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What our athletes mean to Australians

By Ian Jobling - posted Tuesday, 15 August 2000


Cricket has also been a major activity that has promoted nationalism. Consider the elation over Allan Border's team regaining 'the Ashes' in 1989, and the reactions in 1983 when Australia wrested the America's Cup from the New York Yacht club, where it had been for 132 years.

Sport and Government

The glorious international reputation that Australians had enjoyed in sport seemed to be waning by the mid-1970s. At the Montreal Olympics in 1976, Australia failed to win a gold medal and gained only one silver (men's hockey). The print and electronic media reacted strongly to this 'failure' – as can be gleaned from the many cartoons about the 'penny-pinching attitude' of the Liberal-National federal government and, in particular, Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser's visit to the Games Village and exhortations to athletes.

Prime Minister Fraser officially opened the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) in Canberra on 26 January 1980. When the Labor Party returned to government in 1983, the Minister for Sport, Recreation and Tourism, John Brown, while retaining the AIS, proposed that an Australian Sports Commission (ASC) function as a statutory authority. The ASC, established in September 1984, had three main objectives: to sustain and improve Australia's level of achievement in international sporting competition; to increase the level of participation in sport by all Australians; and to increase the level of assistance from the private sector (which led to the establishment of the Sports Aid Foundation).

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The issue of whether governments should promote 'elite sport' as compared to 'sport for all' is a continuing one. In its 1992 budget the federal government announced a four-year funding commitment of $293 million to sport and recreation. In a summary of the Australian Sports Commission 1992-93 proposed sport funding allocations, comprising approximately 100 sporting groups and a total budget of $32.2 million, the breakdown was: elite – $23.6 million; other – $8.5 million; unallocated – $1.8 million. In addition, the proposed allocation to the Australian Olympic Committee was $2.5 million.

Government control of the Sydney Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (SOCOG) has increased since the NSW Minister for the Olympics, Michael Knight, also became president of SOCOG. Expected revenues from the Games are $2 331 million (as per May 1998), being from sponsorship ($828.8); consumer products ($61.1); ticket sales ($487.0); and television rights ($954.6). The expected profit over expenditures is $42.7 million. SOCOG will also contribute $369.6 million to the NSW government for rental of venues, construction reimbursements and services, including security.

The 2000 Olympic Games

There will be more than 10,000 athletes and 5000 officials at the Year 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney. However, the combined total of these will be exceeded by the media – in excess of 15,000 accredited, plus many non-accredited media representatives. A worldwide television audience will exceed 3.5 billion people, and there will be approximately 1.3 million extra tourists during the period 1994-2004.

The Sydney Olympic Stadium at Sydney Olympic Park will seat 110,000, the biggest in Olympic history. There will be twenty-eight sports, with taekwondo and triathlon being included as Olympic sports for the first time; other disciplines included are women's water polo, slalom canoe and trampolining.

In terms of economic impact, an independent study by KPMG Peat Marwick has shown that in the period 1994-2004 Sydney 2000 could add $7.3 billion to Australia's gross domestic product, create 150,000 full-time and part-time jobs; and that almost half the national benefit of $3.5 billion will go to Sydney, with the other areas of NSW benefiting by approximately $1billion and other states and territories by approximately $2.8 billion. It is clear that there needs to be a close link with government, the private sector and the organisers of the Games to ensure appropriate cooperation and collaboration.

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This paper is an edited extract from Chapter 12 of Institutions in Australian Society (1999), edited by John Henningham, Oxford University Press.



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About the Author

Dr Ian Jobling is an Associate Professor in the School for Human Movement Studies, director of the Centre for Olympic Studies and acting director of the Centre for Physical Activity and Sport Education at the University of Queensland.

Related Links
Australian Sports Commission
International Olympic Committee
Olympic Coordination Authority
Olympics Social Impacts Advisory Committee
Sydney Olympics museum Homepage
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