Chair John Bertrand AO reflects on Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 2022 and wishes Australia a safe and enjoyable festive season.
When the borders reopened at the start of 2022, and the crowds started to return to our sporting events, there was a feeling of cautious optimism for the year ahead.
Australia enjoyed the big games of the Winter Olympics and Paralympics where six of our Scholarship Holders; Josie Baff, Britt Cox, Kailani Craine, Cooper Woods, Tess Coady and Ben Tudhope, were representing Australia.
The Birmingham Commonwealth Games saw Australia lead the medal count with 178 medals (67 gold, 57 silver, 54 bronze). Our athletes also secured the country’s 1000th gold medal since the first Commonwealth Games held in Canada in 1930. Congratulations to the 25 SAHOF Scholarship Holders who brought home a combined 25 medals and scored a multitude of personal bests including a perfect 10 from Cassiel Rousseau in the Men’s 10m Platform diving – wow.
Sport Australia Hall of Fame congratulates Member, Anna Meares OAM, who has been announced as the Chef de Mission of the Australian Olympic Team for the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
We acknowledge and thank the Australian Sports Commission and the AIS, who provide the funding for our Scholarship and Mentoring Program. 2023 sees the extended program enter its third year and provides $150,000 in grants to 32 Scholarship Holders to support their development.
We also welcomed six new Members who will be Mentors to our Tier 1 athletes: Nat Cook, Steve Waugh, Sharon Buchanan, Barton Lynch, Leisel Jones and Luc Longley. We also thank guest speaker Kerri Pottharst who continued to inspire the Scholarship Holders through Zoom presentations. Thank you to BLACKROLL and Gripstar Socks for their continued support of recovery equipment and clothing to our Scholarship Holders.
This year, in collaboration with our long-time partner, Sportscover, SAHOF delivered two Chairs’ Round Table for Sport forums. The first was: Tokyo, Beijing, Birmingham, Paris and Beyond, which was held in March and discussed High Performance Sport, Risk and Rewards, Past and Future. The second was delivered in November at Crown Resorts Melbourne and titled: A look ahead to Victoria 2026. This was the first CRT to be held in person since 2019.
In May, Victoria University and Sport Australia Hall of Fame delivered the sixth National Sport Integrity Forum: SPORT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS: To boycott or not to boycott, is that the question?
SAHOF would like to recognise Member John Coates AC, who handed over his position of President of the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC), to Ian Chesterman AM in April, after more than three decades in the role.
We would also like to acknowledge Robert de Castella AO MBE, who has spent the last 21 years as Chair for the Sport Australia Hall of Fame’s Selection Committee. We are very fortunate to welcome Bruce McAvaney OAM to the role.
SAHOF would like to pay tribute to the recently retired Board Members whose service has been invaluable: Hon Rod Kemp AM (10 years served), Rob de Castella AO MBE (25 years served), Rob Bradley (7.5 years served) and ‘Mr Winter’, Geoff Henke AO who served 25 years and simultaneously retired as Chair of the Olympic Winter Institute of Australia (OWIA), a role he’s held since the organisation’s inception in 1998.
For the third year we celebrated our Induction and Awards program with the nation through a free-to-air-television event. The Seven Network showcased the untold stories of our nine newest Inductees, winners of The Don and The Dawn Award, and saw two Members elevated to Legend status. The program aired nationally on December 8, reaching over 780,000 viewers, finishing number one in its time slot nationally and in metro markets. Heroes & Legends a A Celebration of the 2022 Sport Australia Hall of Fame is now available to watch on 7plus.
Sport Australia Hall of Fame also celebrated its Members, Awardees, Sponsors and Scholarship recipients with another series of cocktail events in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, and Perth throughout November and December. Photos from these events can be viewed here.
2022 has been an enormous year for sport in Australia and it is extremely gratifying to be back in a climate where our sportspeople are able to develop and compete once again.
I wish you all a safe and happy festive season and look forward to an exciting 2023.
Go Australia!
John Bertrand AO
Please be advised the Sport Australia Hall of Fame office will be closed from Thursday, December 22, 2022 and will re-open on Monday, January 16, 2023.
On Thursday, December 8 Heroes & Legends – A Celebration of the 2022 Sport Australia Hall of Fame went to air on the screen of Channel 7 all around the country.
Featuring an emotional tribute to newly elevated Legend of Australian Sport, Shane Warne AO from fellow Member Ricky Ponting AO, the program showcased the amazing careers of our 2022 Inductees; Paralympic movement pioneer Sir George Bedbrook OBE, former Australian netball captain and multiple Commonwealth Games medallist Catherine Cox AM, former Australian Rugby League captain Brad Fittler, four-time consecutive Olympic Games softball medallist Tanya Harding, triple Commonwealth Games ten-pin bowling gold medallist Cara Honeychurch, former Australian basketball coach Dr Adrian Hurley OAM, two-time Brownlow medallist and six-time AFL All-Australian Chris Judd, winner of 41 LPGA tour titles and two-time LPGA player of the year award winner, Karrie Webb AO, and Mark Webber AO, who broke the 28-year winning drought for Australian drivers in Formula One.
We also heard from 2022 The Don Award winner Ash Barty AO, Jan Norman – wife of SAHOF Member and 2022 The Dawn Award winner Peter – as well as SAHOF Member Steve Moneghetti OAM and Marcus Clark, son of newly elevated Legend of Australian Sport, Ron Clark AO MBE.
You can re-watch the program now on 7plus.
In 2022, SAHOF launched a brand new, exclusive series that delved into the stories and experiences that mattered most to our Members and Scholarship Holders. The first two editions of The Untold Story featured 2022 T3 Scholarship Holder, Oscar Stubbs and 2021 Tier 2 Scholarship Holder, Ethan Calleja.
Both of these young men have incredible stories to tell and The Untold Story gave us all the opportunity to read about some of the incredible things they have done so far in their short careers. We look forward to bringing you more The Untold Story features in 2023.
An Update from the Australian Sports Commission
Close to 100 people met at The Museum of Contemporary Art to launch the new national strategy which was co-designed by the entire high-performance system, with a goal to “win well” and build success towards Brisbane 2032 and beyond.
A key measure of success outlined within Australia’s High Performance 2032+ Sport Strategy is to position Australia for its best ever Olympic and Paralympic performances at the Brisbane 2032 Games. But the strategy ultimately sets out to build ongoing, sustainable success for Australian high performance sport, before and after Brisbane 2032.
10 sporting organisations won notable awards across 12 categories with Athletics taking the spotlight on three occasions.
The inaugural Win Well Award which acknowledges the importance of balancing sporting success with high performance cultures that are safe, fair and supportive went to the Victorian Institute of Sport for their strong athlete-focused approach.
The Sport Volunteer of the Year Award which was also introduced this year went to Nicole Williams for her outstanding contribution to Cricket.
You can read more about the Australia’s High Performance 2032+ Sport Strategy and the ASPAs here.
VU ANNOUNCED AS FIFA RESEARCH INSTITUTE FOR FOOTBALL TECHNOLOGY
Victoria University (VU) is the first university in the world to become an official FIFA Research Institute for Football Technology as the global governing body for international football of cutting-edge innovation and technology.
This announcement comes as VU climbs to 7th in global sport rankings and second ranked in Australia, further cementing VU as a leader in sport teaching and research.
VU first collaborated with FIFA in 2016 when it developed an innovative international standard for FIFA’s quality program to assess the accuracy of Electronic Performance Tracking Systems (EPTS). FIFA first allowed EPTS in 2015 and clubs have increasingly used them to track player performance and movement.
The project drew on VU’s expertise in biomechanics, exercise physiology and data analytics, as well as the University’s work on wearable technologies with the Western Bulldogs AFL Club.
VU researchers impressed FIFA during a five-hour meeting in Zurich with their plans to test a range of EPTS during actual games, and compare them to VICON, an independent gold-standard motion-capture system that provides precise, three-dimensional measurements of people or objects.
Professor Rob Aughey remembers his team completing a 10-page response to FIFA’s questions about their proposal on the plane home “to show them as researchers, we could be quick, agile and responsive.”
VU is now a FIFA-Accredited test institute and runs annual tests for FIFA on the many models of EPTS.
BLACKROLL® & SAHOF CONTINUE PARTNERSHIP INTO 2023
The Sport Australia Hall of Fame and BLACKROLL® share a common goal, to support all Australians in their pursuit of well-being and elite performance. Sport Australia Hall of Fame are pleased to announce that we have partnered with BLACKROLL® and welcome them as the official Sport Australia Hall of Fame Scholarship & Mentoring Program recovery equipment provider.
BLACKROLL® equipment is made from 100% recyclable materials, and we look forward to them providing an added layer of support and education to our Scholarship Holders, aimed at optimising energy efficiency and sustainability.
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