Australian Institute of Sport

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Logo of the Australian Institute of Sport

The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) is a specialised educational and training institution providing coaching for elite junior and senior athletes in a number of sports, many of them Olympic sports but including a number of others.

The Institute's headquarters is sited in Canberra, the capital city of Australia. The 65 hectare site campus is in the northern suburb of Bruce, but some of the institute's programs are located in other Australian cities. It is a division of the Australian Sports Commission.

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[edit] History

Front of the AIS, Sports Visitor Centre on the left, AIS arena at the back right
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Front of the AIS, Sports Visitor Centre on the left, AIS arena at the back right

Set up in 1981 after the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games in which Australia failed to win a gold medal (regarded as a severe national embarrassment in Australia), the Institute's well-funded programs (and more generally the generous funding for elite sporting programs) are regarded as a major reason for Australia's disproportionate success in international sporting competition.

Shortly after its inception in 1981, the AIS held a competition for a symbol that would depict the AIS aim of "achieving supremacy in sport". Over 500 designs were submitted. The winner was a design student from Bendigo in Victoria, Rose-Marie Derrico. Her design shows an athlete with hands clasped above the head in recognition of victory. The colours of the logo are red and blue, which are the same colours as the Australian flag.

[edit] Institute

The AIS employs over 190 staff, including 70 coaches to directly support AIS athletes. In addition to coaching staff, the AIS employs a large number of staff who work in Sports Medicine, Education and Technology, which includes disciplines such as sports nutrition, performance analysis, physiology, biomechanics, applied research, talent search, athlete career education, strength and conditioning, psychology and physical therapies.

Outside the front of the main building are a number of sculptures, such as Acrobats by John Robinson, which shows one acrobat holding another upside down one with just one hand. Also is The Basketballer, one of three works which were commissioned by AMP Limited to celebrate the 2000 Paralympic Olympic games. It was brought to the front of the AIS in June 2003.

The AIS competes in the Women's National Basketball League, South East Australian Basketball League and the Commonwealth Bank Trophy Netball League.

[edit] Programmes

The AIS offers scholarships to over 700 athletes each in year across 35 programs in 26 different sports. Scholarships are also currently offered to athletes with disabilities in athletics, swimming and skiing.

In 2004/5, the AIS offers Scholarship programmes for the following sports:

[edit] Olympic Winter Institute of Australia

The AIS and the Australian Olympic Committee formed the Australian Institute of Winter Sports after the 1998 Winter Olympics. The organisation was renamed to the Olympic Winter Institute of Australia on July 1, 2001. It provides training in alpine skiing, freestyle skiing (including aerial and mogul), snowboarding, short track speed skating and figure skating. It is also a partner with the AIS in skeleton (toboganning).

[edit] See also

[edit] References

[edit] External links

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