TEN: Kelly to investigate AIS claims = 2

AAP General News (Australia)
12-26-1998
TEN: Kelly to investigate AIS claims = 2

AIS director John Boultbee said the institute would investigate its own records for
documented complaints to ascertain whether there was any truth to the allegations.

"We just don't know (if the allegations are true)," Mr Boultbee said.

"Most of them (allegations) relate to the early '80s and none of the tennis coaching staff
nor I have been around that long."

He was convinced any problems which might have existed in the program in the 1980s had
since been ironed out.

"The 1980s were a time when the awareness of eating disorders and how to deal with them was
much less than now," Mr Boultbee said.

"Our coaches these days know not to concentrate on the issue of weight but to see it as an
issue of fitness."

Mr Boultbee said he was aware of only one case of an eating disorder in the tennis program
and that was detected by institute staff in the 1990s.

"You can't carry excess weight and be successful and it might be that some athletes are
still resorting to unhealthy means to lose weight," he said.

He denied the program had been a failure despite none of the 60 women who had gained
scholarships being placed in the world top 20.

"We've never set a target of getting into the top 20," he said.

"But we've succeeded over the years in improving the rankings of those who have been
through the program."

He said the program had recently been reviewed to translate its success in junior ranks to
intermediate levels in transition to senior tennis.

AAP rmg/rap/de

KEYWORD: TENNIS STARVE N/L 2 CANBERRA

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