The announcement was made by Australian Sports Minister Kate Lundy, who backed him to help revive the country's performances.

"John has extensive experience in Australia's corporate and sport sectors and I know he will ably steer the board and oversee the continued growth of sport in Australia," said Lundy.

Wylie is an eminent Australian businessman and has over 25 years experience providing financial and strategic advice to companies and Governments.

The Oxford University graduate has been chairman of the MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground) Trust since 1999 and he is currently chief executive of prominent financial advisory firm, Lazard Australia and President of the Library Board of Victoria.

He has been appointed for an initital term of three years to oversee the ASC, the Government body responsible for distributing funds and providing strategic guidance for sporting activity in Australia.

The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) in Canberra is the best-known division of the ASC.

The AIS offers more than 700 scholarships to talented junior and senior athletes across 35 programmes in 26 different sports and has been the cornerstone of Australia's success for the last 30 years.

The Australian Institute of Sport, which most people for the country's outstanding success over the last 30 years, is the best known division of the Australian Sports Commission

Wylie welcomed his appointment and said he was looking forward to taking on his new role and laid out where he believes Australia can make improvements to re-establish themselves among the top nations at the Olympics.

As an example of how they have slipped their rivals is that at Atlanta in 1996 Australia finished seventh overall in the medals table while Britain were 36th.

But at London the positions were reversed with Britain finishining third and Australia only tenth.

"I am excited about taking on this new role and tackling the challenges ahead," said Wylie, who attended the Olympics in London for two days.

"I think it's critical there is a focus on innovation in sport, increased participation and better pathways linking grassroots and high performance so Australia can continue to excel on the global sporting stage."

Wylie replaces David Gallop, who has just started a new role as chief executive of Football Federation Australia.

Gallop had been acting on an interim basis after replacing Warwick Smith and will continue to serve on the ASC Board as Wylie's vice-chairman.

Glenys Beauchamp, Alisa Camplin, Sally Carbon, Liz Ellis, John Lee, Margaret Osmond, Andrew Plympton, Ken Ryan, Michael Turtur and Kyle Vander-Kuyp make up the rest of the ASC board. 

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


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