[4] Although it is commonly believed that the Australian Government's initial involvement in sports was prompted by the country's poor performance at the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games in which Australia failed to win a gold medal, the Government actually began initial investigations into its potential role in sports in 1973.

Bloomfield suggested to the Government that it should establish a national institute of sport similar to those operating in European countries.

This uneasiness was caused over the Federation ignoring the Government's request to boycott the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games because of Russia's invasion of Afghanistan.

Ellicott's vision was well received and on Australia Day, 26 January 1981, the AIS was officially opened by Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser.

In addition, the ASC helps those who are talented and motivated to reach their potential excellence in sports performance.

Chairman of the ASC Board Chief executive officers The organisational structure of the Australian Sports Commission has changed many times since its establishment as can be seen through its annual reports.

[31] In November 2012, the ASC released "Australia's Winning Edge 2012–2022", a high performance sport plan, which highlighted a new role for the AIS particularly in terms of developing coaches and talent identification but not directly managing national sports organisations elite athlete programs as it had done since 1981.