A thought provoking article in Bernama that was missed by many of the main stream media.
The budget for the National Sports Council to prepare the athletes for Doha 2006 was RM18 million as another unit within NSC took the remaining 17 million for non medal winning athletes. The RM18 million was to cater for 130 athletes under the AsiaCom Project, which earmarked athletes who would deliver medals at the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games and Doha Asian Games.
What was the cost of Lee Chong Wei's silver medal? This is a question that ought to be answered by the Ministry of Youth & Sports.
At the same time the Ministry should also reveal how much it spent on the Ministers entourage, some whom did not even have accreditation cards but went merely as tourists for the Beijing Olympics.
Perhaps we can better the amount spent by the Aussies by adding on the free loaders that were in Beijing.
Australian taxpayers forked out almost A$17 million towards each gold medal won by the nation's Olympic team in Beijing.
The country's taxpayers contributed A$16.7 million through direct government grants for each of the 13 gold medals won, but the real figure could be higher, The Age newspaper reported Sunday.
Sport academic James Connor said once funding by state governments and sporting infrastructure costs were taken into account, the figure could exceed A$100 million.
"The real price of a gold medal would be three, four or five times higher, up to A$100 million," Dr Connor, from the Australian Defence Force Academy, is quoted as saying.
In athletics, A$19.3 million has been poured in over four years, and a European training base established.
Acting Australian Institute of Sport chief, Brent Espeland, has confirmed that sports such as cycling and gymnastics, which disappointed in the medal count, will need to fight for funding.
Australian Olympic Committee chief John Coates launched an inquiry to ask how much extra money was needed to win 55 medals at the 2012 London Games and 60 at the 2016 Olympics.
Swimming coach Alan Thompson said Australian sport was "on the verge of a crisis" without a funding injection.
Australia's Sport Minister Kate Ellis launched an inquiry in May into the efficiency of elite sport funding.
