Australia’s leading Olympic sports are "facing government funding cuts" of up to 20% in the '17-18 financial year, which "could jeopardise the winter sports’ campaign" for the 2018 PyeongChang Games, according to Nicole Jeffery of THE AUSTRALIAN. In a pre-Christmas letter to the national federations this week, the Australian Sports Commission "offered very little joy, opening the way for further funding cuts on top of those announced last month." Most of the Olympic sports have taken cuts of between 1-5% in the current financial year and "they may now have to absorb further pain after the federal budget in May." The ASC confirmed on Thursday that the "major" Olympic sports had been guaranteed only 80% of their current funding for the next cycle ('17-20) "so far, but stressed that the final allocations had not yet been determined." Olympic Winter Institute CEO Geoff Lipshut is "particularly alarmed" at the prospect of a significant budget cut in July [A$600,000-A$700,000 ($432,300-$504,340)], because it would "come at a crucial time in the preparation of the winter athletes" for the Pyeongchang Games in Feb. '18. Lipshut: "That's our most important year. You spend as much money as you can in year four (of the Olympiad) because that has the most effect on the outcome." Lipshut assumed that the winter funding "would be safe" until the end of '17 and he was "dismayed to learn that it is no longer guaranteed." He said, "We thought we would be spared until a year later. ... It could be a disaster for us in terms of medal returns." However, Athletics Australia and Swimming Australia are "adopting a wait-and-see attitude in the hope their final allocations in May will be more generous." AA CEO Phil Jones said, "The ASC said to us in this financial year that there could be cuts of up to 20 percent and it ended up being much less. My sense is that they still haven't worked out what the total pool will be and they are still working through which sport is going to get what, so we're not cutting our wrists yet" (THE AUSTRALIAN, 12/23).
