A training ground for Australia's elite athletes

Sydney Olympic Park may have moved on since the Sydney 2000 Olympic and Paralympic Games, however, providing world-class venues to support Australia’s elite athletes is still a priority of this dynamic suburb. 

Sydney Olympic Park Authority manages six sporting venues in the Park, ensuring that these venues provide a balance between serving the community’s recreational and fitness needs and providing opportunity and access to elite athletes.

Sporting venues are equipped with the latest technology and equipment to create optimum training environments to support athletes to achieve their individual goals.

Divers wishing to perfect their skills make use of the diving harness at the Aquatic Centre. The harness allows athletes to work on psychological attributes such as aerial awareness as well as physical attributes such as strength and technique without having to worry about risk of an injury.

One for the athlete and their trainer is the sports science biomechanics video review. Cameras, televisions and computers are set-up to offer instantaneous footage for analysis, helping to correct the technique and performance of athletes.

No longer do athletes have to make an expensive trip to Colorado or the Alps as Sydney Olympic Park’s sports venues boast a state-of-the-art altitude tent that provides high altitude environments to train in, maximising athlete’s performance.

Other technologies supporting elite athletes at sports venues include a photo finish system providing results accurate to one thousandth of a second and a multi-function sleeve system on the field to allow soccer goals to be placed in a number of positions catering to coaches’ requirements.

The achievements of elite athletes training at these facilities, including James Magnussen, Matthew Mitcham, Prashanth Sellathurai and Jessica Ashwood, are a testament to the quality of these venues.