a time I had to collect the 10-cent bottles [for recycling].' It would have been a strange sight for locals, to see a towering Tongan NRL star walking the streets and collecting rubbish for money. So he collected the bottles and cans under the cover of darkness. 'I would wait until Tuesday nights, that was bin night,' Katoa said. 'I would wait until it gets dark. So that is what I was doing that time when it got hard. 'In Cronulla, there is a lot of drinking. There is a lot of partying. 'So I would wait until 11pm, 12am at night to go out because I was scared people might see me. I was shy to show my face [while] I am doing this. 'But at home, I just needed money.' Things got so bad that Katoa and his young wife Taufa ran out of money for essentials like nappies and formula for their child Keziah. 'I knew every street, where the jackpot was, cases of [empty] beer [bottles],' he said, able to laugh about it now. 'I was probably the only one doing it at that time. 'Some nights I would have my daughter in the car with me sleeping. 'I would fill these bags up, stack them up on top of my car. 'My wife would tell me that is enough, come home.' Highlighting how much extra work Katoa was doing to bring in extra income, the Sharks winger said he would bring home at least $200 from his Tuesday-night scavenges - collecting an average of 2000 bottles. 'That's a story that, I never want to tell it. Because I feel embarrassed.
The Independent
10 hours ago
- The Independent
Pauline Ferrand-Prevot wins final stage to become first French winner of Tour de France Femmes
Olympic champion Pauline Ferrand-Prevot became the first Frenchwoman to win the Tour de France Femmes on Sunday, pushing through three punishing climbs to clinch the final stage ahead of 2023 champion Demi Vollering, who finished second overall. The 33-year-old of team Visma-Lease a Bike - who only returned to road racing this year after a seven-year hiatus - held steady through the 124.1km ride from Praz-sur-Arly to Chatel, before countering a move by Vollering and launching a decisive attack in the last seven kilometres. She fell to the ground in tears after crossing the finish line and celebrated with her parents, while compatriot Jeannie Longo - a three-time winner of a previous incarnation of the Tour, in the 1980s, and the last French champion - made an appearance at the roadside on a great day for the host nation. 'I'm so, so happy,' Ferrand-Prevot told reporters. 'I was a bit scared with the pressure of this jersey... I had to stick to the front and just stay there.' Vollering, of FDJ-Suez, stayed in a group with Ferrand-Prevot for the majority of the ninth stage, but could not break away to make up her deficit of more than three minutes coming into the final day. The Dutch rider finished second in the race for the second year in a row, and secured a podium spot for the fourth year running, losing out on the yellow jersey by three minutes and 42 seconds. Defending champion Katarzyna Niewiadoma-Phinney (Canyon-SRAM) finished third overall, four minutes and nine seconds back. Ferrand-Prevot, who won gold in the cross-country mountain biking at last year's Paris Games, had taken the yellow jersey from Kimberley Le Court on Saturday. Australia's Sarah Gigante, who was second overall coming into the final stage, tried to get ahead of Ferrand-Prevot on the hors-categorie Col de Joux Plane, but the Frenchwoman stayed on her wheels. Gigante's poor descending cost her in the latter stages of the race. She fell behind as Ferrand-Prevot and her rivals caught up with the lone breakway rider Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx-Protime) on the way to Col du Corbier, the final major climb of the 1,168.6km race, and slipped to sixth overall, losing four minutes. The exhausted leading group was unable to keep up when Ferrand-Prevot launched her final attack and crossed the finish line 20 seconds before Vollering to huge applause from the crowd in Chatel. Lorena Wiebes (SD Worx-Protime), who has led the points classification since stage three, cemented her position to deny Dutch compatriot Marianne Vos (Visma-Lease a Bike) a third green jersey. Vollering's teammate Elise Chabbey won the Queen of the Mountains jersey and 21-year-old Dutchwoman Nienke Vinke secured the best young rider award.
Daily Mirror
10 hours ago
- Daily Mirror
Dina Asher-Smith takes British 200m title before revealing she has quit Texas for London
Dina Asher-Smith is back on top form after recent surprise relocation home to London following 18-month stint in Texas but the national record holder is refusing to divulge too many details Dina Asher-Smith pipped Amy Hunt in a photofinish to win the 200m national title before revealing she has permanently relocated home to London. Britain's fastest woman clocked a championship record 22.14secs in blustery Birmingham and put her recent form down to home comforts after ending an 18-month stint in Texas under renowned coach Edrick Floreal. Asher-Smith does not want any details of her current 'support system' to be publicised until after next month's World Championships for fear of it hurting her preparations. But she did hint at being back in 'an environment where I can have discussions" and 'be happy, free and my fullest, most vibrant self.' She added: 'I just want a nice, smooth path to Tokyo because I'm in great shape and know I can go there and perform really well. 'I'm back in London and so grateful to have an incredible support system that I've had for so long. I need to be in an environment where I can have discussions and work hard through my races week on week. I think it's really important to be in an environment that recognises that and fosters it.' Asher-Smith has confirmed she will double in Japan and had a far clearer answer when asked if she feels in medal shape: 'Yes.' While new 100m champ Hunt came just short of sealing a sprint double, Zharnel Hughes zoomed to a championship record 19.9secs in the men's 200m to add to the gold he won comfortably on Saturday night. Josh Kerr also proved a class above in the 5000m, pushing on with a kilometre to go after a pedestrian start. And Georgia Hunter Bell sealed the 800m prize to confirm her option to compete over that and the 1500m in Tokyo. But she will now not settle on a plan until after running 800m at Lausanne Diamond League, which is slated to be Keely Hodgkinson's long-awaited return from injury, on August 20. Asked if she can beat Olympic 800m champ Hodgkinson, who is also her training partner, Hunter Bell said: "I don't know. We train together all the time. But she's such a good athlete and it will be the first time we've raced where we're kind of close. "Whenever I have raced her before she's been so far ahead. It will be interesting. The first match up will be in Lausanne. She's definitely made me a better athlete. I've learned a lot from her. I still think she's a league ahead, so we'll see."
