Were/are you an active sportsman?
Unfortunately, no to both questions. I enjoy recreational swimming and walking - nothing more strenuous. I live at a beach suburb in Sydney - Coogee – which is great for swimming and surfing. I have a very expensive and a very much under-utilised exercise cycle sitting on my front patio!

Your whole career is centred on sport, do you intend for this to continue?
For most of my working life I have been a school teacher (1967-1991). I only changed to sport on a full-time basis in 1991 when I went to work at the Australian Sports Commission as Manager of Policy and International Relations.
Then I joined SOCOG in 1995 where I still remain. Late in 2000 I will be out of a job and I will be looking for something else - preferably in athletics.

What do you personally gain from athletics?
The thing I have gained most from athletics is an appreciation of the commitment that people must make to be at the top. As a team manager I have worked and lived closely with elite athletes and I have seen what they have to do – and what they have to forego - in order to be able to compete in athletics at the top level. The other thing I have gained is the opportunity to travel and meet a wide range of interesting people many of whom have become personal friends.

How does your attitude to athletics influence your career?
At the moment athletics is my career (and my hobby). What is necessary for me, from a career point of view, is to find a job which still enables me to pursue my athletics interests which entails attendance at IAAF Council meetings, and a wide variety of meetings within the Oceania Area and, of course, attendance at competitions ranging from short Grand Prix Meets, through to the longer Area Championships and World Championships. At the same time, my goal is to have a job that centres on athletics - at the moment I am lucky as the job for which I am paid is as the Competition Manager for the athletics at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. This will come to an end, in November 2000 of course and then I will be looking for something new.

What are your hobbies and interests?
Outside of athletics my major interest is travelling - particularly in the Asia-Pacific region. Although I do not have a lot of time to engage in this pursuit at the moment, I am hoping to be able to do more travelling after the Olympic and Paralympic Games. As I also enjoy eating the foods of the places I have traveled to, I have formed a small club in Sydney called the Intrepid Travelers of which I am the chairman. We meet on the first Wednesday of every month at a different restaurant where we eat, drink and talk travel.

Your native Australia seems to be going from strength to strength in many different sports. Why is this?
The Olympic Games in Montreal in 1976 was a turning point for sport in Australia. At those Games Australia - having been one of the leading sporting nations in the Post World War II period - won one solitary medal. To address the decline in Australia's sporting prowess, the Australian Government became progressively more involved in providing funding and facilities for the development of sport. This was evidenced in the establishment of the Australian Institute of Sport in 1981 and the Australian Sports Commission in 1986. I believe that the 'shame' of the Montreal Games, the increased opportunity provided to train our athletes - particularly with Government support - and the viability of pursuing a career in sport has resulted in the increase in Australia's sporting fortunes.

How important is athletics within the Australian sports' scene? What are the prospects for the future?
Sport in general in Australia is an important part of our way of life; it is part of our culture. The sports that enjoy the greatest popularity are team sports such as football, cricket, netball and the like. Unlike Scandinavia and other parts of Europe, athletics is not really seen as a major sport from a participant point of view. There is no doubt, however, that athletics is seen as an important sport - perhaps the most important and prestigious of all sports. Catherine Freeman, our two time World Champion over 400m, is a national hero and the nation follows her triumphs with great interest. I am certain that the Australian athletes who will compete at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games will get enormous support from the Australian crowds and will perform outstandingly.

And what about Oceania as a whole? How would you summarise the current situation and the future?
What needs to be understood about the Oceania is just how big an area it is and, in the main, how few resources there are. There are 19 countries in the Oceania region including the 'big' two - Australia and New Zealand. The other countries are all relatively small island countries and in the main they are not strong economically. Many of these countries rely on overseas aid and most have only rudimentary sporting facilities. This does not, however, prevent these countries from organising and participating in a wide range of athletics activities, even if they do not have sophisticated facilities. Several Oceania countries, for instance, do not have an all weather track! Over the past five years the OAAA has, with the generous support of the IAAF, introduced annual Area Championships in athletics and an Oceania Grand Prix Series to ensure that the athletes from the region get appropriate exposure to international competition. As a consequence of these programs, and the specific high performance training programs we have been conducting over the past four or five years the standard of athletics in the Area has improved dramatically. For instance, an athlete from American Samoa, Lisa Misipeka, won the bronze medal in Sevilla last year - the first athlete from one of our island federations to do so at a World Championships.

From your perspective how is Australia benefiting from hosting the Olympic Games?
The most obvious advantage is the increase in sporting facilities that have been constructed for the Games. This is most evident in Sydney, of course, but it is also happening in other parts of Australia as well. In southern Queensland, for example, the number of all-weather tracks has increased from one to five, as attempts are made to attract international athletes for training prior to the Games. A less obvious benefit is the development of a skilled sports workforce who will gain great experience prior to and during the Games and who, hopefully, will continue to make a contribution to sport in Australia long after the Olympic and Paralympic Games have concluded.

How difficult is it for athletes from the Southern Hemisphere to compete at world level since most major events are held during your winter?
When I travel from Sydney to Monaco for an IAAF Council meeting it takes me over 30 hours. It takes our athletes the same time when they travel from Australia to any of the European meets. This is a major difficulty, it is as we say the tyranny of distance. The other difficulty is, of course, is that our seasons are the opposite of those in the Northern Hemisphere. When the World Championships are held in August, we are in the middle of winter. So we have to be adaptive and inventive in the way we prepare for major competitions.