With a focus on preparations for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, the Australian high performance sports network came together this week at the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) in Canberra to share and promote information, innovation and excellence in athlete recovery.

Setting up the right recovery support for Australian athletes could be the difference between a gold or silver medal when the London Games roll around — giving our sports stars that necessary advantage over their competitors.

Keynote speaker for the 2011 Recovery Symposium, Dr Stuart Cormack, says recovery practices have been increasingly utilised by elite athletes for a number of years and now form a critical part of any professional athlete’s training program.

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Speakers from the AIS and national experts discussed recovery strategies including sleep, travel, hydrotherapy, nutrition, physiology, psychology, compression and monitoring.

Dr. Shona Halson, Head of AIS Performance Recovery, says it is extremely important to share best-practice techniques across Australian sport, especially in the lead-up to London.

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