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- Olympians don't come out of nowhere.
It takes 12 Years and upwards of $36 million
to produce one medal ready athlete.
We're always talking about the winners.
What about the ones that don't make it?
The could-have-beens.
Athletes are dropping out
of national sporting development programmes
and we don't know why.
These athletes get up before the crack of dawn,
six to seven days a week.
They travel for an hour or more
to get to training and the gym.
They sacrifice birthdays, family events,
and Christmas holidays.
Along their sporting journey they battle internal obstacles,
such as health and performance pressures.
You might think this is why athletes are dropping out,
but the issue is bigger than the individual.
An athlete's sporting future
is hugely influenced by external factors,
and it has become clear
that they are where the focus needs to be.
I spoke with high performance managers, executives,
policy makers, support staff,
coaches, and of course the athletes.
What do they think is the most important
and feasible way to minimise drop out
As a whole, health management was found
as the most important and feasible areas to address.
However, when groups were separated, values differed.
For example, athletes rated health management
well at the top of their priority list,
whereas policy makers and executives
saw it no more important
than coaching and programme development.
There is no consensus in the sporting world.
What is also interesting
is that men and women have different ideas.
Women value health as a top priority,
whereas men are more interested
in addressing coaching and performance potential.
So what does this mean?
This means there's still a lot we don't know
about athlete drop out and further inquiry is needed.
Next I'll investigate whether
supporting development programmes
are even collecting drop out data.
And if so, what are they doing with it.
Before we can fix the leaks,
we need to find the holes in the system.
This information can help sporting organisations
improve processes, accountability, and funding decisions.
The aim is to create a tool that sporting organisations
can use to identify athletes at risk of leaving,
so we can intervene early, give them the support they need,
and help keep them in our programmes.
We can turn those could-have-beens into contenders.
(bright music)