This year our nation’s top athletes made us incredibly proud, claiming dozens of medals at the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) plays a pivotal role in helping our athletes reach the podium, through targeted funding to sports and ensuring our athletes are supported in all areas of life. This includes making sure our athletes are equipped with the best of the best when competing on the world stage.
In the lead up to Paris, the AIS engineering team completed 250 custom-built equipment projects. The biggest on record – and the results clearly paid off. Two-time gold medal winner in canoe slalom Jess Fox spent weeks working alongside our engineers before hitting the waves in Paris. The AIS worked alongside Paddle Australia to develop custom pieces for Fox’s boats. This included a 3D-printed knee cup for her canoe with a novel installation system and lightweight aluminium alloy footpegs for her kayak.
During training, Fox also used custom electronic glasses which limit her vision to train the brain to remember recent optics. Following her historic double win she thanked those who helped her reach the podium. “To be able to reach this level, it’s not just me. It’s the family behind me, it’s the support behind me, the investment of the Australian sport system as well,” Fox said.
Our nation’s swim team, the Aussie dolphins carried out a tremendous campaign in Paris, claiming 18 medals including seven gold in the pool. Their secret weapon was Sparta-2 – a swimming analysis system which uses cutting-edge 4k camera and custom software to provide realtime data and track strokes in the pool. It’s the envy of the swimming world.
Wheelchair racer and Paralympic flagbearer Madison de Rozario also became a familiar
face at the AIS. Over several months the team built a custom race chair knee support with ultra lightweight carbon fibre to enhance de Rozario’s position in the chair as well as custom made lightweight titanium axles. The coach and Paralympic great Louise Sauvage OAM said the new equipment was groundbreaking for de Rozario. “These new features are a game changer for Madison, not only taking weight out of the race chair and adding stiffness, but putting her in the right push position, negating any movement so all the force can go to the wheels,” Sauvage said.
Para archer Imalia Oktrininda is also now the proud owner of a new shooting stool. AIS engineers spent six months developing a more stable and lighter stool using aerospace grade aluminium and lightweight carbon fibre. Oktrininda said it’s features like these that make a huge impact. “The stool is going to give me an advantage. Archery is about making sure you’re still and stabilised while you’re shooting because even a little bit of movement can cause a point or two,” she said.
The people behind the scenes, were thrilled with the end results. “Our two main pillars are comfort and connection,” AIS Sports Engineer Lead Andy Richardson said. “When an athlete is pain-free or in significantly less pain they are more focused on performance. When an athlete is connected to their equipment, they are most efficient at transferring speed and power, and also producing accuracy and precision.
“We’re incredibly proud and feel honoured to have played a part in helping them succeed on the world stage.”
And the support didn’t stop there. During the Games, an AIS Paris Performance Analysis Hub was set up which saw dozens of performance analysts working around the clock to collect and analyse footage before providing crucial insights back to sports, giving athletes the extra edge against their competitors. The key sports supported included swimming, surfing, hockey, equestrian, badminton, boccia, cycling, table tennis and wheelchair rugby.
Cheering on our athletes for their wins off the field
As the world celebrates their athletic feats, the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) is also cheering on our athletes for their wins off the field.
Twenty of the Paris 2024 team took time out of their Olympic preparations to give back through AIS Community Engagement programs, including in Share a Yarn (SaY). The SaY program was first formed in 2020 to help connect athletes with First Nations communities and help them become advocates within their sports.
More than 50 athletes have taken part in the program so far, including nine wearing the
green and gold in Paris. Proud Wiradjuri woman and Hockeyroo Mariah Williams, sprinter and Wakka Wakka man Calab Law, and Australia’s first female Indigenous boxer Marissa Williamson-Polhman are all current ambassadors, with Willams saying the program allows her to strengthen her connection to country. “Being a Share a Yarn ambassador allows me to get in touch, hear about people’s stories and their history and learn more than what I know now,” Williams said.
“I feel honoured to be an ambassador of this program. It shows the steps forward that have been taken as a nation to recognise Indigenous culture. “We still have a long way to go but programs like this one are so good for the community, both Aboriginal people and
non-Aboriginal people.” — Mariah Williams
BMX bronze medallist Natalya Diehm and three-time Olympic rower Olympia Aldersey are both AIS Thrive with Pride ambassadors, a group of rainbow athletes and allies driving LGBTIQ+ inclusion initiatives within Australian sporting communities.
Diehm has been a Thrive with Pride ambassador for the past two years and said before the Games: “I want to be the person I wish I had growing up. If I can help or resonate with someone within the LGBTQ+ community by telling my story, then that's all I can ask for.”
Before touching down in Paris, judoka Josh Katz, racewalker Rebecca Henderson, and middle-distance runner Catriona Bisset all worked with the AIS Mental Fitness Program, delivering talks to high school students about the importance of keeping
mentally fit.
Katz, who competed in his second Games in Paris, has been a long-standing ambassador for the program and has shared his journey with hundreds of young people.
“During my judo career, I have experienced both incredible highs and extreme lows while trying to achieve my dreams,” Katz said.
“Throughout these periods I was lucky to have such a strong support network that helped me bounce back. The AIS Mental Fitness Program is an opportunity for me to help give young people as many tools and skills as possible to tackle their own challenges head on.”
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