Aussie swimming legend Leisel Jones has backed calls for the Australian Institute of Sport to be relocated to Brisbane, away from the "uninspiring" and "awful" Canberra.
News Corp on Monday reported AIS chair John Wylie and director Andrew Fraser wanted a new facility in Queensland to be up and running ahead of the Brisbane 2032 Olympics.
The current AIS facility in Canberra opened in 1981. The AIS was established after Australia failed to win a single gold medal at Montreal 1976.
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Speaking on Triple M Brisbane's The Rush Hour with Leisel Jones, Liam & Dobbo, the three-time Olympic gold medalist said the potential move made sense.
"Canberra in the middle of winter is the most awful place to be, especially when you're a swimmer," she said.
"If you're doing summer sports, it's a terrible place to train and prepare for anything because it's the coldest place you'll ever go.
"It's not terribly inspiring, and every time you go there they put you in the worst accommodation."
Jones said athletes are put up in the AIS residences, which were once athletes' homes. She said the residence was once great, but is now "a bit of a hell hole".
"Typically on Australian swim teams, most of the people on the team are from Queensland to start with anyway," she argued.
She said the Queensland Academy of Sport, in Brisbane's south, was already an "extraordinary" facility, which could be expanded to become "a hub for all of Australia".
The QAS is based out of the Queensland Sport and Athletics Centre, which boasts two running tracks with full field equipment, and a significant beach volleyball facility.
Netball Queensland and the Super Netball Team the Firebirds are also based on the site.
Notably, it does not have a pool. The Brisbane Aquatic Centre is based at the Sleeman Sports Complex in Chandler.
Queensland premier Steven Miles added his support and echoed Jones' comments.
"I think everything should move from Canberra to Brisbane – Canberra's an awful place," he said on Monday.
"Who would want to go to Canberra?
"Why would we send our best athletes to Canberra when they could be here in Queensland experiencing the superior weather here, the great lifestyle and, of course, the fantastic economy which means that they can have jobs for those who are still working.
"Whenever I talk to athletes, they would prefer to be training here in Queensland than in Canberra, and I don't blame them – I hate going to Canberra too."
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