Jackie Narracott urges Milano Cortina stars to fundraise ahead of French Alps 2030, as Nat Cook reveals Brisbane 2032 hurdle

Narracott was involved in Milano Cortina as a commentator and ambassador for the Australian team’s underwear supplier Knobby, as the country produced its most successful Winter Games.

But she said the challenge to remain in the spotlight throughout an Olympic cycle meant fundraising missions for the 2030 Games must begin immediately.

“There is no rest. For the athletes in Milano Cortina, they’ll go home and maybe have a couple of weeks off to reset, but you need to maximise the momentum the Olympics brings,” she said, pointing to social media as a key tool to exploit.

“We get it once every four years. Now is the time to maximise on the media coverage and try to get those endorsement deals secured for the next four years.

“If brands can look past the results and see how much effort we’re putting in … there’s a lot of value in the story behind our athletes everyone can learn from.”

The federal government has committed $37.5 million to support high-performance programs for Winter Olympic and Paralympic sport organisations since Beijing 2022, and $489 million for high-performance sport across the first two years of the 2028 Los Angeles Summer Olympics cycle.

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A spokesman for Minister for Sport Anika Wells also confirmed that latter fund included $19.6 million paid to more than 950 athletes across 39 sporting organisations in 2024-25 through the direct athlete support program. Eligible athletes can receive between $4000 and $43,000 a year.

But according to Sydney 2000 beach volleyball gold medallist Nat Cook, about half of Olympic hopefuls still lived below the poverty line, and more than 60 per cent considered quitting.

Cook is often asked why athletes do not pursue another career, given the financial strain. She said after dedicating their lives to competing, opting out was not that easy.

“You become an athlete, you train, then all of a sudden you get a letter that says, ‘congratulations, you’ve made the Australian volleyball team, and it’s going to cost you – at that point in 1995 – $4500’,” Cook said.

“You’ve got parents who go, ‘we’ve encouraged this child, they’ve made it, they have to keep going’. You’re encouraged by your schools and communities and clubs, and then when you turn around and say you can’t afford it they go running.

“You pay to play. When you represent the country, you should have a living wage.”

Cook competed through five Olympic cycles – travel and accommodation costing $50,000 each year – and retired $300,000 in debt. She said the $20,000 she received for winning gold was an incentive to continue competing, rather than payment for the success.

These struggles led Cook to host the Great Aussie Athlete BBQ, which launches at Sirromet Winery on March 14, as part of a “mission to build a sustainable athlete economy”.

The event will bring current and prospective Olympians face-to-face with community and corporations to share their story and raise money for the Aussie Athlete Fund.