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Is Australia's emphasis on elite running performance justified?

By Chris Lewis - posted Monday, 16 July 2012


The 19 year old Steve Solimon, although not qualifying at Olympic Games trials in March, later met the B standard by winning the nationals in the 400m with a time of 45.58 seconds, before winning a bronze medal in the World Junior Championships on July 12 by running 45.52. On 14 July, Solimon was given provisional selection to run the individual 400m event at London, much to the disgust of Steffenson who argued the rules were again being shifted.

Clearly, Solimon is an excellent young athlete who is improving against top competition. He has also held his form better than the other 400m B standard qualifier (Steffensen). As of July 11, Solimon had the 64th best time for 2012, but rises to 39th when one allows for a maximum three competitors from each country in each individual event given US prowess alone.

Now if the issue that limits selection is the cost to the taxpayer, then why not allow Australia's best athlete in each event to compete at the Olympic Games with the athlete raising his or her own money? What harm could be caused by such a strategy when an athlete only gets one chance every four years to compete in an Olympic Games?

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What message does such a tough qualifying criteria send to Australia's athletes, already subject to one of the toughest drug testing regimes in the world? National success should indeed be deemed good enough to compete in this great global sports festival (the Olympic Games). Do we penalise countries competing at the World Cup for football just because they are not ranked in the top 32? No, because representation is encouraged from all regions of the world.

We need to encourage our runners to compete at the top level. We should not merely promote a strategy which funds sports on the basis that Australia has a better chance to win a medal. The simple truth is not all sports are equal. Some sports are clearly more important in terms of both prestige and the public interest. Running is one of those sports, albeit as part of track and field.

As it stands, Australia will have no representation in many running events, despite many Australian athletes being quite good in those events. For men, this includes the individual 100m and 200m. For women, this includes the individual 200m, 400m and 800m.

In the future, perhaps Athletics Australia and the Australian government could conduct public surveys to investigate whether support exists for such an elite approach to running?

At the very least, Australia's lesser athletes, having proven they are the best in our country and having met the B standard, should have had the chance to compete in the Olympic Games subject to their own funding arrangements in this most prestigious of global sports.

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About the Author

Chris Lewis, who completed a First Class Honours degree and PhD (Commonwealth scholarship) at Monash University, has an interest in all economic, social and environmental issues, but believes that the struggle for the ‘right’ policy mix remains an elusive goal in such a complex and competitive world.

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