Watching Sunday’s French Open first round encounter between Lleyton Hewitt and Gilles Simon, I was fervently hoping Lleyton could pull off a minor miracle and win.
Of course he didn’t, but he came very close and for that reason I was filled with pride. Pride for a first round loss…
When I was young I used to despise Hewitt. His arrogance and showmanship irked me. But that was at a time when I could pick and choose which Australian sports stars to love or loathe.
Now there seems to be such a lack of genuine Aussie talent on the world stage that every winner is a cherished star I cannot take for granted.
We never dominated the world so to speak, but for our small population, we were always represented so strongly across most sports. Have we since diminished in quality, or has the rest of the world slowly caught up and overtaken us in sporting prowess?
Growing up during the turn of the century to the mid 2000’s, I had an abundance of teams and individuals to follow in their success. My memories go as far back as 1999 when we won some World Cups, and 2000 where we won a heap of Olympic medals and I had heroes like Ian Thorpe, Cathy Freeman and Grant Hackett to adore.
Following on from there we had the Wallabies under Eales and Gregan (minus the Jonny Wilkinson World Cup); Waugh’s record breaking test team; our 2003 Davis Cup winners; the Socceroos golden generation; and our omni-present, all conquering swim teams.
In comparison, our transition since then has been painful.
When you think of the Wallabies you get the much maligned Quade Cooper; we have a cricket team that has been labeled one of the weakest ever; Bernard Tomic has untapped potential but poor attitude (and don’t get me started on the John Tomic/Damir Dokic comparisons); our Socceroos under Holger Osieck are struggling to qualify for the World Cup, with many players stagnating in mediocre leagues; and our swimming team is synonymous with behavioral shortcomings.
Yes, when I think about it, it hasn’t been all that bad. Sally Pearson and Anna Meares respectively hurdled and cycled their ways to gold medals; Cadel Evans and Adam Scott were the first Aussies to win the most prestigious events (Tour de France and the US Masters) in their respective sports; and Sam Stosur won the US Open.
But it is the sports we traditionally participated in so valiantly throughout the early 2000s that we now struggle in the most. Are our next generation of potential sporting heroes becoming couch potatoes? Are other governments investing more in sports than Australia is?
The situation can be best summed up by Hewitt’s ‘C’MON’ celebration. Once a roar of triumphant arrogance, it has now descended into a war cry of futile defiance.
Are we in a sporting drought? Have there been worse before? Or did I simply take for granted being raised in an era of perceived excellence abroad?
peeeko
Roar Guru
agree they are probably the biggest we have
peeeko
Roar Guru
there are still minimal amount of kids playing AFL in these two states and wouldnt be having a big efffect on other sports
Tristan Rayner
Editor
Add in Dan Ricciardo. And Bernard Tomic, occasionally. And maybe this kid, one day: http://www.theroar.com.au/2013/05/28/aussie-teen-kyrgios-causes-french-open-boilover/
Football United
Roar Pro
Mark Schwarzer, Andrew Bogut, Adam Scott, Cadel Evans and Mark Webber are Australias biggest athletes on the world stage reputation wise. If Kyrie Irving does eventually play for australia in basketball then he would be up there as well.
Phil Coorey
Roar Pro
Grant Balfour is having a good season for the A's in baseball
Riddos
Guest
Yep, AFL taking talent spotting and recruiting to a new level in recent years, and spreading from the traditional AFL states.
Johnno
Guest
Andrew Bogut Daniel Geale Sally Pearson Anna Meares Steve Hooker was not that long ago Adam Scott We have a few sailors and rowers Lauren Jackson Elyse Perry Sally Fitzgibon And a few others I've probably missed out But overall the cupboard is pretty thin
King Robbo
Guest
All superstars at what they do and do not want to downplay their achievements, however how many gold medals are given out at the olympics? So many events as well, with most countries focussing on their pet events eg Australia with swimming. Not sureSally Pearson is rolling around in money with endorsements at the moment. Very hard to be recognised around the world after the olympics is finished outside your country of origin, unless you win a blue ribbon event (usain bolt) or win a swag of gold medals (Michael phelps).
josh
Roar Rookie
What about, Sally Pearson, Anna Meares and Steph Gilmore .
King Robbo
Guest
We dont have anyone at tennis at more. Besides tennis, golf (and cadel evans) we have had few truly global sports stars. We have done exceptionally well,we have had great champs like Alan jones, Casey Stoner, mick doohan, Herb elliot, Cathy Freeman, boxers, rugby players,cricketers, yachting and swimmers that have performed exceptionally on the international stage but go to south america,africa or south east asia and most would be scratching their heads if you mentioned any of them. Unless your brilliant at football, golf, tennis, basketball, win the tour de france, formula one or win 4+ gold medals at the olympics it is hard to be recognised internationally. Depends on the global reach of the sport. You prob find most around the world would recognise someone like tim cahill or even Mile jedinak who captained crysal palace to the EPL in front of 85,000 last night than they would adam scott.
Brian
Guest
AFL made a big push into NSW and QLD who once provided so much of the international stars. Also NRL has got its act together. The money that has come into the domestic codes means there are now 720 Australians on AFL lists. Compare that to how good you need to be to make a living from tennis, cricket or swimming
Australian Rules
Guest
Adam Scott & Cadel Evans. The 2 best Australian sportsmen on the international stage right now.
peeeko
Roar Guru
But no more than in the past when we have had bigger world names
Mungo
Guest
Plenty of Aussies playing on the world stage. But where are the ones who are winning? It takes more than just participating to get the nationalistic heart rating, sticking a poster on the wall, 2am wake up to turn on the TV for some overseas sport. It seemed from 97-03 that you couldn't turn one way or another without hitting a world champion team or individual. We were even winning medals at the Winter Olympics. Hopefully those days will come back. I don't want to have to start following darts to singte National Anthem.
Riddos
Guest
Hopefully a fully fit Andrew Bogut will be one to add to the list next NBA season, showed some return to form in recent Playoff games for a talented GSW team. And we might get a few more young Aussies drafted into NBA in upcoming draft. Richie Porte has had a big few months in cycling. As much as I love AFL it is getting alot of our most talented young athletes which may lead to fewer stars getting to the world stage in some of the more International sports.
FTR
Guest
Who needs a Federer or Nadal when you've got Simon Whitlock!!
peeeko
Roar Guru
Gateau in euro rugby? Snooker and darts? Ten pin?
aelgates
Guest
Whitlock in darts, belmonte in 10 pin bowling and robertson in snooker are all superstars of their sports who people in other countries pay good money to go and watch. Throw in a few college/nfl players (williams and wing), our cyclists both track & road, schwarzer in epl, geale in boxing, giteau in european rugby, scott, day, stosur, wallabies #3 in world, the missle, webber, ricciardo, ambrose.....plenty of aussies doing us proud on the world stage in a variety of sports. I think lleyton doesn't get the credit he deserves playing on in his 30's when plenty 'retire' early (thorpe and rice spring to mind)