In April 2015 the AIS released the 2015 Sports Tally publication — the ASC’s annual report card for Australian sport.

Sports Tally is a central plank of the Australia’s Winning Edge initiatives introduced to improve the evidence base for decision making in high performance sport. It provides an appraisal of the performance of each Australia’s Winning Edge sport and an appraisal of the sector as a whole.

The 2015 Sports Tally provides a rating for each sport compared to their performance last year; highlights the 2014 world champions and notable performances; outlines the benchmark event targets at Olympic, Paralympic, World Championships and Commonwealth Games; and provides an assessment on how sports are tracking in governance.

Progress is being made on many levels across Australian high performance sport and the AIS is encouraged by the effort and commitment of sports to improve their high performance programmes and deliver strong governance for their constituents.

The ASC has continued to build its international partnerships for the pursuit of excellence. It worked closely with the Japan Sports Council during 2014–15 to develop and promote an exchange of programmes, experiences, skills and techniques, information and knowledge for mutual benefit. Knowledge was shared in relation to training and competition for individual athletes and teams, sports science, coach education, facility development and sports management.

In September 2014 the AIS and Japan Sport Council conducted a joint training camp that involved senior athletes from the Japan Judo Federation and senior Australian athletes. The camp facilitated training opportunities and shared learning experiences in coaching, training and a range of sport science and sports medicine initiatives.

The Campaign Rio initiative is a collaborative partnership between the AIS, Australian Olympic Committee and Australian Paralympic Committee. The initiative was established to provide a platform for sharing knowledge and experience across Olympic and Paralympic sports to assist with the planning and preparation of Australian athletes and teams in the lead up to Rio 2016.

In March 2015 the AIS hosted the latest Campaign Rio forum with more than 100 attendees from across Olympic and Paralympic sports. The forum focussed on ‘readiness’ and ‘resilience’ and included presentations, thematic workshops and case studies.

The forum also enabled the sharing of practical information such as logistics associated with the Rio Games venues and ticketing, support services for athletes and teams, safety and security, medical updates and future planned site visits of the Olympic precinct and competition venues.

In October 2014 the myAISplaybook resource that forms a key part of Australia’s Winning Edge strategy was launched. The first of its kind, myAISplaybook is an online platform that provides athletes with an exclusive virtual community and secure online environment designed specifically for them to communicate with, and learn from each other, and a space where they can learn through adaptive e-learning experiences. Some of the other features include access to all dAIS[6] and Australian Sports Anti-Doping Agency (ASADA)-related content, and access to view paid and volunteer opportunities.

There are now 1,800 Australia’s Winning Edge categorised athletes registered and using this online resource. This continues to grow with subject matter experts and NSOs providing new content.