Gregory Neil Hartung AO (born 3 June 1948) is a leading Australian and international sport administrator. He has an extensive and distinguished career in sport particularly in terms of administration and journalism. He was President of the Australian Paralympic Committee from 1997 to 2013 [1] and served as vice-president of the International Paralympic Committee 2009–13. [2] [3]
Hartung was born in Maryborough, Queensland in 1948. [2] His father was a hairdresser and mother was a nurse. [4]
His father died in 1950 from a war related illness and mother died when he was 14. [4] In 1959, Hartung's mother and two siblings had located to Wellers Hill in Brisbane. Hartung attended Mary Immaculate Primary School, Annerley, St James College, Brisbane and St Laurence's College. [4] Hartung was dux of his class in his final year at St Laurence's College and captain of the First XV rugby union team, which were joint premiers. [4] Legacy Australia supported him to complete his schooling. [4]
In 1970, Hartung completed a Bachelor of Arts degree and Diploma of Journalism at the University of Queensland. [2] He has a Master of Arts from the University of Sydney and his thesis examined the impact of lobbying on Australian Government's decision-making process. [4]
His wife Maureen Hartung OAM is executive director of the Blue Gum Community School in Canberra. [5] His son Michael was the general manager of Sport at the Australian Paralympic Committee and was appointed Chef de Mission for the Australian Paralympic Team at the 2010 Winter Paralympics in Vancouver, Canada. [6] His daughter Catherine, recently completed a PhD in children's rights at the University of Wollongong. [7]
In 2021, he donated his personal collection of papers to the National Library of Australia. His papers covered his life in journalism and sport administration. [8] In 2023, Hartung authored the book "The Great Arm Wrestle: Australian Sport Policy since 1939".
In 1972, Hartung was employed as a cadet at the Courier Mail. [4] In 1973, he joined the Australian in its newly opened Brisbane Office as a graded journalist. [4] He was employed as a sports journalist in Sydney and London. In 1975, he took up a position as a political correspondent for The Australian in Canberra. [4] [9]
In 1975, he worked as a political journalist in Canberra and during this time, Hartung wrote several newspaper articles highlighting the inadequate support from the Federal Government for sport and assisted John Brown, Shadow Minister for Sport, to develop the Australian Labor Party's sport policy for the 1983 Federal Election. [9] He wrote a chapter titled Sport and the Canberra Lobby for the book Sport : money, morality and the media. [10] In 2014, he was appointed adjunct professor of sport at the University of Canberra and will be involved in the new Master of High Performance Sport course. [11]
Hartung was appointed a member of the Interim Committee of the Australian Sports Commission (ASC) established by Minister for Sport, John Brown in early 1983. In 1984, he was appointed general manager of the Australian Sports Commission, a position which he held until 1988. [9] During his period as general manager, the ASC developed programs in sport participation including Aussie Sport and high performance support for athletes. [4] From 1991 to 1996, he was an Australian Sports Commission Commissioner. [12] In August 2006, he was appointed to the Board of the Australian Sports Commission [13] and in November 2008 was appointed chairman, [14] a position which he held until his resignation on 4 April 2010. He resigned due to increased International Paralympic Committee commitments. Minister for Sport, Kate Ellis paid tribute by stating "Mr Hartung is a leader in national and international sports administration and we're fortunate to have benefitted from his talents over many years. Mr Hartung's dedication to sport, and particular achievement in promoting elite sport for those with a disability, has contributed to a well-run and inclusive sporting environment in Australia". [15] Whilst on the Board, he was Chairman of the Australian Sports Foundation.
From 1989 to 1995, Hartung was President of the Confederation of Australian Sport, a peak sport body with the objective of providing a united voice in negotiations with government and stakeholders. As President, he argued that all minor sports deserved support due to the Australian Sports Commission's mandate of sport being for all Australians. [16] He was made a life member of the Confederation.
Hartung provided strategic advice to Australian Paralympic Federation in its bid to host the 2000 Paralympic Games in Sydney. Hartung was President of the Australian Paralympic Committee from 1997 to 2013 [1] Hartung served as the President of the South Pacific Paralympic Committee. [17] He also established the Oceania Paralympic Committee, and served as the Deputy President of the Sydney 2000 Paralympic Games Organizing Committee. [2] Peter Dutton, Minister for Sport made the following comments about Hartung after his resignation as APC President.
Greg has made a significant contribution to the national and international Paralympic movement and has helped to increase support and respect for athletes with a disability. He has overseen the Australian team's preparations for eight successful Paralympic Games. In fact, the Australian team has not finished outside the top five in the medal tally at the Summer Paralympic Games during Greg's tenure, with Australian athletes earning 85 medals at the London 2012 Summer Paralympic Games. Greg helped to introduce world-class national programs in classification and talent identification, and improved the pathways for athletes with higher levels of disability to transition from community sport to the national team. [18]
On 23 November 2009, Hartung was elected the vice-president of the International Paralympic Committee Governing Board at a meeting of the IPC General Assembly in Kuala Lumpur. [17] He was the first Australian to become a vice-president of the IPC. [17] He was a member of the International Olympic Committee Co-ordination Commission for the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games and a member of the International Olympic Committee Radio and Television Commission. [2] Hartung did not seek re-election in the 2013 IPC Governing Board election. [3]
In October 2020, Hartung was elected to the Swimming Australia Board. He resigned in April 2021. [19]
Hartung owned the company Access Communications. [20] This company specialised in publishing, political monitoring and databases. Hartung sold Access Communications to CCH in 2000. [20] He currently the Company Director and Principal of GNH Management. [2] He is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
Hartung has been recognised for his work, receiving several awards including:
Kurt Harry Fearnley, is an Australian wheelchair racer, who has won gold medals at the Paralympic Games and crawled the Kokoda Track without a wheelchair. He has a congenital disorder called sacral agenesis which prevented fetal development of certain parts of his lower spine and all of his sacrum. In Paralympic events he is classified in the T54 classification. He focuses on long and middle-distance wheelchair races, and has also won medals in sprint relays. He participated in the 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2016 Summer Paralympic Games, finishing his Paralympic Games career with thirteen medals. He won a gold and silver medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games and was the Australian flag bearer at the closing ceremony.
Evan George O'Hanlon, is an Australian Paralympic athlete, who competes mainly in category T38 sprint events. He has won five gold medals at two Paralympic Games – 2008 Beijing and 2012 London. He also represented Australia at the 2016 Rio Paralympics and 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, winning a silver medal and a bronze medal respectively. In winning the bronze medal in the Men's 100m T38 at the 2019 World Para Athletics Championships in Dubai, O'Hanlon became Australia's most successful male athlete with a disability. His bronze medal took him to 12 medals in five world championships – one more than four-time Paralympian Neil Fuller.
Paralympics Australia (PA) previously called the Australian Paralympic Committee (APC) (1998–2019) is the National Paralympic Committee in Australia for the Paralympic Games movement. It oversees the preparation and management of Australian teams that participate at the Summer Paralympics and the Winter Paralympics.
Matthew John Levy, is a retired Australian Paralympic swimmer. At five Paralympic Games from 2004 to 2020, he has won three gold, one silver and six bronze medals.
James Lawrence Paterson, is an Australian Paralympic skier who has cerebral palsy.
Paul Damian Cross, OAM is an Australian swimmer with an intellectual disability. He was born in Brisbane, Queensland. He competed at the 1996 Summer Paralympics in two events. At the 2000 Sydney Games, he competed in eight events and won a gold medal in the Men's 4 × 100 m Freestyle S14 swimming event, for which he received a Medal of the Order of Australia. In 2000, he received an Australian Sports Medal. In 1999, he was an Australian Institute of Sport Athlete with a Disability scholarship holder.
Gregory Stephen Smith, OAM is an Australian Paralympic athlete and wheelchair rugby player who won three gold medals in athletics at the 2000 Summer Paralympics, and a gold medal in wheelchair rugby at the 2012 Summer Paralympics, where he was the flag bearer at the opening ceremony.
Damien Alexander Burroughs, is an Australian Paralympic athlete. He won a gold medal at the 1996 Atlanta Games and participated in the 2000 Sydney and 2004 Athens Paralympics.
Hamish Anderson MacDonald, OAM is an Australian Paralympic athlete. He was born in Melbourne and lives in Canberra. He has cerebral palsy. His achievements and advocacy have made him one of Australia's most respected Paralympians.
Paul M W Benz, OAM is an Australian Paralympic athlete. He was born in Adelaide, South Australia. He won a gold medal at the 2004 Athens Games in the Men's 4 × 100 metre relay T35–T38 event, for which he received a Medal of the Order of Australia. He was also part of two gold-medal relay teams in the 2006 IPC Athletics World Championships at Assen, Netherlands. Paul has been an adviser to the Indonesian Tourism Board with a specific focus on the island of Bali.
Rick Pendleton, OAM is an Australian Paralympic swimmer from Sydney. He represented Australia at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Paralympics, his fourth Games.
Christopher John Nunn, OAM is an Australian athletics coach. He was the head coach of the Australian athletics team at the 2000 Sydney Paralympics.
Anton James Flavel, OAM is an Australian athlete with an intellectual disability. He was born in the Western Australian town of Narrogin. In his disability class he held a world record for the javelin and an Australian record in the shot put and high jump.
Ramon (Ray) Gary Epstein, is an Australian Paralympic weightlifter and powerlifting coach. He represented Australia in weightlifting at the 1988 Seoul and 1992 Barcelona Paralympics and was Head Coach of the Australian Paralympic powerlifting team between 2003 and 2013.
Mitchell Gourley is an Australian Paralympic alpine skier who competed for Australia in the downhill, super-G, giant slalom, slalom and super combined events at four Winter Paralympics - 2010 to 2022. He was Australian team co-captain with Joany Badenhorst at the 2018 Winter Paralympics. At the 2022 Winter Paralympics, he and Melissa Perrine carried the Australian flag in the opening ceremony. At the 2017 IPC Alpine Skiing World Championships in Tarvisio, Italy he won the gold medal in the men's Super Combined Standing.
Andy Bor is an Australian former ski coach and sighted guide for visually impaired skiers. He was a coach at the 2006 Winter Paralympics in Torino, and was Melissa Perrine's guide skier at the 2010 Winter Paralympics in Vancouver and 2014 Winter Paralympics in Sochi.
Robert McCullough OAM was a leading Australian sport administrator particularly in the area of disability sport. He was President of the Australian Paralympic Federation and the International Stoke Mandeville Wheelchair Sports Federation.
Marie Therese Little OAM was a leading Australian sport administrator particularly in the area of disability sport. She was President of the Australian Paralympic Federation and AUSRAPID.
Jennifer Patricia Banks OAM is an Australian athletics coach specialising with Paralympic wheelchair athletes.
Robyn Smith OAM is a leading Australian sport administrator particularly in the area for disability sport. In 2021, she was elected as an Independent Member on the Governing Board of the International Paralympic Committee.
