This is the most depressing article about the Olympics that I have ever read.
It’s about how Australian athletes performed in Rio, but there is not a single athlete named in it. There is no mention of race tactics, game plans, training or ball skills. But there are mentions of:
Is this what we want? When we urge on our Olympic heroes, hoping for the best possible result, is this the sort of aftermath we demand, should that result not pan out?
As is customary following the Games, but especially when Australians don’t do as well as expected, there’s a lot of talk about what the Olympics cost us. Articles measuring the “price of a gold medal” and so forth. And indeed, the cost to taxpayers is pretty hefty.
On a purely economic basis, there’s a case for cutting back a bit. At the very least, the idea of a HECS-style scheme for publicly-funded athletes seems a sound one, notwithstanding protests from those who either don’t understand how HECS works or think being good at sport places you above those who are good at science or law.
But I think for the average sports fan, there’s an even more compelling reason to pull back on the funding of elite sport, because it’s become clear, and becomes clearer with every article about corporate models and Winning Edge, that the Olympics is now costing us a lot more than just our taxes: it’s costing us the very soul of sport.
What a wonderful thing it is to cheer an athlete on, hoping they can achieve their dreams. What a wonderful thing it must be to be that athlete, knowing there are multitudes on your side, willing you to glory.
But what a terrible thing it is to see an athlete fall short, and react with the petulant question, “What are we paying you for?” What a terrible thing it must be to come away from the contest without the medal you’ve dreamed of, and feel that you have not only failed to win, but failed to justify an investment.
What a terrible thing it is for sports fans to find themselves turning into shareholders.
To see Cate Campbell after her disappointing solo swims in Rio, giving quavering interviews in which she sought desperately to reassure us – but surely more than that, to reassure herself – that winning or losing gold was not the final measure of her worth, was to experience a queasy feeling in the stomach; a hunch that somewhere, somehow, sport had become more than sport… and therefore less than sport.
Because we know Campbell has spent the last four years training obsessively for that brief moment in the spotlight. It has consumed her waking life: everything she has done has been devoted to the acquisition of a gold medal.
The despair at finding it was all for nought must be devastating. The knowledge that at home, thousands of her fellow Australians were folding their arms, shaking their heads and saying, “We’re very disappointed in you” must make it intolerable.
And maybe, just maybe, the piling of pressure upon pressure is what made winning so horribly hard this time anyway. We expect our champions to perform not just under the pressure of their own expectations, the burning gaze of the international audience, and the hopes of a nation, but also the pressure of being an investment?
Could there be any more effective way to drain sport of all its vibrancy and enjoyment than to treat it as a balance sheet – funds inputted, desired rate of return either achieved or missed?
We will always be disappointed when the sportspeople who represent the teams we support fail. That’s the essence of sport, and why it’s more than just entertainment. But it’s also more than just business. We can’t let our disappointment turn into entitlement.
The medals our Olympians win are not ours, and the medals they lose, we have not lost. When they win we should be happy for them, and when they lose we should commiserate. But we should never cast a cold, calculating eye on them and let ourselves believe we’ve been somehow ripped off.
If we do, we not only compound the misery that they no doubt already feel at having not quite scaled the peak, we not only make their life’s pursuit of their sporting passion a little less joyful: we cheat ourselves of joy also.
Once we start viewing sport in terms not of what we wish for, but of what we are owed, we are no longer sports lovers. We’re nothing but investors, and sport is no longer the respite from the drab grind of the world – it’s just another part of it.
PeterD
Guest
Please name one of your so called coaches who are running the team GB cycling or rowing teams and stop perpetuating this myth that your coaches are somehow responsible for team GB's success which is not overnight but has happened in the last 3 Olympic cycles. I have heard a number of coaches being interviewed on British television from right across the Olympic spectrum and not 1 Australian accent to be heard. I'm sorry but that is just plain desperate to claim that it's due to Australia that team GB has become so successful. Deluded Australians!
Republican
Guest
...........if you are a young athlete with aspirations of carving out a successful career in your chosen sport (of which there is NO guarantee )by attending the AIS or associated institutions, I would have thought this was akin to studying to be a visual artist, performing artist or teacher of the arts? Shouldn't these students of sport also pay HECS once they are earning an amount above the required threshold - or perhaps they already are?
Republican
Guest
..........you obviously enjoy sport, but there are many who do not.
jameswm
Roar Guru
They aren't getting degrees Bushie. It isn't that hard to work out. Their subsequent job is usually wholly unrelated to their sport.
richo
Guest
have another look mate, it was 2nd largest behind USA, larger than Russia and China
Joel
Roar Rookie
where does anyone get the idea that your tax money is some kind of investment? It isn't. If it was an investment, you would have a choice whether to pay it or not. The public's willingness to invest in athletes is irrelevant, it was never their money to begin with. Tax money is a bill like any other, and complaining how tax money is spent is the equivalent of paying your rent money to the landlord and then whingeing because he bought a new mercedes.
Neil Back
Roar Rookie
As before Matth. I'd rather not pay $500 for subs or $41.5m per gold medal. Both questionable investment decisions when you look at what public money could be better spent on.
Neil Back
Roar Rookie
Rob. Year on year since Sydney we've 'flopped' as you put it, with Rio being the lowest medal count since Barcelona. When does the underdog thing kick in?
Neil Back
Roar Rookie
Not sure I can go with this either Chris. Just about every elite sportsman or woman i've known and all those I've observed are inherently selfish. They don't make the sacrifice, or demand it of others (often forgotten) for any nobler cause than what basically comes down to self gratification. No one makes them do what they do and no one hides the future from them.
Tony H
Roar Pro
The UK I believe.
spruce moose
Guest
Use your head Neil. Each region is generally allocated spots in each sport to ensure as much global participation as possible. As Australia is the largest nation in Oceania, it's more than likely an Oceania slot is going to be populated by an Australian team.
Tony H
Roar Pro
If you want a hand finding access to fencing, I can point you to clubs all over Australia. Chloe and Max have been around Aus fencing for about 10 years, and there's plenty of athletes and coaches around. They just don't get any coverage.
Neil Back
Roar Rookie
But 10th is good as a measure of what? The superior character, physique, fighting spirit, genetic make up of your average Australian? Or the money, science, infrastructure, climate benefits and investment choices we make toward a select few feted 'heroes'? What are you measuring here?
Neil Back
Roar Rookie
Well actually, each Aussie Gold cost us $41.5m. You break that down into coffees if you like but I feel more than a little uncomfortable about it.
Neil Back
Roar Rookie
Chris, that argument about stimulating the grassroots really falls down when you look at what's happened since Sydney. Every consecutive year the medal count has fallen and now with Rio, at the lowest count since Barcelona. It's only one measure of participation if you accept winning athletes inspire the next generation, but gee it's a big old obvious one.
Neil Back
Roar Rookie
Well, for a start GB have a go in most of those and managed to send a fraction of the team with 366 competitors versus 422 hopefuls sent off from here. They also won medals across more events than any other nation. Elite athletes cost money. Tax payers money. Tax dollars that could be spent in so many useful ways. Not sure we're spending terribly wisely.
Neil Back
Roar Rookie
Being the Oceania rep? What does that even mean? Who in 'Oceania' feels represented by Australia other than Australians?? Just nonsense
cranky old ref
Guest
one word: Jeneke
Matth
Guest
Agree wholeheartedly. I would rather pay my $5 for this than $500 for submarines, or superannuation concessions of offshore detention centres
punter
Guest
They are sports that people enjoy, it's just that some of the biggest sport the Olympics is not the biggest event on their calendar. Golf, Tennis, football, basketball are all popular sports, unless you only talking about sports only Australia enjoys.