I concur. You think it's worth it for national pride and all, until you SEE HOW MUCH ****ING MONEY IT COST!!!

OK, I don't know exactly how much money it cost but I'll be amazed if it's not bucket loads. (I'm going to look it up now).

Could be put towards our hospitals for example. I don't think one medal is worth the state of our hospitals.

elmo said...


The body sciences and technologies which come out the elite sports development all have a benifit for the rest of us in ways few of us would ever dream of.

You mean 'therapeutic' massage?

maybe we should stop all funding to sport and see how fat we become

Mobydisc said...

What does Australia have in common with the Deutsche Demokratik Republik? Besides making unpopular cars the one thing we do have in common is really punching above our weight in the Olympic Games. As the medals are tallied we beat countries with much larger populations and economies than Australia, for example Italy, France and Japan.

On the news tonight its theorised every gold medal Austalia won cost us around $100 million. So how does that help us? Could the money be better spent?

In my experience there are plenty of towns in Australia that could benefit from an indoor swimming pool due to long cold winters making swimming a summer sport only. A high school I worked at had a shocking footy field, that did not have turf as such but hardpacked dirt pockmarked with tussock grass. The school didn't have the money to fix it.

In our sports its disappointing you have to pay for parking at many windsurfing/kiting spots in Sydney. Its not just us but other beach users who cop this. What sort of message is sent out? You have to pay to use the beach. Wouldn't it be nice is some money was spent to assist local councils to encourage families and individuals to use the waterside? Case in point is Singapore and Hong Kong. I'm not sure how they went in the Olympics and in the end it doesn't really matter. However they have government sponsored sporting facilities for their citizens that puts Australia to shame.

thats the same kind of logic that says "this fish cost me $ 50000 because thats how much I paid for the boat.

Do you really think the money would be spent elsewhere. I doubt it.
The government has billions already under the bed thats not going to where its needed.

Bloodyoath, but only countries with wind and water

On the news tonight its theorised every gold medal Austalia won cost us around $100 million. So how does that help us? Could the money be better spent?

Theorized by whom, and how did they come up with this figure? I would like to see some substance behind the claim before I argue one way or the other.

But I certainly agree that Aus punches well above its weight. Does it have anything to do with our air quality? Oi oi oi.

Reading the responses.

Back in the day professional sports were non existant. The average rugby league player had to work as a garbo and the average olympian had to work in a shop to support themselves. Guess what? People were skinnier back then. They may not have been healthier but they were more active so its doubtful there is any correlation between professional sports and how fat we are. If anything professional sports makes us lazier as we watch them on TV.

Secondly the armed forces are another big waste of money. New Zealand doesn't spend any money on its forces anymore and whats happened? Some funny TV ads on the Gruen Transfer and thats about it. However the army does one good thing, in keeping the crime rate down by hiring dangerous people.

Thirdly the analogy with the F1 Racing scene is interesting. So if someone can run 100 meters in under 10 seconds, how will that benefit me? If I buy a car it might benefit from some technology filtering down. However I can't upgrade my lungs or legs to the new Olympic model nor will my children be able to. If anything it could be argued the whole anti doping/drug campaign in the Olympics makes it impossible for improved performances be available for those who lack the time, ability or are too lazy to train.

In regards to the figure of $100 million. A sports scientist was saying this on the ABC last night. He basically said its difficult to establish a figure but if he had to thats what he would estimate. I don't know if its true or not or how its accounted for.

Anyway they give Canada as a counterpoint to Australia. Canada doesn't go all that well in the Olympics. Apparently they do spend money on community sports. Check out how Singapore or Hong Kong and check out how those governments support community sports. It would be pretty sweet to be able to rock up to a beach and then be able to use some windsurfing equipment provided by the government.

Good idea about showing the Olympics on the ABC. However the IOC probably wouldn't allow it.

http://www.crikey.com.au/Media-Arts-and-Sports/20080808-40-million-its-how-much-each-gold-medal-costs-us.html

Let's work off Dr Connor's more conservative estimate. Which was just before the Games, so there was bound to be less hype involved

In the last 20 years (including the LA Games) Australia has won 70 gold medals in the summer olympics. At $40million per medal that makes $2.8 billion dollars.

Australia has sent 2774 athletes to Olympic summer games in the same period. That's just over $1 million per athlete. I wonder what the ratio of athletes who make it to the games compares to those who don't. 1:1? That would be an average of $500,000 spent per athlete. 1:3? That's $250,000 per athlete. 1:9? That would be $100,000 spent per athlete, whether or not they make it to the Olympics and whether or not they win gold, or any other medal. Those figures don't look quite so sensationalist.

Not really sure where I'm going with this, but the words "Lies, damned lies and ..." spring to mind.

Yes its true that Australians tie up so much of their identity to how we go on the international sporting field. I do not remember the Olympics where Australia went really bad, I think it was the Montreal Olympics. However think about the time. 1976. The height of the Cold War. So the DDR, USSR and most of the other Soviet Block countries decided to use sports as a proxy for their battle against the west.

Australia had nothing to be ashamed of when the these countries poured huge amounts of resources into their athletes. I think the DDR won more medals than West Germany. What happened to these countries? Within 20 years they were bankrupt. Of course its not just elite sports that bankrupted them however it could be argued that the idea of supporting the elite while neglecting the masses contributed to their disaster. Most people believe sports are a good thing for people to do, especially in this age of playstations, 50 inch TVs and Foxtel. However many believe the average persons sports are neglected or taxed by governments.

Whatever way you add up and divide the figures, elite sports in Australia get a lot of funding off the governments, while grass roots get bugger all and have to rely on volunteers and meat raffles.

Now that's a stat that is worth seeing.

Elite sports, when well covered serve to motivate the masses to get out and have a go.

It's a fact that when the Oz open tennis is on, more people go out and play tennis. Similar with golf on TV.