Andrew Leigh (Fenner, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Most of our Olympians are coming home today and with them 53 medals—the best medal tally for Australia since the Sydney games. There have been some remarkable stories over in Paris: 43-year-old basketballer Lauren Jackson earning her fifth Olympic medal; cyclist Matthew Glaetzer, who lost four bronze medal races in the past four Olympics, beating thyroid cancer and finally getting an Olympic medal in Paris; and Jessica Hull becoming the first Australian woman to claim a medal in the 1,500 metres and propelling the athletics team to its best result since Melbourne in 1956. We saw Saya Sakakibara, the BMX gold medal winner, with an emotional tribute to her brother Kai. We saw Jess Fox taking home six individual medals in total over her various games, and we've now seen her sister Noemie win in the first-ever kayak cross event. The Fox family in itself would have ranked 29th on the medal table. Kayak cross was supported by the Albanese government's $20 million Paris preparation fund. Then we had 14-year-old skateboarding gold medallist, Arisa Trew, who said to her parents that she would now like a pet duck.

For Canberrans, the success of Australia at the Olympics is a special source of pride because of the work that the Australian Institute of Sport has done in preparing so many of our Olympians. In gymnastics, we've seen the AIS campus play an instrumental role in preparing our team for the games. Team leader Georgia Godwin trained onsite before injury cruelled her Olympic chances. Shane Rose, an equestrian, used the AIS facilities in order to help recover over a transformative four-week period with the help of AIS physios and trainers. In canoeing, the men's K4 spent time in their boat, training in the AIS pool in Canberra, with Paddle Australia and the AIS biomechanics and engineers teaming up to help them find the crucial milliseconds during the race start they needed. Swimmer Bronte Campbell relocated to Canberra in her successful tilt to become a four-time Olympian, and the majority of Australian basketball players have come through the AIS as part of Basketball Australia's centre for excellence. It demonstrate why the Albanese government was right to invest $250 million in the AIS in Bruce, ensuring those facilities are fit for purpose, expanding accommodation and investing in Australia's success in the upcoming Los Angeles and Brisbane games.