ANNUAL REPORT 2014 Sponsors 1 2 Event partners Partners Official suppliers Official training base 1 Contract ended May 2014 2 Program ended June 2014 2 SWIMMING AUSTRALIA - ANNUAL REPORT 2014 CONTENTS Message from the Australian Sports Commission 4 Swimming Australia President’s Report 5 Chief Executive Officer’s Report 6 Swimming Australia Strategic Plan 2014-2020 – Summary 7 Governance Structure 8 Swimming Australia Committee Membership 2013 - 2014 Swimming Australia governance structure at 30 June 2014 Swimming Australia Life Members Membership Statistics World’s Best Elite Performance 10 World’s Best Organised Participation & Recreational Participation 12 World’s Best Commercialisation 14 Sponsorship Events Marketing & Communication Aquatic Strategy & Facilities From the Stakeholders 16 Australian Swimming Coaches and Teachers Association 17 Australian Swimmers’ Association 18 Swimming New South Wales 19 Swimming Northern Territory 20 Swimming Queensland 21 Swimming South Australia 22 Swimming Tasmania 23 Swimming Victoria 24 Swimming Western Australia 25 Organisational Chart 26 Financials 27 Teams 61 2013 FINA World Championships 62 2013 IPC World Championships 62 2013 World University Games 63 2013 FINA World Junior Championships 63 2013 Australia A 64 2013 Japan Junior Olympic Championships 64 2013 Can Ams 64 2013 INAS World Championships 64 2014 Oceania Championships 65 2014 Oceania Open Water 65 2014 BHP Billiton Aquatic Super Series 65 Results & Records 66 Swimmer of the Year Award Winners 85 Vale 86 SWIMMING AUSTRALIA - ANNUAL REPORT 2014 3 Message from the Australian Sports Commission The Australian Sports Commission (ASC) is committed to ensuring Australian athletes excel in the international sporting arena, and increasing Australians’ participation in sport. These two clear objectives are mutually reinforcing – international success inspires Australians to participate in sport and greater participation helps nurture our future champions. Sport inspires individuals, unites communities and encourages active lifestyles. Success at the international level has become even more challenging for Australian athletes. Traditional competitors keep getting better, and rising countries are becoming forces to be reckoned with. Our tenth placing in the medal table at the London 2012 Olympic Games continued a downward trend over the past three games. Through Australia’s Winning Edge 2012-2022 – our game plan to move Australian sport from world class to world best – we are changing the role of the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) and the delivery of the High Performance Program, improving the financial performance and position of National Sporting Organisations (NSOs) and strengthening the governance structures and standards of NSOs. We have initiated a fundamental reform process to improve Australian sport, by linking high- performance sports funding more closely with performance; ensuring the AIS is the world’s best high performance sports institute; modernising governance structures in a number of sports; investing to improve coaching, leadership skills, talent identification and innovation in Australian sport; and reinforcing public confidence in the integrity of sport. These reforms will create lasting change and improvement. In 2013/14, the Australian Government, through the ASC, is investing almost $120 million in NSOs for high performance programs and to promote grassroots participation in sport. In future, our partner sports can expect a much sharper focus by the ASC on best practice governance and administration, intellectual property ownership, athlete management and support structures and general accountabilities by the sports. Equally, the ASC is committed to changing to meet the needs of contemporary sport. Importantly, the Australian Government is focused on promoting grassroots participation in sport throughout Australia and to continue a suite of successful national programs, such as the Active After-School Communities program. Increased community sport participation has a profound long-term dividend, and remains a vital objective of the ASC. The ASC looks forward to working in collaboration with the sport sector to encourage more people into sport and to drive Australia’s continued international sporting success. John Wylie AM Chair Board of the Australian Sports Commission 4 SWIMMING AUSTRALIA - ANNUAL REPORT 2014 Swimming Australia President’s Report It is with great pleasure I write this message as President on behalf of all stakeholders of Swimming Australia. The sport of swimming is full of passionate people. It ‘is’ different. The fact that so many parents and loved ones support our wonderful dream builders through thick and thin is an ‘Australian story’ in itself. This sport is large, very large. 1.2 million kids learn to swim every year, 2.4 million people swim regularly for health and fitness, 6.2 million people have participated in swimming in the last 12 months and thousands of officials and volunteers continue doing their thing for the love and enjoyment. Within this framework we have set ourselves a huge aspirational goal. It is to become #1 in the world by 2020, from Olympic and Para Olympic podiums to grass roots. To achieve this we have much to do. World’s best practice is not a trivial exercise. It is never ending in itself. In everything we do, we ask ourselves, is this world’s best practice? That is destabilising for many people. Some older people say #1 is ‘impossible’. Maybe they’re right! But younger people say…’bring it on’. I love the power of youth! Recently we established a new steering group made up of stakeholders and SAL members. The objective is to dramatically increase ‘community engagement and participation’. Although participation numbers are large, the sport as a whole is not holding its own compared to the professional sports of AFL and NRL. These codes have done an outstanding job in growing their membership bases. For the sport of swimming to grow, we need to be relevant every year instead of every four (4) years. So we are now working closely with USA Swimming to compare our experience and knowledge base in community participation. Yes we are competitors in the pool, but as a sport globally, we all face similar challenges in attracting and retaining more people. Our prospects in the pool are very encouraging as we approach the Olympics in Rio in 2016. We have a young team. They are committed. They love what they represent, the Green and Gold. Our coaches are committed. Morale is strong. But we cannot do any of this without the support of the parents and extended families. And the officials throughout the country. The road to Rio will require a huge team effort from the entire swimming fraternity. I would like to thank our fantastic sponsors. To Mrs Gina Rinehart, the Georgina Hope Swimmers Foundation and all the team at Hancock Prospecting, thank you for the generous support that help our swimmers reach their potential. Also to Speedo which is one of the longest running sports sponsorships in Australian history, plus broadcast partner Network Ten for their excellent coverage of Australian Swimming. Thanks also to 2XU and Accor for their ongoing support. We also acknowledge the great support and contribution of Swisse and Dairy Australia. A special mention to our event partners BHP Billiton and Tourism WA. The BHP Billiton Aquatic Super Series will go into its third year in 2015. With record growth, including a 54% increase in domestic TV audiences in 2014, international distribution in 12 countries globally and sell-out crowds, this event continues to cement itself firmly into the yearly swimming calendar globally. We are very grateful for the incredible support we receive from the Australian Sports Commission, State Institutes of Sport, Australian Olympic Committee, Australian Paralympic Committee and the Australian Commonwealth Games Association. Go Australia! John Bertrand AM President Swimming Australia SWIMMING AUSTRALIA - ANNUAL REPORT 2014 5 Chief Executive Officer’s Report The past year has witnessed substantial change and evolution across the organisation. Together we have made significant progress. Underpinning this change has been the creation of a new strategic plan which has established the future direction for our sport over the coming years. Our vision is for swimming in Australia to be the best in the world by 2020, both in and out of the pool. That means being world’s best in the areas of performance, organised participation, recreational participation and commercialisation. We want to enable our athletes, coaches, staff, stakeholders and members to excel and succeed in every area of endeavour. Pivotal to this plan is the increased focus on developing a deeper and larger community base for our sport. In the first instance, this involves enhancing and developing our products and services for existing and potential members to ensure that we are delivering value to this loyal and valued group of committed swimmers. In addition to this core audience we need to build our broader audience to provide a point of connection in a more formal way with the Australian public and the 2.4 million Australians who regularly swim for health and fitness. This process will take time, but success will position us well in what is a very competitive sporting and recreational market. At the half-way point of this current Olympic and Paralympic cycle I am both encouraged and excited by what lies ahead for our sport in the areas of performance. To Michael Scott and our new