What does Olympic performance mean to you?
Columnist By Luke Doherty, 21 Feb 2012 Luke Doherty is a Roar Expert
- Tagged:
- London Olympics, Olympic Games, Olympics
A Sept. 16, 2000 photo of Australian swimming champion Ian Thorpe as he celebrates winning gold in the 400m freestyle on the first day of competition at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. (AAP Photos/Julian Smith, File).
Related coverage
I’ve loved the Olympics ever since I was a kid. My first memory of the international sporting spectacle was of the archer lighting the cauldron in Barcelona in 1992.
It always seemed odd that for a couple of weeks every four years the world cared about sports and athletes that barely raised an eyebrow at any other time.
Take road walking, for example.
In 1999 you wouldn’t have known, much less cared, who our representatives were in these sports, but when the Sydney Olympics rolled around, everyone in green and gold became a star for a day.
Some Olympic athletes etch their names into the national consciousness with medal winning performances, but the majority toil away in anonymity for most of their careers. The spotlight doesn’t come too often despite an immense amount of sacrifice and hard work.
At the weekend the Australian Olympic Committee gave its latest medal forecast for the London games and it didn’t make for pretty reading.
Australia wants a top five finish on the medal tally, but that appears to be a fading dream.
The Aussies are expected to field their smallest squad in 20 years if the men’s football and volleyball teams don’t qualify.
That would mean less than 400 athletes for the first time since the Barcelona games.
The target for London is 35 medals and the mark is based on performances at international competitions.
It would be the lowest total since Australia finished 10th on the tally in Barcelona with 27 medals.
Sydney provided a bench mark not only for every other Olympic city, but also every other Australian team.
The Aussies won a whopping 58 medals on home soil on the back of record funding levels for our athletes.
That has since dropped away, but every host city spends up big to impress the world before cutting back.
The questions is this: Do you care how we perform in London?
I don’t mean stand up on your couch and scream for two minutes before getting on with your day.
I’m talking about the kind of passion that cares whether or not Australia is one of the best sporting nations in the world at one of the biggest sporting events in the world.
It irks me to see an Australian athlete finish second in anything. I don’t care if it’s marbles. I want our men and women on that podium.
London is fast approaching and if, as expected, we fall outside the top five on the medal tally will it dent your national pride?
We’re subject to so much sport now that almost every spot in the calendar is filled.
It’s easy for us to move on to another code and hope for the best with our chosen team there. The Olympics has always been special to me, though, and i’d hate to think it’s becoming less important in the grander scheme of things.
Consistent performance will only come about through consistent funding. The AOC is set to ask the federal government to review funding for elite sport after the London Olympics.
I hope they get everything they need.
Recommend this story.
You can follow Luke Doherty on Twitter @Luke_Doherty and on Sky News Australia.
The Turkey 10
The Turkey 10 teams have now been selected, as Wild Turkey Bourbon's sport sponsorship kicks into the next exciting phase.
Choose which side you're going to support and get in the running to win $2,500!
Simply visit Wild Turkey Australia on Facebook for your chance to win.
Find out more.
The Crowd Says (10) | Page 1 of Comments
Have Your Say
- Explore:
- London Olympics, Olympic Games, Olympics
February 21st 2012 @ 4:14am
mobo said | February 21st 2012 @ 4:14am | Report comment
Beating the UK and competing strongly against the big three, USA, China and Russia was nice in Sydney but it’s not going to happen again. Like you said there is a lot less focus since it’s not an Olympic on our shores so less money and also add to the fact we don’t qualify for every single event automatically because we are the host it’s to be expected. I don’t really care about the number of medals because I know we will do well for a tiny nation regardless.
February 21st 2012 @ 4:30am
mobo said | February 21st 2012 @ 4:30am | Report comment
Well scratch that a bit. We did compete just as highly in Athens at fourth place like we did in Sydney but that was coming off of a home Olympics, in 1996 we were seventh, up from tenth in 1992. In Beijing we fell off, and naturally it seems like we will be falling off further this time around. Nothing wrong with that really.
February 21st 2012 @ 5:26am
AndyMack said | February 21st 2012 @ 5:26am | Report comment
I love your romanticism Luke. I’m a tad older and my first memories are from LA and Glynis Nunn and Dean Lukin. I dont care about hepthathlon and weight-lifting normally, but the joy at watching those guys win gold will stay with me forever.
Plenty of dooms-dayers will jump on and say its not worth the money, however I love following the “lesser” sports and cheering them onto glory.
For me, its not about the total medal count, but really enjoying the times we manage to take it to the big boys and show them what we are made of.
February 21st 2012 @ 7:55am
Football United said | February 21st 2012 @ 7:55am | Report comment
I’ve got to the point where I feel little excitement for the Olympics.. I’d only be interested in the main sports I follow normally like football, basketball, tennis. i might have a glance at the track events and swimming as they are meaningful outside of the Olympics but the rest will stay in obscurity like they have been for the last four years.
February 21st 2012 @ 10:52am
langou said | February 21st 2012 @ 10:52am | Report comment
I am the complete opposite. As a sports lover I think there are all sorts of great sports that we don’t normally have access to. Whether they are big elsewhere around the world (handball, tennis), kind of big here but not really covered much on tv (athletics,hockey) or steeped in tradition (equestrian, fencing), its great every four years to take a break from the normal sports you follow and follow something different. Give it a little time and you start to learn the rules, the players and really get engaged in the battle. Knowing that the athletes have had to balance training and work commitments and have trained their heart out for this one moment in the spotlight (a chance they never usually get) is wonderful.
February 21st 2012 @ 1:34pm
Sam Brown said | February 21st 2012 @ 1:34pm | Report comment
I love sports and I’ve always loved the Olympics untill I heard a figure of around $30 million public spending per gold medal at the last Olympics which made me reevaluate their worth. Is sporting glory really worth that much? Maybe i could cope with amillion a gold medal but not this much. That ammount of money could be spent on far more important things in our country or even just redirected to junior sport and geneal health programs to help get people outside and combat our obesity problem.
February 21st 2012 @ 1:39pm
Johnno said | February 21st 2012 @ 1:39pm | Report comment
I agree i think the Olympics are a huge waste of tax payers money Sam. I only think the Olympics should be run if it can be privately funded. Helath care, military spending, border security, infrastructure are far more important than winning gold medals at sports events such as the Olympics. And statistics show they don’t increase tourism numbers anyway, and at least relative to the amount spent. I real waste of taxpayers money i think the Olympics. they should be privately run, minimal tax payer funded loans.
February 21st 2012 @ 10:28pm
AndyMack said | February 21st 2012 @ 10:28pm | Report comment
I would suggest that the number of kids getting outside and signing up for athletics would rise after they see Our Sally in the final of the hurdles at the Olympics. Much more likelyhood of that, than as a result of the latest govt promotion to get active, or whatever, which would cost a lot lot more than $30m.
February 26th 2012 @ 8:15am
Timmuh said | February 26th 2012 @ 8:15am | Report comment
I am just glad that Nine have the rights, and the Olympics will not get in the way of AFL coverage this time around.
I occasionally take a look because there is nothiong else on, but the telecast gets far too foocussed on swimming (tedious, Australian medal or not) and the sports which the networks decide appeal to women (eg gymnastics, any sport with artistic merit as part of the scoring is not a sport in my view).
March 4th 2012 @ 4:16pm
Republican said | March 4th 2012 @ 4:16pm | Report comment
Too many disciplines these days.
I would like to see the games stripped back to basics.
We now have sports that have their own world cup bench marks integral to the games which devalues it in my opinion.of track and field as well as swimming which is my passion.
There are a number of traditional sports that also benefit from the games that would not otherwise.
I reckon bigger is certainly NOT better. I therefore support Australia’s campaign in sending a smaller team that focuses on the sports that we actually compete well in.
This is of course taken from a purely rationalist perspective which is unfortunately necessary in todays climate, because sport is a business while the games are not amatuer in the true sense of the word. The shear cost to the nation has to be taken into account as does the return for the tax payers dollar.