A new high performance unit for athletes is to be established within Sport and Recreation New Zealand, as part of changes announced by the Government for the country's leading sports people.
Sports Minister Murray McCully announced the changes at the Millennium Institute of Sport in Auckland.
The government will contribute $15 million towards a $40 million expansion of the Institute which will become the National Training Centre for High Performance Sport.
There'll also be increased funding of $10 million over the next financial year, $15 million next year and $20 million annually after that, increasing the annual funding of high performance sport to more than $60 million.
McCully says the full impact of the funding injection, which he says is an increase of over 50 percent, will be evident from the 2016 Olympics.
