I'm ambivalent or even mildly antipathetic towards Australian sporting achievements at the Olympics. (Okay, I admit it, I cheer for our athletes, but then I feel guilty about it).
At Athens, Australia came 4th in the medal tally, behind the three superpowers - USA, China and Russia. Japan was 5th. In fact none of the others in the top ten have a population less than 50 million. What a stupendous achievement for a nation with our population of just over 20 million. Or is it? Doesn't it just mean that we spend relatively far far too much on sport?
I saw something on TV last week about the $17million high tech pool at the Institute of Sport. Wired up like a Christmas tree. More sensors and high speed cameras and computers connected to it than a ride at Disneyland. It's the best in the world. Even the Americans don't have anything like it!
Yet, every state in Australia has a shortage of doctors and nurses in public hospitals and ambulances banking up outside the emergency door. Indigenous people still have a life expectancy 20 years less than other Australians. Bright young Australians, thanks to Messrs Hawke, Keating and Howard, no longer enjoy the free tertiary education they once did but instead start their adult life with a HECS debt hanging around their neck. But hey, we might win more medals than ever at the Olympics!
Wasn't it the Roman Emperors who figured that when things got worse the best solution was to put on more games? That was not long before the Barbarians came I think.
And as for the Chinese Olympics, there are other even more troubling implications. See Gordon Cheng's blog at Sola Panel - http://solapanel.org/article/beijing_olympics_and_persecution/
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5 comments:
Hey. Just stumbled upon your blog as I was curious what else folks are writing about. Very nice. I live in New Orleans and will be visiting Tasmania in less than a month. I'll have four days there. What should I do and see?
Matt
Four days is not much time! What you will be able to see will depend on where you are arriving, and what mode of transport you have.
Are you flying into Hobart or Launceston? Or are you coming on the car ferry from Melbourne to Devonport? Will you have a car while you're here?
Does Australia use public funds to support its Olympic athletes?
Over here, the teams and individual athletes don't receive any direct funding from our government.
Good question Melody. I'm not sure of the exact mix. It is a combination of government funding, AOC funding (see below), corporate sponsorship and the athlete's own money.
The Olympic team is funded by the Australian Olympic Committee through fundraising, mainly from corporate sponsors and merchandising I think.
See Wiki article - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Olympic_Committee
In 2000 when we hosted the Olympics, we spent around $2.1Billion of public funds on sport. In more normal years it is a lot less.
Among other more general sports funding, the Australian Sports Commission of the Federal Government funds the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra. This is used by all kinds of athletes in world competition, not just Olympic competitors. Cadel Evans, for example, is a product of this institute I think. Last year the Australian Sports Commission spent (AUD)$151million on sports funding, including $65million to the Institute. (For comparison the exchange rate this year has been between 90 and 98 cents US).
As well as this, there are grants to individual sporting bodies and projects like stadiums, etc. And the states also have their own state institutes as well that they fund.
Australian Institute of Sport website: http://www.ausport.gov.au/ais/
Trivia Quiz: what are the only two countries to have attended every modern Summer Olympics since 1896?
Definitely not the US. I remember when Carter kept us home from Russia.
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