Olympics: Australia bickers about athlete funding as Tokyo looms

FILE PHOTO: A child poses for photographs with the Olympic rings in front of the Japan Olympic Museum in Tokyo , Japan, February 17, 2020. REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha

MELBOURNE (Reuters) - If bickering over funding was an Olympic sport, Australia would be in line for a gold that might help slow the nation's seemingly inexorable slide down the medals table.

Just five months before the Tokyo Games begin, a war of words has broken out between the Australian Sports Council (ASC), the government agency in charge of disbursing funding, and the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC), which pays for athletes to compete at the Games.