The Australian sports industry, at current estimates, accounts for more than 1% of Australia’s GDP each year, ranking it 25th among 113 substantial contributors. This contribution approximates $8 billon and includes household spending on sports goods and services, sports related exports and costs involved with sport volunteers.  It is expected that a further $2.5 billion will be spent by companies prior to the year 2000 on Olympic Sponsorship and leveraging and other generic sports sponsorship within Australia. The Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) has an important role to play within the Australian sports industry. It is the organisation responsible for providing Australia’s elite athletes with the best possible opportunity to reach their highest potential and to represent Australia with distinction at the world’s greatest sports festival, the Olympic Games. The AOC is recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as the National Olympic Committee in Australia and is responsible for the development of Australia’s athletes, encouraging both high performance sport and sport for all, along with the Olympic philosophy of fair play. The AOC is a non-profit organisation and is not government funded, other than donations made by State Governments to the Team Appeal. Additional funds are raised through the commitment of Australia’s leading corporates who support the values and ethos of Australia’s Olympians. The AOC’s marketing program has set new benchmarks in Australian sport and the success of this program is essential to the independence of the Olympic Movement in Australia.
	The Australian Olympic Team has an outstanding record of participation and success at both Summer and Winter Olympic Games. It is one of only two nations to have competed at every Summer Olympic Games since 1896. Additionally, Australian Olympians have competed in 14 Winter Olympic Games since Australia’s first participation in 1936. Australia has won a total of 293 medals at the Summer Olympic Games, including 88 Gold, 85 Silver and 120 Bronze medals. Australia’s first Winter Olympic medal was won at the 1994 Lillehammer Winter Olympic Games, followed by Australia’s first-ever Olympic skiing medal won at the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympic Games. Since 1896, more than 3,100 athletes have participated at the Olympic Games, representing Australia. Throughout Australia’s participation, the AOC has been a market leader by introducing grants to assist Australian athletes and National Sports Federations in their quest for success. Programs funded by the AOC include the Medal Incentive Scheme, the Medal Reward Scheme, the Special Incentives Fund, the Olympic Job Opportunities Program, Grants for International Competition and the recently launched anti-doping program.
	The revival of the modern Olympic Games can be attributed to the Frenchman, Baron Pierre de Coubertin. He believed that international competition between amateur athletes would help promote friendly relationships between people from different countries. The Athens Olympic Games in 1896, the first of the Modern Olympic Movement, was a great success both for the International Olympic Movement and Australia. Australia’s lone representative was runner Edwin Flack who won both the 800m and 1500m. He also competed in the men’s marathon and single and doubles tennis events. Flack began what has become a great Australian tradition of participation and success. There have been only four Olympic Games where Australia has failed to win a gold medal and only one Olympic Games, in 1904, where Australia failed to win any medals. Additionally, Australia’s Olympic participation has grown to become one of the highest participation rates per capita of all the represented countries. In recognition of Australia’s strong commitment to the Olympic Movement, the “people of Australia” were awarded the 1988 Olympic Cup. In presenting the cup, IOC President, Juan Antonio Samaranch, noted that “Australia was the most sports loving nation in the world” and lauded its national history of strong Olympic medal performances. Names such as Murray Rose, Dawn Fraser, Kieren Perkins, Andrew “Boy” Charlton, Betty Cuthbert, Marjorie Jackson, Herb Elliott and Shirley Strickland have all become household names and their Olympic feats are etched into the memories of all Australians from Bourke to Bondi to Broome. There is no doubt that the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games will create more success stories, adding to the ever increasing line of Australian Olympians who have committed everything to realise their dreams.
	The Australian Olympic Team is an intangible product. It is constantly changing, being refreshed by new members who bring new attributes and stories to the Team as it evolves over time. The Australian Olympic Team is made up of the athletes who will compete in Sydney in 2000, along with those Olympians whose participation stretches back to 1896 and forward to the Olympic Games of the new Millennium.  The Australian Olympic Team competes under the AOC Emblem - a combination of the Australian Crest and the Olympic Rings - two of the most powerful symbols this nation has to offer. Commercially, the AOC and the Australian Olympic Team are represented by the Australian Flag and the Olympic Rings. There is no finer representation of what it means to have achieved the very best of Australianness, of Sportsmanship and of personal endeavour.
	The AOC is continually looking at ways of clearly identifying the sometimes nebulous qualities of the Australian Olympic Team for the public and its corporate Partners. This was why, in 1998, the AOC developed the brand which is the Australian Olympic Team - The Stars of the Southern Cross. The Stars of the Southern Cross has been developed as an important theme concept which defines the elusive essence of the Australian Olympic Team. It helps to define the qualities, faces and names of past and present athletes into one concept that identifies the Australian Olympic Team as a whole, linked across the boundaries of time and distance. The Stars of the Southern Cross will feature across an array of activities involving the 2000 Australian Olympic Team including the Team uniform, the athletes’ village  wear, media campaigns, sponsor programs and licensing programs.
	The Australian Olympic Team is promoted by its Sponsors, who utilise a variety of campaigns to leverage their association with the Olympic Team. The types of campaigns used by the Partners have varied from emotive television commercials to Cause Related Marketing campaigns. These  campaigns contribute to the Olympic Team fund. Staff Retention, Motivation and Reward programs conducted by the sponsors link staff qualities with those of the Australian Olympic Team. Whilst the AOC has never embarked upon its own advertising, promotion and publicity campaign in relation to the Australian Olympic Team, the newly introduced Stars of the Southern Cross concept provides the perfect catalyst for this to occur prior to the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.
	Baron Pierre de Coubertin stated that “Olympism is not a system, it is a state of mind. It can permeate a wide variety of modes of expression and no single race or era can claim to have the monopoly of it.” The values within this statement, along with those unique to Australian athletes and this nation, permeate the Australian Olympic Team. Australian Olympians have added to the global Olympic brand in a special way, giving it a special personality and essence unique to this nation. The personalities of Australian Olympians have been described in terms such as; generous, spirited, tough, exuberant, irreverent, down-to-earth, humorous, clever, creative, fresh and multicultural. The end result is a brand essence that embodies our nation’s hopes, dreams and desires. Through these values, the equity of the brand in Australia remains strong and the support for the Australian Olympic Team at a constant high.