The Australian Government today announced it has matched the Western Australian State
Government dollar-for-dollar in its support of the Perth 2011 ISAF Sailing World Championships. The Federal Minister for Sport, Kate Ellis, joined WA Tourism Minister Dr Elizabeth
Constable today at the Royal Perth Yacht Club – Annexe in Fremantle, to officially announce their support.
The Federal funding will contribute to the operational costs of the Perth 2011 ISAF Sailing World Championships, set to benefit the sport of sailing with lasting legacies. This will include equipment such as Olympic class boats, race management equipment and Rigid Hull Inflatable Boats (RHIBs).
Perth 2011 Event Director John Longley said another legacy the event would leave is a talented pool of trained sailing officials and volunteers and an increased number of new participants into the sport across the country, while simultaneously raising the profile of sailing. Mr Longley was energised as he spoke of the Australian Government's tremendous assistance to Perth 2011.
“The Federal Government's support, combined with the core funding from Tourism Western Australia's event division, Eventscorp, has boosted the State's successful bid for Perth to host Australia's biggest ever Olympic sailing Event,” Mr Longley said. “The World Championships are going to be held here, in exactly two years time! World Champions will be decided, as well as seventy five per cent of the places for the 2012 London Olympic Games.”
Mr Longley said that Perth 2011 would be three times bigger than the 1987 America's Cup Defence, also held off Fremantle, based on the number of athletes and accredited personnel expected to attend. “We are confident that Perth 2011 will once again showcase to the world, just what a magnificent world-class sailing venue Fremantle is,” he added.
The Championships will showcase Western Australia and its marine and sailing conditions around the world and are expected to generate an economic boost of $41 million for the State.
As a first of its kind initiative in the sailing world, the Perth 2011 Emerging Nations Programme (ENP), which was developed as part of the initial bid for the Championships, is providing enormous value to international talent identification and development. Eleven elite athletes, including Nicolas Lozano, of Colombia, Qasim Abbas Rahtore, of Pakistan and Anna Aile, of Latvia, have just completed a three-week intensive training session in Perth, under the guidance from 2000 Sydney Olympic Games Gold Medallist Belinda Stowell and 2008 Beijing Olympic Games Coach Arthur Brett. Lozano, Rahtore and Aile were in attendance today and spoke with the Federal and State Ministers about their experiences.
The Perth 2011 ISAF Sailing World Championships, will be held between 3-18 December,
2011.
