If Canberra's good enough for Jamie Oliver, then it's good enough for Australia's elite athletes.
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That's the view of new Athletics Australia head coach Craig Hilliard as he aims to restore confidence in the country's athletics program just 16 months out from next year's Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
Hilliard was appointed on Monday to the top job, which had been vacant since the resignation of Eric Hollingsworth in September last year after a public spat with Olympic champion Sally Pearson.
Paralympic Games gold medallist and world record holder Evan O'Hanlon gave a rousing endorsement for Hilliard and hopes it leads to "rejuvenating" the Australian Institute of Sport.
With centralised scholarships no longer being offered at the AIS under the Winning Edge initiative, the country's best athletes are free to continue training in their own states.
But Hilliard believes the facilities at the AIS offer athletes the best chance of success on the international stage. "[The AIS] is a one-stop shop and one of the best venues in the country to train at," Hilliard said.
"Who's to say down the line we won't employ other coaches there and build squads in that way as we did way back? If you're a NASS [National Athlete Support Structure] athlete, why wouldn't you [move to Canberra] if it was going to help you perform better.
"When Jamie Oliver rocks into town and sets up a restaurant there, and Apple comes into town and Zara's there ... things are changing [in Canberra] a little bit."
Hilliard has lived in Canberra since 1982, having relocated from Melbourne to take up his first coaching role at the AIS.
He has become one of Australia's most respected athletics coaches, winning AA's coach of the year award three times (1994, 2002 and 2007), the AIS coach of the year in 2007 and was inducted as an AA life member in 2013.
O'Hanlon said Hilliard's vast experience with the AIS made him the ideal candidate for the position.
"Having someone we know personally and who we have a relationship with in Canberra and being based in Canberra as the head coach will hopefully keep the AIS alive in athletics," O'Hanlon said.
"With the new structuring of the AIS and Athletics Australia, it's good for us to have someone like Craig, who has been based in Canberra for over 30 years. He knows the value of the AIS and what that can give to an athlete."
