Alan Moir, the brilliant cartoonist from The Sydney Morning Herald, once again nailed home his point in today’s newspaper.
Two Australian Special Services soldiers, armed to the teeth and with their guns cocked ready to blast away, have burst into the bedroom of a couple lying in bed reading a paper with the headline: Gold Tally.
The soldier with his gun pointing at the startled couple tells them: ‘We have reason to believe you’ve been barracking for New Zealand…’
As it happens, the day the cartoon was published was the day that Australia finally won more gold medals (four) at the London 2012 Olympics than New Zealand (three). If history is anything to go by, at the end of the London Games, Australia will have extended this now narrow lead by a substantial margin.
After all, Australia won 14 gold medals in Beijing. The most gold medals New Zealand has ever won was the eight at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.
New Zealand has a population of 4,327,944 people inhabiting the Shaky Islands. The outstanding fact about this is that about one million more New Zealanders live out of New Zealand. Like Scotland, New Zealand’s greatest export is talent of every kind, including sporting talent.
Moir himself, for instance, is part of a distinguished Dunedin sporting family.
So what does it say about the pysche of some Australian commentators that they got so worked up about the fact that little New Zealand had scored more gold medals than Australia?
Pathetic is perhaps the most kind word.
Loony is probably more accurate. We had Channel Nine, for instance, deliberately running the top nine countries on the medal tallies when New Zealand was in 10th place and Australia was 16th. And a desperate Daily Telegraph started to publish an Australia versus New Zealand medal tally.
This obsession that being behind New Zealand on the medals tally is somehow unacceptable, even though it was never going to be like this at the end of the tournament, shows a gross lack of maturity by the hype-merchants posing as commentators and by a number of the athletes.
The hysteria and lack of perspective of most of the commentators on Channel Nine (there are some honourable exceptions in equestrian and athletics) resulted in an unedifying chauvinism that demanded nothing less than gold from the athletes.
This madness was contagious and we had second place medalists behaving as if they had come last.
When all the behaviour is analysed, hopefully not by academics, but by former champions (Herb Elliot is a name that comes to mind) the accusation may well be made that Generation Y has too great an opinion of itself and not enough respect for other competitors and for the tradition of the Olympics.
Sorry to harp on, but I also blame so many uninformed commentators dragged in from the highways and byways (Michael Slater doing the diving, for instance) who gave out false propaganda about the performance of various athletes.
Many of these athletes were over-awed by the occasion and the sheer difficulty of competing at the Olympic level.
John Coates did not help things much with his prediction that Australia’s goal was to win 55 medals (on Wednesday the tally was 25) and that anything less would be seen as a failure. The only time Australia has won 55 or more medals was at Sydney when 58 were won.
49 medals were won at Athens in 2004 and 46 at Beijing in 2008 and 41 at Atlanta in 1996.
The Greeks have a word for the sort of boasting about gold, gold, gold for Australia from Coates, some of the preening athletes and the media. The word is hubris – arrogant pride.
Nowhere is this arrogant pride been more apparent than in the failed swimming team.
And nowhere has there been less hubris than in the sailing team. Tom Slingsby, for instance, came 22nd in his sailing discipline at Beijing. At London, four years later, he became Australia’s first individual gold medalist.
And after his triumph, he foreshadowed the possibility of three more gold medals for the Australian sailors.
‘I think we will be the top nation here,’ he told the media.
This turnaround from a poor Beijing Olympics for sailing followed an intensive review. An interesting article in The Australian Financial Review gave details of how this review found that sailing’s high performance unit failed in its task of implementing successful strategic initiatives.
A new coaching structure was set out, the Australian Institute of Sport was used more, 18 patrons were co-opted to provide more team finance, and competition with the world’s best, rather than Australia’s best, was made the standard practice.
When the London Games came around the sailing team knew exactly how they rated against their potential opponents, and how they could beat them.
Swimming is going to be subject to a review. Will it be as hard-headed and as unforgiving as the sailing review? Bill Sweetenham, an official from Swimming Australia is part of the review, an appointment that does not augur well for its prospects, in my opinion.
As it happens, the New Zealand sailing team, admittedly in a more modest way than their Australian counterparts, has helped the New Zealand medal tally slowly grow towards one of its most successful hauls.
Trying to make sense of the unpredictable elements has given the sailors a sense of perspective that many of their fellow athletes seem to have lacked this Olympics.
Michael Warren
Roar Guru
Spiro, this is one one of the most objective writing I have read and your blood needs bottling. Well done on a great article. Regarding your comments on the Channel 9 commentators.... suggest you also listen to Messes Greg Martin, Greg Clark and Phil Kearns on the Fox network during Super Rugby commentaries especially when a NZ team is playing. I cringe at some of the one eyed and tunnel visioned comments spoken and believe that your article backs up much of what seems to now be the norm said on TV. I have found that it is now much better to watch the rugby TV pics and listen to the ABC radio commentary.!
James
Guest
UPDATE. TEAM AUS ZEALAND NOW 13 GOLD 18 SILVER 17 BRONZE 5TH PLACE!! top 5 yayy!!
Mark
Guest
Yeah, and shotput to boot, so I guess it "counts" now considering this Jocelyn character's odd comment: "I dont think it counts when you win all your gold in one sport"
Colin N
Guest
I thought you said that the true test was whether GB could beat Australia's 16 gold medals from the Sydey games? Now, you're saying the test will be whether they can back up their performance in Rio. As for the relative performances between Australia in London an GB in Atlanta, I think it's been well documented that significant funding only went into British sport after those disastrous games. As for backing it up, it will be bloody tough to do that! I know it was said in Beijng but I will say it again, I can't see GB dominating the cycling like that again. But there is certainly room for improvement in the sailing, as it was poor by our standards, in terms of gold medals won. However, I think most of them were in their first Olympics.
Emric
Guest
6 Gold for NZ now go Val go
Tom Callaghan
Guest
Jocelyn, Just a few points in reply. Firstly, I hope that you received my apology for my earlier vitriolic response.Secondly,I would like to point out that the London medal tally is part of an upward curve in British sport.: Atlanta,one gold,Sydney, Beijing-about as far away turf as you can get-19 golds, and London, twenty nine golds.Thirdly, government and sports organisations are aware of 'The Sydney effect', Australia having fallen off dramatically in Olympics following Sydney home games. Government has pledged to sustain funding for Rio in view of public mood here. Fourthly, Great Britain had an overwhelming lead over Australia in London-a lead of twenty two gold medals over Australia- with the single English county of Yorkshire wiining the same number of golds as Australia. At Sydney in 2000 Australias lead over Great Britain in terms of gold medals was only five-16 to 11.Fifthly, British sporting teams have had quite a lot of success on Australian soil since 2000 including Rugby Union test victories, a Rugby World cup win, and an Ashes series. I expect England and possibly other home nations to thump the Wallabies in November and for the British Lions to carry all before them in Australia in 2013 Regards, Tom
Jocelyn McLennan
Roar Guru
Tom it is your home games your are meant to do well...the true test is whether you can back it up four years later in Rio....it is a bit like an AFL team and other codes.....winning at home is seen as a given...it is the away matches on enemy turf that are the true test....Aust not only backed up in Athens they went better....speak to you this time in four years time....Aussie worst result in 20 years London 10th with 7 gold medals. Great Britain= Atlanta 1 gold and 36th place.
Tom Callaghan
Guest
Emric The tax payers money wasspent on providing the infrasture/venues. The medallists were funded very largely by lottery money
Emric
Guest
Tom Apparently your wrong 60 million pounds per year over the last 4 years of tax payers money and an additional 80 to 90 million pounds per year of lottery funds
AimeeRussell
Guest
Jocelyn, just admit New Zealand is good at rowing. Try telling america that theyre only allowed to get one gold medal in swimming! Australian in general, you need to get over yourselves! Your number one goal is to beat a country with the population 18 million less than yourselves. When New Zealand is ahead you can only think of combining countries to make "Aus- Zealand" or claiming how we should be redefined as a state of Australia.. But as soon as you begin getting medals its all taken away. You beat us by two medals. Technically you should have gotten 5 times the amount seeing as youre a larger country. Its like NewZealand setting the bar "oh so high" by setting their sights on beating Fiji.. All I can say is sore losers. Oh and how did that 200 million of taxpayers money spent on training for athletes go? Oh that's right, only two golds above New Zealand!
Pecs McGee
Guest
The Chinese economy is stablising in terms of growth. This will mean a readjustment of Australian exports, not the end of it. A similar adjustment had to occur after Japanese post-war growth stabilised. Australia will continue to be a major soure of ore for developed/developing countries. At the moment iron ore is vital for Chinese construction, but there are also huge uranium deposits which will become more important as oil becomes a more expensive comodity. Australia is not running out of ore deposits, indeed as geophysics techniques improve more deposts will be discovered. eg. the olympic dam ore deposit As for HSBS; did they predict the UK's recent recession? I wouldn't trust British banks and their forecasting. I'll end my contributiuon to this thread here as it's sports forum and I'm afraid this has gone way off topic.
Tom Callaghan
Guest
Emric, The 13 colonies became a Republic in 183. They were never a Dominion under the crown as Australia, Canada,South Africa, New Zealand and even Ireland were in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Thats why I used the term 'Dominion' and not 'Former colony'
Tom Callaghan
Guest
Mate, I think my concern for the Australian economy is all too well founded. The only reason that Australia has been able to avoid austerity measures so far is that you have been able to sell what is at the end of your shovel to the Chinese. Their economy seems to be slowing which has implications for the Australian economy. Apart from the basic minerals sector Australia's economic performance has not been impressive.It remains, in many ways , the economy of an undevelped country. By the way, the HSBS survey of world economic trends by Karen Ward predicts that GB will preseve its position as a top five/six economy whereas that of Australia will slip out of the top twenty/thirty. And...don't get my started on the impact of global warming on your country..... What kind of name is 'Pecs'?
Tom Callaghan
Guest
Thanks for the geography lesson mate! GB close to Europe? Fancy that! GB is not as dependent economically as Australia is on China. GB is not closely integrated into an Empires economic structure as a dependent producer of unprocessed commodities as Australia is within China's informal empire.
Emric
Guest
LOL dessert not desert
Emric
Guest
Tom the UK is linked very closely to Europe if Europe falls so does the UK. Europe is linked closely to china if China falls we are all going to slide into a recession which will make the gfc look mild.
Emric
Guest
Tom. My comment was in reply to your sarcasm. Anyway if you want to add up the totals of the UK's former dominions, and remnants of its old empire the telly goes instantly against you as the USA is far in excess of anything dear old mum has conjured up. :) GB has one well this time around and my congratulations for a golden performance
McC
Guest
As a Brit I can tell you Sid is spot on, guys. The average person in the UK is completely oblivious to this rivalry and will often support Australia when GB is not playing; being completely clueless as to how they are viewed down under!
Pecs McGee
Guest
As one of the few countries to avoid recession or austerity measures following the GFC (unlike the UK) I think your concern for Australia's economy is misplaced.
Tom Callaghan
Guest
Katzilla, I replied earlier saying that paying diresct taxation is a different matter to buying a lottery ticket