MOC reiterates stance on technical preparation budget

The Maltese Olympic Committee writes:

Reference is made to the statement issued by the Kunsill Malti għall-Isport on Tuesday.

During the MOC press conference earlier in the day, it was stated that one should appreciate the efforts of local athletes even more, as whereas the government had provided the MOC with €350,000 (€301,949 in cash, as well as 100 memberships at the Swimming Pool Complex Gym and salaries of teachers seconded with the MOC) in 2008, those of Iceland, Liechtenstein, San Marino and Cyprus provided €1.1m, €1.3m, €1.6m and €22m respectively.

The amounts refer to technical preparation and not facilities although KMS chose to inflate that figure.

If one wants to include the amounts spent on facilities, then we can also mention that last year Cyprus spent €33m and San Marino €4.5m on facilities compared to the KMS's €1.2m.

The KMS also mentions €386,000 "to local Olympic sports organisations".

The MOC cannot comment on this as although it was repeatedly promised the list of beneficiaries and amounts and for what projects, such list never arrived, either confidentially or made public.

Finally, the KMS chose to criticise the MOC president for not mentioning the 20/20 scheme.

The MOC president was praising local athletes for their efforts considering limited budgets and not discussing schemes.

The MOC is in favour of the 20/20 scheme but points out that only seven athletes benefited from this initiative and only for a couple of months.

It takes years of hard training to produce athletes.