Olympic Countdown

Other Olympic books publishedby Walla Walla Press

Norbert Müller, Coubertin and Olympism,Questions for the Future: Le Havre 1897-1997,ISBN 0 9587079 5 2

Janet Cahill, Running Towards Sydney 2000: TheOlympic Flame and Torch, ISBN 0 9587079 8 7(pbk), ISBN 0 9587079 6 0 (hard)

Michelle Hanna, Reconciliation and Olympism:Indigenous Culture in the Sydney Olympiad,ISBN 0 958707 7 9

First published in 1999 by Walla Walla Press in conjunction with theCentre for Olympic Studies, The University of New South Wales.

Walla Walla PressPO Box 717Petersham, New South Wales 2049

© Richard Cashman 1999

This book is copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purposesof private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under theCopyright Act, no part may be reproduced by any process withoutwritten permission from the publisher.

ISBN 1 876718 00 5

Cartoon on page one courtesy of Jock McNeishDesigned and formatted by St Peters Press, Hornsby Heights, NSW.Printed by The University of New South Wales Printing Section.

Olympic CountdownDiary of the Sydney Olympics 1998

RICHARD CASHMAN

Walla Walla Pressin conjunction with the Centre for Olympic Studies,

The University of New South Wales

Preface andAcknowledgments

Professor John Black first suggested that I should write a regular

weekly column on the Olympics in the Southern Courier follow-

ing the lead of another University of New South Wales academic

Professor John Dwyer who has a regular column on medical issues. The

idea was welcomed by the then Editor, David Moase, and the first column

appeared in February 1998. David provided me with a free hand and any

editorial touches were deft and light. Many of the articles were also repro-

duced in the Inner Western Courier, thus reaching a substantial part of

the Sydney suburban population south of the Harbour. Towards the end of

1998 Marc Gonsalves took over as Editor of the Southern Courier and

was also supportive. I appreciate the opportunity provided by David and

Marc.

Writing a regular weekly column was an enjoyable and challenging

experience. It enabled me to reflect on some of the issues of the day

which surfaced in the media, such as the questions about who would open

the Games and why political debate on the Sydney Olympics was so ro-

bust and a host of other issues. (I suspect Sydneysiders far too self-con-

scious about how well they are travelling on their Olympic marathon and

how they are being judged by the world). So the book in one sense is a

record of some of the issues which were debated so fervently in the Ol-

ympic city. The column also provides an account of the many activities of

the Centre for Olympic Studies, its conferences and partnerships, the crea-

tion of international networks, its input into public policy and its general

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operations. So, in another sense, this book is a record of how the Olympics

represents an immense challenge to academics like myself and how uni-

versities have been drawn into the Olympic event in many creative ways.

I wish to thank four of my colleagues at the University of New South

Wales who provided guest columns. The Management Committee of the

Centre and many other persons at the university have been remarkably

supportive of the Centre and have encouraged its staff to explore a wide

range of opportunities. I would also like to thank students in various Olym-

pic courses who have debated and written essays on some of the topics in

this book. Special thanks are due to Anthony Hughes, Executive Director

of the Centre, and Margaret Gallogly, my partner, who have reacted to

ideas, commented on drafts, provided research material and have cor-

rected some of my mistakes. However, the responsibility for what has

been written in mine alone.

I also wish to thank Olympic scholars at other universities in Sydney,

Australia and overseas who have contributed in various ways. A Centre

cannot flourish without support of members of the Olympic Family includ-

ing the Australian Olympic Committee, the Sydney Organising Committee

for the Olympic Games and Olympic sponsors including Channel 7. It’s

invidious to mention some names but not others but I would like to espe-

cially acknowledge the following: Stephanie Atkinson, Kevin Berry, Janet

Cahill, Reg Gratton, David Headon and Kristine Toohey.

The cartoons in this book were drawn by Jock McNeish. I wish to

thank the Sydney Paralympic Organising Committee, the New South Wales

University Press, the Olympic Coordination Authority, the National Film

and Sound Archive and Film World, and Janet Cahill for permission to

reproduce a number of illustrations

Thanks finally to Julia Collingwood of St Peters Press for her cheerful

and professional assistance in the design of the book.

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24 February

Issues ofOlympicProportion —The TertiarySector

ow will Sydney manage inH 2000? Will the Games be green?Will there be traffic chaos? Will po-licing and security be adequate? Willthe Games be well designed? Whatwill the weather be like? Will theGames spark a tourist boom? Howcan residents in Sydney get involvedin the Games?

Many researchers at the Univer-sity of New South Wales and otheruniversities are interested in these andother Olympic questions.

One of the prime functions of theCentre for Olympic Studies at TheUniversity of New South Wales is tomake Olympic research available.

Why should the tertiary sector getinvolved in the Olympics?

The Olympics are more than asporting event. Staging the Gamesinvolves art, design, culture and theenvironment, engineering, media, se-

The Centre for Olympic Studies atThe University of New South Waleswas launched on 21 May 1996. TheCentre was provided with a wide briefto promote and coordinate scholar-ship, research and teaching; to en-courage public discussion about is-sues raised by the Games; to ascer-tain areas where the University couldcontribute to the Sydney Olympicsand to gather information about theGames that will assist in the organi-sation of similar events in the future.

curity, tourism, transport and a hostof other issues including Australianidentity and the representation of Aus-tralia in 2000. The Games dramatisesocial issues, including the status ofthe disabled in our society. They alsoraise questions about the status of In-digenous people in Australia and theissue of reconciliation.

Staging an Olympics is a great op-portunity to showcase Australia as asmart and sophisticated country withinnovative research capability, tech-nology, design, management, mediaand communications operations.

The Olympics provide a uniqueopportunity to convey that Sydney isa physically-attractive destination anda lively and interesting city which hasmuch to offer in terms of world-classfacilities, convention sites, commu-nications infrastructure and other fea-tures expected in a global city.

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The Olympic StudiesCentre at Lausanne,

Switzerland.

It is advantageous to get the edu-cation sector involved in the Olym-pics as well as business, the touristindustry, local government, and thecommunity at large to get the bestpossible result in 2000.

Universities are rich in human re-sources. There are many willing stu-dents who can train as skilled volun-teers in 2000.

University researchers can alsoaddress Olympic issues and, in nu-merous ways, enhance the Games ex-perience and operations.

The Centre for Olympic Studiescan also provide a forum for independ-ent assessment of the numerous Ol-ympic issues. All public issues involv-ing the Olympics should be fully can-vassed.

What are the real costs, for in-stance — both direct and indirect —of staging the Games? What are the

tangible benefits? It is better to hon-estly confront such issues, event thedifficult ones, rather than sweepingthem under the carpet.

The Centre has already organisedpublic forums on the Green Games,the Cultural Olympiad, design, lan-guage policy, food services and hasinvestigated the impacts of the Gameson local communities. A conferenceis also planned on issues related tothe Olympic athlete.

Unlike many Games-related or-ganisations, which will close downsoon after the event, the Centre willcontinue operating after 2000 and pro-vide information to other cities. It isalso concerned to help maintain andnurture Sydney’s Olympic heritage.

All activities of the Centre are opento the public and its Home Page canbe consulted at http://www.arts.unsw.edu.au/olympic/

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3 March

It's Not Easybeing theGreen Games— TheEnvironment

illW Sydney’s Games be greenor will there be a superficial

green rinse to make the Games lookgood?

When Sydney won the bid to hostthe Olympics the idea of a ‘GreenGames’ captured the public imagina-tion. The support of Greenpeace gavethe Green Games credibility.

Sceptics have surfaced since 1993questioning Sydney’s green vision.The media has published a number of‘bad news’ stories such as the dioxinscare at Homebush Bay and the useof PVC at Olympic Park.

Some have even suggested that theOlympic organisers are running awayfrom the notion of a ‘Green Games’,preferring instead to talk of the ‘Ath-letes Games’ or the ‘MillenniumGames’ or referring to the 2000 Gamesthe ‘greenest Games’ to date.

A Conference at The Universityof New South Wales on ‘The GreenGames-A Golden Opportunity’ on

Sydney’s ‘Green Games’ have beena matter of lively debate and contro-versy since 1993, when it was animportant element of Sydney’s bidproposal. A Conference was held atthe Centre for Olympic Studies, onI2 September I997 to debate howSydney was travelling on the envi-ronmental front. While some speak-ers praised Sydney’s green initiatives,others thought that the remediationof Homebush Bay was inadequate.

12 September. 1997 attracted livelyand at times heated debate on ‘howwe are travelling’ in regard to theGreen Games.

While some believed that theGreen Games were still achievable,others were less sanguine. Somewere critical of the remediation ofHomebush Bay describing it as‘shoddy’.

One reason why there are suchdiffering perspectives is that the 1993bid promises, like election promises,represent a general statement of in-tent. Once the Games were won, or aGovernment is elected, comes the dif-ficult issue of implementing policiesand paying for any reforms in a shorttime frame.

It is also true that the 1993 greenpromises were very extensive — fargrander than for any previous Games— covering five key areas: energyconservation, water conservation,waste avoidance and minimisation,

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pollution management and protectionof significant natural and cultural en-vironments.

It has become obvious that whilewe are doing well in certain areassuch as energy — the Olympic vil-lage will be state-of-the-art in termsof energy use and its contribution toan ecologically sustainable develop-ment — we are doing less well inother areas such as wastewater re-cycling.

To date some of the good newsstories have received little publicity.The design of the Stadium, Railwayand Showgrounds are innovative. Allthe water which falls on the Stadiumroof for instance will be trapped inhuge tanks and recycled.

It is also true the Green Gameshave already been successful. Sydneyhas raised the green bar for future Ol-ympic cities and the successful Ath-ens bid included green dimensions.

Sydney’s Green Games were also

a reason why the International Olym-pic Committee embraced the environ-ment as third strand of Olympismafter sport and culture in 1995.

Even the ‘bad news’ stories aboutthe Green Games are creating greaterpublic awareness of green issues andsport. Sport is a heavy user of envi-ronmental resources — in terms ofland, water and throwaway waste inparticular — and it needs to developgreater environmental accountability.

The Green Games are Sydney’sgift to Olympic Movement, andsomething that will make our Gamesdistinctive. No matter how difficult itis to realise, it should not be denied.It was, after all, a key reason whywe won the Games. The GreenGames will also extend the humanis-tic dimensions of Olympism.

Proceedings of the Green GamesConference* are available from theCentre for Olympic Studies at the Uni-versity of New South Wales.

*Richard Cashman and Anthony Hughes, eds, The Green Games: A Golden Opportu-nity, Centre for Olympic Studies, UNSW, Sydney, 1998. ISBN 0 7334 1645 4

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10 March

Get Involved: It’s The Olympic Games would not bewhat they are without the involve-

the Spectators ment of athletes and spectators andthe support of local communities.

who make theThe Olympics will take place at manyvenues around Sydney and the stag-ing of particular events may even

Olympic Gamescause inconvenience to some localresidents. Many local councils aredeveloping plans so that the disrup-

Special—Local tion will be minimised and the ben-efits of staging the Games in their

Communitiesown ‘back yard’ will be maximised.

A home Olympics occur once- Homebush Bay and at Darling Harbour,in-a-lifetime. While a few peo- many events will take place elsewhere

ple might take advantage of the cheap at various locations on the Harbourfares to travel overseas to avoid the (sailing and triathlon), Bankstown (cy-Olympics, most Australians will want cling), Blacktown (softball), Bondito experience the biggest international Beach (beach volleyball), Cecil Parkevent staged in Australia. They will (shooting), Centennial Park to Brontewant to tell their grandchildren what (track cycling), Fairfield (mountainthey did and saw during the Games. biking), Horsley Park (equestrian),

We should not forget that while the North Sydney Oval (football), PenrithInternational Olympic Committee le- (canoeing and rowing) and Ryde (wa-gally owns the Games, it is the ath- ter polo).letes and spectators who make the The Centre for Olympic StudiesGames such a magnificent event. It organised a day-long forum foris important for the people to feel the Mosman Council on ‘Local Impacts’Games belong to them as well as the on 24 October 1997. The Councilorganisers. wanted to explore ways in which the

The taxpayers of this State are Mosman community could make itscontributing, directly and indirectly, Olympic and Paralympic experienceto many Olympic costs, so they are memorable. They also wanted to planentitled to look for some Olympic ben- carefully in order to minimise Olym-efits. While the focus of the Olym- pic disruption to the local communitypics will be on Olympic Park at — in terms of tourists, increased traf-

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fic and accommodation needs andprotection of the local environment.

This is an important issue, be-cause the Olympic experience shouldnot be the exclusive preserve of theState Government and Olympic or-ganisations.

The Forum learned that some com-munities at Atlanta established creativelinks with visiting teams. This practicehas already been followed by a numberof Sydney councils. At least two inter-national yachting teams (France and theUSA) will be based in Mosman. TheUnited States team will be hosted byBankstown.

S u b u r b a n S y d n e y w i t h i t smulticultural population, could forgeworthwhile links with many visitingteams. A council with a significantEuropean, Asian or South Americanpopulation might select a team whichmatches one section of its popula-tion. This relationship could lead to arich cultural experience both for thevisiting teams and local residents.

The adoption of a Paralympic teamcould lead to greater understanding ofdisabled sport and be a matter of pridefor disabled residents.

The home stay program, wherelocal residents billet family membersof visiting athletes, was also popularin Atlanta. This is an interesting wayfor individual families to become moreinvolved in the Games, and followthem through the eyes of a particularathlete.

Gifts to visiting teams and otherathletes are another way of extendinghospitality and promoting Australianculture and expertise. Quilting is apopular activity in the AmericanSouth. A number of women in At-lanta made quilts which were pre-sented to visiting teams in 1996.

It is also important to think oflong-term benefits to the communityand the issue of Olympic heritage.Will Bondi be better or worse off af-ter the Olympic beach volleyball? WillPenrith have a lasting Olympiclegacy? What will be the use of theOlympic vellodrome after 2000? Willthe Olympic village be integrated ap-propriately into the surrounding com-munity?

The proceedings* of the Centre’s‘Local Impacts’ Conference werepublished in 1998.

*Richard Cashman and Anthony Hughes, eds, Mosman Council Forum on the Impacts of theOlympics, 24 October 1997, Centre for Olympic Studies, UNSW, Sydney, 1998. ISBN 73340464 2

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17 March

Our Attitudewill Determinethe Level of theChaos Factor— Transport

PROFESSOR JOHN BLACK*

F eel the fear. Will you get to theevent on time? No ticket but you

still have to travel to work. Will Syd-ney be embarrassed by negative me-dia reports on ‘traffic chaos’ duringthe 2000 Olympic Games?

More than 5,000 spectators andworkers are expected to travel toHomebush Bay on the busiest of days.A further 100,000 will travel to Dar-ling Harbour. This means that morethan 1.2 million additional daily tripson top of those made routinely bySydneysiders.

Sounds like a recipe for trafficchaos, but we will cope. We have allexperienced transport problems. Thestress of slow-moving vehicles oncongested roads. Buses that don’tarrive. Fear of missing a plane. Ten-sions with traffic delays when kidshave to be picked up. But what about

Transport was an Achilles heel of theAtlanta Games when the interna-tional media were critical of trafficarrangements. Will Sydney do anybetter given that Sydney continuesto suffer from lack of long-term plan-ning, congestion and occasionalchaos? Transport, whether by cab,bus, train or plane, will stretch thetalents of the Sydney organisers.

when there are another million trav-ellers compounding these problems?

We will cope partly because wecan lessons from Atlanta. The rootof the problem was the lack of expe-rienced bus drivers with knowledgeof the city’s streets. Buses got lostgoing to events. Drivers were re-cruited from out of town. Other cit-ies loaned 1500 buses. Some brokedown.

However, the major roads andfreeways did not become gridlockedas some had predicted. In the landof the automobile a million peoplewere persuaded to change their nor-mal behaviour during the 1996 Ol-ympic Games. Drivers switched tobuses and rail.

Outreach programs encouragedbusinesses to start earlier or later andthe traffic peak spread. Vehicular traf-

*Professor John Black is the former Head of the Department of Transport Engineering, inthe School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, at The University of New South Wales.

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fic was down between 3 and 9 per can line tune transport strategies withcent within a radius of about 10 kilo- test events — the 1998 Royal Eastermetres of the city centre and the Show, and other designated majorGames venues. Officials were quoted events leading up to the Games. Co-as saying that highways ‘worked ordination of all forms of transport,beautifully’. Public information on including pedestrian movements, istransport was updated regularly and essential for success, as proved withmade available through the emerging some of the more successful out-technology of the informat ion comes in Atlanta. The police and tow-superhighway. truckers must work harmoniously

Like Atlanta, the New South Wales with vehicle incidents and break-Government has a transport strategy downs.to help us cope. It is committed to But how do we cope during thethe implementation of transport strat- Games? Whether there will be traf-egies. Efficient movement of the Ol- fic chaos or not, will depend on ourympic Family and spectators is a responses, on our own behaviour.must. Public transport will be able to Normal demand can be reducedget to events at major Olympic sites. slightly by school holidays. Cam-

The Premier recently opened the paigns will commence to staggernew railway station at Homebush Bay. starting and finishing times of busi-Car-parking venues are being estab- nesses. Sydney will be in party modelished away from Homebush Bay so and some will take time out or gopeople can transfer to trains, buses away. People will be generous andand ferries. Rail will need to handle will support the logistics to ensure80 per cent more people daily. Buses the Olympic Family and athletes ratemust carry another 50 per cent more Sydney as one of the best venues,than normal. fitting for such a great world city.

Furthermore, the Olympic Roads Sport is a great part of Australianand Traffic Authority (ORTA) plans, culture. I believe we are tolerant ofco-ordinates and is delivering inte- the great global event in our midstgrated road and transport services for and will adjust behaviour appropri-t h e 2 0 0 0 O l y m p i c G a m e s a n d ately so that the world media do notParalympic Games. Fortunately, they have grounds to cry ‘traffic chaos’.

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24 March

Olympic Design:A Major Eventin 2000 —Design Issues

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR

RON NEWMAN*

Staging the Games involves organis-ing a series of events in 28 differentsports. There is also the challenge ofensuring that Olympic Park and Syd-ney look good in 2000. Designersplay a big role in the ‘look’ of theGames and it will be an opportunityfor the Australian design communityto demonstrate its talents. Design-ing the Games is another big Olym-pic event in 2000.

What is Olympic design? What The design process for the Syd-is good design? Who are the de- ney Olympics is equally complex and

signers? These are some questions is a concerted one. It includes manyraised by the whole Olympic process. professional designers involved in

Just like the athletes, the Austral- various projects and two advisoryian design committee and community design committees existing to over-in general will be on show in 2000. view the process: one for communi-

Stephano Marzano, the design di- cations and the other for aspects ofrector of Philips Electronics and a the built environment.Professor at the Domus Academy in The design process for the Syd-Milan wrote that ‘in to-day’s com- ney Olympics began with the designplex world, it is no longer possible to of the bid logo which lit up the Operatackle a design problem from a single House in dramatic fashion on the nightskill: a multidisciplinary team approach Sydney won the bid. The bid designis required’. was later incorporated into the official

The Olympics are a multi-faceted Sydney logo.and complex movement. Those di- The task of designing for an eventrectly involved in the 2000 Games in- such as the Olympics is a complexclude the International Olympic Com- one as it includes graphic design, ur-mittee, the Australian Olympic Com- ban design, architecture, product de-mittee, the Sydney Organising Com- sign and interior design. It involvesmittee for the Olympic Games and the designing specific things such asNew South Wales State Government logos, opening and closing ceremo-and its various authorities. nies, as well as the more general look

*Associate Professor Ron Newman is the Head of the School of Design Studies, in theCollege of Fine Art, at The University of New South Wales.

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A view from the Ferry Wharf of SydneyOlypic Stadium under contruction(courtesy, Olympic Co-ordination

Authority).

of Olympic Park and the city. incorporated into the official SydneyRod McGeoch, the Chief Execu- 2000 logo.

tive of the bid company, recalled in his The design process used for thebook, The Bid, that the first step in the Homebush Bay Olympic site is alsocreation of the image was the selec- a complex one. The site, which istion of a logo. By the time he arrived at 760 hectares in Sydney’s mid-west,the Olympic bid office, a competition requires significant remediation offor the logo was underway. former industrial areas and parts of

Eight major graphic designers with it are wetlands and extremely sen-experience in the area were paid for sitive.their efforts while the others provided Much effort has been made toprofessional design services free in an ensure Olympic Park will look goodattempt to design the winning logo. and perform well in 2000. The tree-

Although there were many attrac- lined Olympic Boulevard, which willtive designs, none was selected initially link some of the major venues at Ol-because there was no Aboriginality in ympic Park, will be an important fea-the designs and nothing ‘jumped off the ture of the site design. Symbolicallypage’, so the firms were asked to sub- it will link Sydney with the olivemit new designs. groves of ancient Olympia.

After re-submission, the design Australia’s Olympic designs willproduced by Michael Bryce, assisted be closely scrutinised in the next fewby Indigenous artist Ron Hurley, was years and the designers, like the ath-chosen. Their bid design was later letes, will be assessed in 2000.

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31 March

Performace-enhancingWeather —ForecastingEvent Weather

PROFESSOR WILLIAM DUNSMUIR*

While we cannot foretell whatthe weather will be like at a par-

ticular venue or time during the Sep-tember-October period of the year2000, concerted research efforts areunderway to improve forecastingduring the Sydney Olympics.

Heat, humidity and wind can af-fect performances in sailing, shoot-ing, cycling, equestrian, rowing andcanoeing events. Organisers, competi-tors, media and spectators need de-tailed forecasts and warnings of se-vere or altered weather conditions.

The Bureau of Meteorology’s briefis to provide forecasts and warningsfor each of the Olympic venues and,in the case of sailing, to provide de-tailed information on the expected vari-ability in the winds. The Bureau of Me-

SOCOG has no control over onecritical factor that will have somebearing on the success of the Games—the weather. What if there are twoweeks of drenching rain in Septem-ber 2000? What if a mini-cycloneblows up at the beginning of a yacht-ing event? While the Games weatheris beyond our control, improvedforecasting is vital to planning forweather of a particular day and for aspecific venue. [The disaster that wasthe 1998 Sydney to Hobart yachtrace later in the year underlined theneed for more research leading toimproved weather forecasting].

teorology has already begun increas-ing the number of observation stationsin the Sydney area in preparation forthe Games, enabling forecasts to bedelivered in unprecedented detail. Ithas also appointed Elly Spark as itsOlympic Games project manager.

Sydney’s proximity to both theocean and the mountains means it isprone to considerable variations insmall-scale weather parameters. Thismeans conditions prevailing at onesite may be significantly differentfrom those at another only a few kilo-metres away. In the case of an Ol-ympic sailing race on Sydney Har-bour , the breezes around FortDenison could be coming from acontrary direction and blowing witha different strength than those at

*Professor William Dunsmuir is a member of the School of Mathematics at The Universityof New South Wales.

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Stadium Australia willtrap rainwater on its

roof retain it in waterstorage tanks and then

use it for recycling.Reproduced from The

Green Games: AGoldern Opportunity,

published by the Centrefor Olympic Studies.

Watsons Bay. Being able to accessthis kind of information at the start,and during the course, of a race willhelp sailors plan their tactics.

For the Atlanta Games, the UnitedStates National Weather Service useda computerised numerical weatherprediction model with the capacity todifferentiate weather elements on a gridwith spacing of only two kilometres.The aim of the collaborative researchbeing conducted between the Depart-ment of Statistics at The Universityof New South Wales and the Bureauof Meteorology is to combine innova-tive statistical techniques with numeri-cal methods in order to give reliableguidance down to even smaller reso-lutions for individual Olympic venuesby the year 2000.

This research project will investi-

gate how existing techniques for sta-tistical weather forecasting on a largescale (synoptic) can be adapted to asmall scale (mesoscale). It will alsocompare data recorded at all mete-orological sites in the Sydney metro-politan area, focusing on the Olym-pic sites, to better understand the vari-ability of mesoscale weather.

Elly Spark and I recently organ-ised a two-day workshop on winds inthe Sydney region to bring togetherresearchers interested in modelling andforecasting wind, one of the morecomplex elements. Participants identi-fied areas for broader research issuesbeyond those needed for the Olym-pics. This illustrates how research fo-cused on a particular important event,such as the Olympics, could lead to abroader benefit to the community.

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7 April

Athletes NeedNurturing —The OlympicAthlete

Olympic athletes, such as DawnFraser, have long been revered

as national treasures.Since 1981, when the Australian

Institute of Sport was opened, Aus-tralia has been in the business of de-veloping and nurturing elite, and par-ticularly, Olympic athletes.

Australia has set very high targetsfor Olympic success in 2000. Theaim is to win 20 gold medals andanother 40 medals of silver andbronze complexion. This is more than50 per cent above Australia’s bestmedal total result. At Atlanta in 1996Australia won 41 medals, includingnine gold. Australia won thirteen goldmedals at Melbourne in 1956, and atotal of 35 medals.

Many questions can be askedabout this investment in Olympic ath-letes. What are the costs and ben-efits of producing Olympic athletes?What is the role of the Olympic ath-lete in contemporary society? Do weexpect too much of our Olympic ath-letes?

The costs of producing Olympic

Since 1981, when the Australian In-stitute of Sport was opened, Australiahas made a large investment in Ol-ympic athletes. However, individualathletes sacrifice much to pursue anelusive goal. For every athlete whorealises an Olympic dream, there aremany others who fail to scale theseheights. Australia’s Olympic athletesneed to be nurtured and the mediaand public need to understood thatthey operate in a tough and demand-ing environment. Many of these is-sues were canvassed at a Conference,jointly organised by the Centre forOlympic Studies and the Sports Medi-cine Program on The Olympic Ath-lete on 15-16 July 1998, A secondConference was held on 23-24 June1999.

athletes are high and include providingstate-of-the-facilities at the AustralianInstitute of Sport, coaching, interna-tional competition and maintenance offull-time athletes.

However, we need to rememberthat attempting to become an Olym-pic athlete is time-consuming andcostly for each individual. They trainfor long hours, often move away fromhome and postpone long-term careeroptions.

There is also no certainty of suc-cess at the end of the athletic road.For every Olympic athlete that makesit to an Olympic final, there are doz-ens of others who record their per-sonal best times but fail to realisetheir dream to achieve a medal or

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even to gain Olympic selection. Cathy Freeman, have become impor-At Games time they operate in a tant role models for young people, in

pressure-cooker atmosphere, when her case, from the Indigenous com-the media and the public often have munity.unreal expectations of Olympic suc- So while successful Olympic ath-cess. letes enjoy lucrative post-Olympic

We’ve all been guilty in the past rewards, they also have the burdenof failing to acknowledge Olympic of social responsibility, which most‘failure’ in the form of a bronze medal choose to honour.(when gold was expected) or eighth A Conference will be held at theplace in a final (when a medal was University of New South Wales onexpected) or not even reaching a fi- ‘The Olympic Athlete’ on 15-16 Julynal (when a personal best was 1998.achieved). Speakers, who will include past

While some might contend that we and present Olympic athletes, will lookspend too much on Olympic athletes, at ways in which potential Olympicmost Australians rejoice in Olympic athletes can be encouraged and sup-success as they also take pride in the ported. They will also review the cur-success of Australian singers and rent policies of producing Olympicactors internationally. athletes.

Olympic athletes, such as Dawn Because the Australian investmentFraser and Kieran Perkins, have been in Olympic athletes is substantial, itrespected unofficial ambassadors for is useful to consider how we can pro-Australia. vide the optimum environment in

Many Olympic athletes, such as which Olympic athletes can flourish.

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14 April

Museum: aViable GamesLegacy —Post-GamesPlanning

t is surprising how many govern-Iment programs are Olympic-drivenand will come to an end in 2000. Bythen there might be no money left inthe sports kitty.

After the Games we will have tocope with the post-Olympic depres-sion along with the millennium bug.

Given that we are spending somuch money on Olympic facilities andinfrastructure, it’s important to startplanning how we can make best useof our Olympic investment after 2000.

It’s also time to think about a de-sirable Olympic legacy, how to bestmanage and define Olympic heritage.Olympic organisations, such as theSydney Organising Committee forthe Olympic Games (SOCOG) willshut up shop soon after 2000.

What will be our Olympic herit-age in 2000? What is the role of anOlympic city after the Games areover?

One worthwhile idea would be toset up an Olympic Museum at the

The Games will leave an extensivelegacy for Sydney and Australia butat this point in time there seems tohave been little thought to planningand managing Australia’s Olympicheritage. Planning for the post-Games period is necessary and couldeven be beneficial. A Museum at Ol-ympic Park might enhance the sitebeyond 2000 and attract future tour-ists and researchers.

Main Stadium at Olympic Park.This could be a state-of the-art

Museum dedicated to the Sydney Ol-ympics which could document howAustralia won the bid, how OlympicPark and its facilities were created,and how the Games were organised.

It could include a hands-on funelement for children, Olympic-relatedelectronic games.

It might also include a collectionof medals, programs, souvenirs, pins,uniforms, banners, photographs andvideos.

Sydney’s Olympic Museum couldalso tell the story of the Games site,how a contaminated wasteland wasremediated and the various greenmeasures that were taken to enhanceOlympic Park.

An Olympic Museum could alsohave an educational focus. It couldcontain electronic modules on topicssuch as the Olympic flame, Olympicsites and Olympic history whichwould be useful for educational

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Olympic Museum atLausanne.

projects. It could also provide a his-tory of Australia and the OlympicGames.

If the Museum housed an Olym-pic library and papers, or had links tothem, it could also be a place whereOlympic research could take place.The Museum could even be an attrac-tive convention centre which mightlure some major conferences to Syd-ney.

A Sydney Olympic Museum couldalso be unique in that it could includeboth the Paralympics and the Olym-pics, in Sydney the organisers of thesetwo festivals have worked closelytogether.

A permanent Olympic Museum atHomebush would enhance the site andmake it more attractive for futuretourists. People who visited Sydneyafter the Games could obtain a one-stop vision of the Sydney Olympics

and Paralympics.To work the Olympic Museum

would need a consortia of govern-ment, Olympic authorities, sponsorsand interested bodies. We at the Cen-tre for Olympic Studies would be keento contribute to this enterprise.

Although such an Olympic Mu-seum would be costly to set up andmaintain it could be an attractiveproposition for sponsors. Entry feesand Museum programs would alsogenerate some continuing income.

The Olympics and theParalympics will pass in the twinklingof an eye — a mere 60 days. It’s im-portant to start thinking now aboutan appropriate legacy for these im-portant events.

We at the Centre for OlympicStudies have a responsibility to assistin defining and developing Sydney’sOlympic heritage.

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21 April

Don’t Overlookthe Paralympics— Making theOther Games aSuccess

The Paralympics, Sydney’s otherGames, receive much less attentionthan the Olympics in the media Whilethe public are supportive ofParalympians — they turned out tocheer the athletes at a ticker-tapeparade after their success at the At-lanta Games — it remains to be seenwhether there is a real commitmentto the Paralympic Games. Will thepublic pay money to watch Para-lympian athletes in 2000?

When the Olympics ended in Paralympics doesn’t necessarilyAtlanta, officials pulled out all translate into Games support and

the plugs and shut up shop leaving commitment — buying tickets tothe Paralympics with a big mess be- watch the Games.fore they could start their Games. A Paralympic fund-raising concert

This won’t happen in Sydney. at the Domain in late 1997 turned outAuthorities organising both Games to be a giant flop.are working hand in hand to ensure Maybe it would help if the publicthat there is a smooth transition from knew more about the Paralympics.one Games to another. Paralympians, like Olympians, are

Sydney officials are taking their outstanding athletes. NigerianParalympic obligations seriously. The amputee Ajibola Adeoye created aGames are not a sixteen-day festival 100 m record of 10.72 seconds. Thisbut a 60-day series of events. is less than a second behind Cana-

Australians generally have a posi- dian Donovan Bailey’s Olympictive feeling towards the Paralympics. record of 9.84 seconds.Proud that Australia secured 42 gold Australian wheelchair basketballermedals at the last Games, finishing Troy Sachs shot a record 42 pointssecond in the medal tally to the USA. in the gold-medal decider at the At-

However, while they have a warm lanta Olympics. This is an outstand-fuzzy feeling towards Australia’s ing performance by any reckoning.Paralympians most would be hard Sport can play a very positive rolepressed to name more than one or in the lives of Paralympians, helpingtwo athletes. them to cope with a particular physi-

Positive feelings towards the cal challenge.

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Louise Sauvage, Australia’s bestknown Paralympian, was born with adisability which confined her to awheelchair. She took up swimmingand wheelchair athletics and becamea world record-holder in events from200 m to the marathon,

Like any able-bodied elite athleteSauvage trains hard six days a weekcovering 130 to 190 kms in her chair.

Her record is an inspiring one: sheachieved four gold medals at the 1992Paralympics and another four goldmedals in 1996. She was the winnerin her class of the Boston Marathonin three successive years from 1997to 1999.

The Paralympics also deserves pub-lic support because it broadens the baseof Olympics, extending elite sport to awider range of athletes. It is also a greatopportunity to raise public awarenessof the sporting and leisure needs ofphysically challenged individuals.

The Paralympics will be stagedfrom 18-29 October 2000. It wouldenhance the occasion greatly ifParalympians performed in front of afull and knowledgeable house. Tick-ets will be cheaper and easier to getthan the Olympics.

Sydney will be hosting the Gold

The Paralympic symbol. (Courtesy,Sydney Paralympic Organising

Committee)

Cup, the world championship formen’s and women’s wheelchair bas-ketball, in October 1998. This willprovide the public with one of manyo p p o r t u n i t i e s t o s u p p o r t t h eParalympians.

The Paralympics, like the Olym-pics, will need volunteers. From mid-year 1998 the Paralympic organiserswill be looking for 10,000 volunteers.

There will also be opportunities forindividual families to host the familiesof Paralympians, to sponsor Paraly-mpic athletes and teams and generallyto welcome the Paralympians.

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28 April

VisionInvestmentmust see aReturn — TheRoyal EasterShow opens atOlympic Park

While there were some teething problems, assessment of

new Showground and the publictransport system, were generallypositive.

Show patrons were able to findmany of the familiar attractions — thevarious pavilions, the main ring, thewood-chopping venue and the sideshows — set in a more spacious andclean environment.

The functionalist and minimalistarchitecture was impressive. The ag-ricultural pavilion featured a largedome made of plantation timber.

The surrounds of the Showgroundwere equally interesting. It is flankedon one side by the towering Main Sta-dium and, on the other, by the cavern-ous brickpit, a reminder of the formeruse for the site.

The Royal Easter Show of 1998,transferred from Moore Park in Syd-ney’s eastern suburbs, was the firstbig test event for Olympic ParkThere was the challenge whether thepublic would support an event in itsnew location. There was also the testwhether the new Olympic Park rail-way loop and station would copewith the large crowds at the Show.While some teething problems wereexperienced, the public responsewas positive and transport opera-tions were considered a success.

The state-of-the-art railway sta-tion has an attractive cantilevered roofwhich allows light to penetrate thebelow-ground station.

It proved a popular and efficientway to arrive at Olympic Park. Towalk out of the station to the hub ofOlympic Park is a memorable experi-ence. Motorists, discouraged by asteep $25 parking charge, largely lefttheir cars at home.

But, not surprisingly, there weresome teething problems reported inthis first Olympic Park dry run.

Some people thought there shouldbe more signs, others pointed to alack of trees and benches. It will alsotake some time for the new venue todevelop its own ethos and character.It some ways it looked too neat.

It was good to have this dry run

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to iron out various problems of mov-ing large masses of people efficiently.

The Olympics will be a much big-ger event. While more than one mil-lion patrons attended the sixteen daysof the Show, it is expected that thenumber of people at Olympic Park in2000 could be as high as 600,000 onone of the peak days.

There will also be the great chal-lenge of making the Olympic site se-cure for this huge mass of humanitywithout introducing too much redtape and delay.

Now there is a good publ ictransport system to Olympic Parkit is important to plan for the bestuse of its recreational facilities be-yond 2000.

The Show will be a successfulannual event from 1999 and theAquatic and Athletic Centres are al-ready well used and popular.

The challenge will be to make theMain Stadium, the Olympic village

and the Millennium Park work forSydney after 2000.

To cover the costs of maintainingthe magnificent Main Stadium after2000 regular events will need to beheld there including sporting events,concerts and other cultural events.

Let’s hope too that there is enoughcollective resolve to complete Millen-nium Park, the third great park atHomebush Bay.

The completion of Millennium Parkwill be a costly exercise but it will inte-grate this site with Olympic Park andthe already-popular Bicentennial Park.With its wetlands and historic brickpitMillennium Park is an important assetto Sydney.

Olympic Park is Sydney’s great-est exercise in vision since the build-ing of the Opera House. It’s impor-tant to get it right in 2000 and be-yond. It’s also critical to get a goodreturn for this investment now, in2000, and in the future.

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5 May

Selfish Politicswon’t be

Sydney experienced a bumpy po-litical ride during 1998 so that evenofficials of the IOC, familiar withmany forms of politics, were taken

Tolerated —The BumpyRide to the

aback by the robust political debatewithin the Olympic city. Olympicpolitics were likely to continue af-fect the Games preparations untilthe State election on 27 March 1999because the State Government is aleading player in the staging of the2000 Games.

State Election

Shock, horror, there’s politics in week? Is politics damaging the Syd-our Olympics. ney Olympics? Or, is it a case of Ol-If you believe all the media reports ympic posturing and blustering with a

Tracey Holmes left SOCOG because state election looming?she had a fight with Olympics Minis- We shouldn’t be surprised by theter Michael Knight; Federal Minister latest outburst of Olympic politics.for Sport Andrew Thomson in not on Political bun fights have occurred atspeaking terms with Michael Knight; many previous Olympics. It’s to bePrime Minister John Howard won’t expected given the amount of publicgive Federal money unless he can open money being spent, the high stakesthe Games; State Opposition leader involved and the substantial involve-Peter Collins will sack former Federal ment of the State Government. ThereLabor Senator Graham Richardson as are also many plum Olympic posts upVillage Mayor if he wins office ... and for grabs.so it goes on. An Olympic association — that

Where is the Olympic bipartisan provides a ‘feel-good’ factor — isspirit that was so manifest when Syd- irresistible to many politicians andney won the bid in 1993? It seems to sponsors, who believe that an Olym-have disappeared. Someone quipped pic gloss and credibility can enhancethat Sydney looked set to win the gold their public image.medal in Olympic politics. It can even be argued that robust

So what did Mr Samaranch make political debate is part of the Austral-of all this when he visited Sydney last ian way of doing things. Why

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shouldn’t there be constructive de-bate on the costs and benefits of theGames, the emblems on the Austral-ian uniform, the shape of the open-ing ceremony and who opens theGames?

Australia will be on show in 2000and it is necessary to think about whatAustralia’s public face should be atthe Games.

However, it seems to many thatthe recent bout of political squabblinghas got out of hand and is destruc-tive of the Australian Olympic effort.

Mr Samaranch had a clear andpointed message for politicians on bothsides of the fence when he stated re-cently ‘that you all have to work to-gether and to leave the problems forafter the Games’. He added that ‘all theAustralians from one and another partyare very interested in the success of

the Games’.The IOC supremo is correct. Con-

tinuing negative political headlines willdetract from the public interest in,and support of, the Games.

The Australian public is alreadytaking great pride in the grand Olym-pic structures at Homebush Bay.

The public will react against anypoliticians who attempt to exploit theGames and who place partisan andindividual interests above those of thecommunity.

It might be good politics for StateOpposition to promise to avoid toomuch chopping and changing of Ol-ympic programs and personnel in thelead-up to the March 1999 poll.

Let’s hope that our politicians canlook for areas of agreement, extend-ing areas of bipartisan support, torecapture some of the spirit of 1993.

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12 MayIn 1998 there was much debate as towho would open the 2000 Games.The most favoured options were thePrime Minister of the day or the Gov-ernor-General but, technically, theQueen was another possibility. TheOlympic Charter stated that theGames should be opened by the‘Head of State’ but in 1998 it was stillunclear as to who would assume that‘mantle’ on 15 September 2000.

Ceremonymust be aboveParty Politics— Who WillOpen theGames?

pening the Games in 2000 isOonly a small bit part in the lengthyand grand opening ceremony.

He or she should have broad pub-represent Australians to the world.

lic acceptance and bipartisan support.But it’s a key moment in the Games

and whoever gets to state those six-teen words will be immortalised. Theirpublic proclamation will be watchedby billions in 2000 and replayedcountless times in succeeding years.

This honour has traditionally goneto the head of state of the host nationor his or her representative.

While there is never any doubt asto who should open the Games inmany other countries — it’s alwaysthe President in the USA — it’s amatter of some controversy and de-bate in Australia.

It’s crucial to make the right deci-sion because the person who opensthe Games is as important as any fu-ture President of a Republic. For a keymoment in our history this person will

30

There are four possible contend-ers to open the Games given that TheOlympic Charter states that theGames should be opened by the headof state of the host country.

The Queen is the head of the Aus-tralian State but it seems unlikely thatshe will open the Games. A majorityof Australians prefer that the Gamesbe opened by an Australian resident.Buckingham Palace accepts this situ-ation.

Ironically, it was not the Queenbut Prince Phillip who opened theGames in 1956, though the Queenopened the 1976 Montreal Games.

Australia was such a vastly dif-ferent country in 1956. There wasno public debate then about whoshould open the Games.

Australian-born Sir William Deaneis highly respected as Governor-Gen-eral and would be a more acceptablechoice to many, though some repub-licans may prefer someone other thanthe ‘Queen’s representative’.

In many respects the Prime Min-ister is the nearest equivalent to theUS President since he is the most in-fluential executive officer in the land.

However, for the ‘Prime Ministerof the day’ option to work well it mustgain bipartisan support. Otherwise,the ceremony will be diminished formany Australians.

The President of a future Austral-ian Republic would be an ideal biparti-san choice. It is highly unlikely that arepublic will be in place, let alone aPresident chosen, by 2000.

Wags have suggested that televi-sion personality Ray Martin or someother media celebrity could open theGames but this will not occur.

Whatever the final choice, it isimperative that there be a full andfrank debate about this important cer-emonial role.

The person chosen must have theapproval of all Australians.

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19 May

Security is aSleeper —SecurityArrangements *

The issue of security doesn’t featuremuch in the media and perhaps theauthorities believe that it is a case of‘out of sight, out of mind’. Security issomething that Sydney has got to getright because it has the potential todamage the Games as it did in At-lanta. Developing an adequate se-curity policy is becoming more diffi-cult because of the variety of threatsposed by the Millennium Games.

While there is a huge amount the 1996 Games. It was yet anotherwritten about transport, costs reason why the Atlanta Games were

and benefits of the Games, the envi- judged not as successful as theyronment, politics and buildings, se- might have been.curity is one of the great sleeping is- Although Australia is generally re-sues of the Games. It hardly features garded as a safe country with a lowerin the media. level of security and terrorist risk than

Yet security is one of the critical other parts of the world, it would beissues of the Games. While Australia foolish to underestimate the securitymight run a brilliant Games in terms problems in 2000.of athletic success, and provide ex- The theatre of the Olympics ap-cellent hospitality and first-rate facili- peals to the world’s best athletes. Theties, our scorecard might be irrepara- attraction of being on the world stagebly damaged by a terrorist attack or a may also have irresistible appeal to anmajor security lapse. international terrorist.

Who can remember what athletic Since the Munich Games thereevents took place at the Munich Ol- have been many new forms of ter-ympics in 1972? The first thing that rorism. The classic terrorists and theircomes to mind about Munich is the techniques of hijacks, bombs andmassacre which cost seventeen lives sieges have been joined by religiousincluding eleven Israeli athletes. fundamentalists and amateurs, who

The Atlanta bombing, which left can gain an education in terrorist de-one dead, cast a pall of gloom over vices via the internet. There is also

*This article has drawn on the insights of Alan Thompson at The University of New SouthWales at ADFA who has edited a book, Terrorism and the 2000 Olympics, ADFA, Canberra,1996. ISBN 0 7317 0350 2

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The variety of modern terrorists has made security more difficult. A diagramprepared by Alan Thompson, and reproduced courtesy of NSWU Press.

the possibility that millennial cults,which may have a program involvingviolence, could emerge out of thewoodwork in 2000.

Making the Games safe and se-cure is a daunting task.

There is a need, first of all, to makeall the Games venues secure and toprotect the Olympic Family and vis-iting VIPs.

However, as Atlanta demon-strated, security extends to non-Ol-ympic venues where visitors mightcongregate such as The Rocks orother city precincts.

Then there is a need to protecttransport routes since trains are thevital cog of the Olympic transportnetwork.

All this has to be achieved, accord-

ing to the IOC, with security which‘must be both comprehensive andunobtrusive’.

It is imperative for Games au-thorities to start outlining some ofgeneral parameters of security plansfor 2000.

While it is understandable that theprecise details of security plans mustremain top secret, there is no reasonfor the absolute silence on security.Reassurance is a key factor.

Public understanding of securityarrangements will help them acceptmore readily Olympic security redtape. An informed public, which isaware of security risk areas andthings that don’t look right, may evenhelp to make the Games more se-cure.

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26 May

Testing Drug-free — Will theSydney Gamesbe Clean?

Will the Sydney Olympics beclean and credible? Will all the

gold medals be won by athletes whoare not cheating? Can Australia suc-ceed in making the Games fair andclean when other countries have failedto some extent?

It will be a tough test, judging bythe record of the Games since 1972,when the International Olympic Com-mittee first introduced drug testing.It is usual for some of athletes to testpositive to illegal drugs and to be senthome in disgrace.

Scientists have developed moresophisticated testing devices for drugdetection. New developments in thehighly sensitive equipment of the massspectrometer can now detect evensmall doses of steroids and other drugs.

Testing at the 2000 Olympics willbe more comprehensive than at anyprevious Games. Australian Olympicofficials have been prominent in de-manding tougher drug policies.

However, it would be foolish tounderestimate the drug problem in

The positive test returned by BenJohnson -who crossed the line firstin the 100 metres — tarnished the1988 Seoul Olympics. Will Sydneyavoid a repeat scandal?

What can the Sydney organisers doto ensure that the Sydney Games areclean?

2000. Many informed observers be-lieve that we are still losing the battleagainst drugs.

The biggest problem is that as fastas testers improve their techniques,new state-of-the-art drugs appearwhich are much harder to detect.

While it is now possible to detectsome performance-enhancing drugssuch as steroids, it is far more diffi-cult to detect excessive amounts ofnaturally-occurring substances in anathlete’s body, such as growth hor-mones.

It is now more difficult to catchdrug cheats because testers have towork with probabilities rather thancertainties. A high level of growthhormones points to the likelihood ofillegal drug taking but does not pro-vide conclusive proof.

While international Olympic offi-cials are now talking tougher ondrugs, it has been claimed in somequarters that some officials havelacked the political will to stamp outdrugs, not wishing to offend some

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Courtesy Jock McNeish

powerful Olympic nations, to carryout tough measures.

It is important for the Australianand Olympic public -the live spec-tators and television watchers — todemand of athletes, officials and theGovernment that the Sydney Gamesshould be clean. The public shouldinsist on tougher testing policies tocatch drug cheats.

There will be a panel on this sub-ject at the Conference on the Olym-pic Athlete which will be held at TheUniversity of New South Wales on14 July 1998.

The panel, led by Professor PeterBaume, Chair of the Australian SportsDrug Agency, will feature many ex-perts and athletes, including formerOlympic swimmer, John Konrads.

[Discussion at the Olympic Ath-lete Conference on 15-16 June 1998suggested that the use of illegal per-formance-enhancing drugs is becom-ing a bigger rather than a smaller prob-lem in the Olympic Games. Anecdo-tal evidence suggested that for everydoping conviction there were manyother ‘drug cheats’ who avoided de-tection.]

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2 June

Torch to TourTen Countries— The TorchRelay

The lighting of the flame at Olympia,Greece, and the torch relay will be amajor part of the 2000 Olympics. Thetorch relay, which will conducted for100 days in Australia, will providemany individuals and communitieswith the opportunity to be involvedin the Olympics. The torch relay willalso provide an occasion for the coun-tries of Oceania to share the Olym-pic spirit.

The Olympic torch, having beenlit in a ceremony organised by the

Hellenic Olympic Committee in Ol-ympia — site of the ancient Games—will come to Australia in mid-June2000, 100 days before the Gamesbegin. Details of the path of the torchrelay will be announced in July. Be-fore arriving in Australia the torch willbe taken to ten neighbouring coun-tries of Oceania including AmericanSamoa, Cook Islands, Guam, Feder-ated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Nauru,New Zealand, Palau, Papua NewGuinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands,Tonga and Vanuatu.

Sharing the torch relay with ourneighbours is important because it willdemonstrate symbolically that the2000 Games are not just for Sydneyand New South Wales: they also be-long to Australia and the countries ofOceania. Most of these small coun-tries will never have the opportunityto host an Olympics, so it is impor-tant to share the spirit when the

36

Games come to their part of theworld.

The torch relay route around Aus-tralia, to be announced in the next fewmonths, will take it within 100 kilo-metres of where 85 per cent of theAustralian population lives, so evensome of the more remote communi-ties can share in the Games experi-ence.

There will also be opportunities formany Australians to carry the torchfor 500 metres, the allocated distancefor each runner. Each evening the torchrelay will stop for the night at a par-ticular locality. Each community willbe able to develop its own ceremoniesand celebrations on the one night theOlympic torch came to town.

Why is the torch such a powerfulsymbol? For aeons fire has been apowerful symbol of life, purity andhope. The Olympic flame, kindledfrom the rays of the sun at Olympia,provides the modern Games with apowerful link with the ancient Games,

which were celebrated for more thana millennium.

The lighting of the flame at anyGames is a highlight of the openingceremony. It was a special momentin the life of promising 19-year-oldathlete Ron Clarke when he lit theflame at Melbourne in 1956. There isalso much speculation about who willbe the final bearer of the torch. Theidentity of the person or persons tolight of cauldron at Stadium Australiawill remain a closely-guarded secretuntil the event takes place, adding tothe drama and mystique of the mo-ment.

The design of the torch will also bean interesting event in itself and an op-portunity for Australian designers tocome up with an idea relevant to con-temporary Australia. In 1956 Austral-ian ties to Britain were emphasised whenthe torch was an exact copy of the oneused at the London Games of 1948,the only time a new torch has not beendesigned.

Seeing and even carrying the

torch is a special event in the livesof many Australians. It was a mo-ment of great pride for my own Vice-Chancellor, Professor John Niland,to carry the torch in 1956 — for amile at South Lismore — when hewas a 16-year-old.*

*Professor Niland’s reflections on carrying the torch in 1956 have been included in JanetCahill, Running towards Sydney 2000: The Olympic Flame & Torch, Walla Walla Press,Sydney, 1999. ISBN 0 9587079 8 7

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9 June

Lessons fromBarcelona —An OlympicSuccess Story

Of all the cities that staged theOlympic in recent years, Barce-

lona provides the best model for Syd-ney to follow.

By all accounts Barcelona stageda successful Games. It is one Olym-pic city which has continued to ben-efit since the Games were held in1992.

There has been a post-Gamestourist surge since the Olympics andthe Games have generally enhancedthe city’s attractiveness and worldstanding.

Last week I visited Barcelona tofind out first-hand what the cityachieved from the Games. I also wentto Barcelona to inspect the Centre forOlympic Studies. It is the first of itskind in an Olympic city.

In terms of its architecture, cul-ture and art, Barcelona is a stunninglybeautiful city. It is, like Sydney, a sen-suous seaport city. Barcelona is alsoa great mixture of the old and the new.It has its Gothic quarter and Romanruins along with some innovative

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Barcelona, judged one of the bestGames of recent times, provides anideal model for Sydney to emulate.The city used the Games to createan attractive Olympic precinct, toundertake extensive urban renewaland to re-present Barcelona as anattractive global destination. Barce-lona is one city which has continuedto benefit from the Games.

modern architecture. Gaudi’s exoticcathedral and apartments are alsomuch admired.

Barcelona’s Olympic sites matchand enhance the grandeur of the city.Located on a mountain above the citythe main Olympic precinct at Montjuïchas innovative architecture in this at-tractive setting.

Far from being a white elephantin 1998, the sporting venues are wellpatronised. I observed a steady streamof tourists who came to view the mainstadium and nearby gallery. A promi-nent soccer team plays regularly inthe Main Stadium.

Equally appealing was the site ofthe Olympic village by the Barcelonawaterfront where former derelict landhad been transformed into an attrac-tive site.

What impressed me most was thecreative use of public space. In Bar-celona the citizens are encouraged tomingle in public squares and avenuesmade more attractive by sculpturesand art works.

The Olympic precinct atMontjuïc has a

spectacular locationoverlooking Barcelona.

So what can Sydney learn fromBarcelona?

First, it is important to think aboutthe presentation of venue space atOlympic Park and Darling Harbour,but also the look of other public space— such as The Rocks, Circular Quayor the boulevard at Olympic Park. Itis desirable to plan to enhance thepublic space where Olympic visitorswill gather there in evenings afterevents.

There is a real opportunity in thenext two years to enhance the appealof Sydney’s public space so it wouldbe beneficial if planners could thinkof something more than a springclean or a fresh coat of paint in 2000,or the refurbishment of a particularstreet.

The Olympics provide a uniqueopportunity to develop more perma-nent and attractive ways of enhanc-ing Sydney’s public space.

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23 June

How it Started— Track andField

Although track and field are cen-tral events of the Olympics and

global sport, there has been little re-search on how they have evolved,their changing forms, and why ath-letics are more popular in some partsof the world than others.

Why do we refer to athletics astrack and field? Is this a romanticthrowback to running, jumping andleaping on the village green?

Recently I attended an internationalconference on ‘Track and Field: SomeCultural and Humanistic Perspectives’at Gothenberg, Sweden.

It’s intriguing to discover the ori-gin of some forms of track and field.A long pole was a convenient way togain rapid access across a Dutch ca-nal. The skills developed by workingvaulters led to an Olympic pole vaultevent.

Pole vault was introduced in theOlympics for the men in 1896, butwomen, including Australia’s EmmaGeorge, have had to wait until 2000to become part of the Olympics.

The track and field program haschanged considerably over the pastcentury. The tug-of-war, which was

Track and field, one of the coreevents of the Olympics, have had along and interesting history and theprogram of events have continuedto evolve since 1896. Coaches, sci-entists and even philosophers haveall contributed to the particular dis-ciplines and ethos of athletics.

regarded as a form of ‘heavy athlet-ics’, and was a popular Olympicevent, from 1900 to 1920. It wasdropped from the program primarilybecause there was no internationalassociation to. defend it.

There were two categories ofthrowing events at the StockholmGames of 1912 in sports such as dis-cus, javelin and the hammer — one-handed and two-handed throws.

The Swedes, following the phi-losophy of Per Henrik Ling, believedthat athletes should exercise in a bal-anced fashion, they should be able tothrow right and left-handed.

So in 1912 there was a gold medalfor a single-handed throw (from anathlete’s strongest side) and anothergold medal for athletes who threwthe javelin (and other throwing con-tests) from both sides.

The javelin and discus events fea-tured in the ancient Olympics thoughthe techniques have changed sincethen.

There was an interesting confer-ence paper on pain, how some ath-letes torture themselves to success.The use and abuse of pain and the

40

media treatment of pain is a very in-teresting topic.

In some instances athletes whotriumph over pain are treated as he-roic. John Stephen Aguare, wholimped his way to the end of the mara-thon in the 1968 Games at MexicoCity, has been lauded for his coura-geous effort to finish an event longafter the rest of the field had finished.He stated that his country had senthim to the Games to complete hisevent.

Aguare’s epic finish featured in anofficial Olympic film, The OlympicCentury, produced by Bud Greenspan.

On another occasion, whenwomen collapsed at the end of thefirst Olympic 800 metres in 1928,officials and the media regarded thesewomen, who appeared to be in pain,as unheroic.

In recent decades the coach hasmoved more from the sideline to cen-tre field of track and field.

There was an interesting contrastdrawn between two great Australiancoaches, the unorthodox PercyCerutty who led his charges up thesandhills and orthodox Franz Stampflwho went by the book and reliedmore on science.

Both had their success in the Ol-ympics. Cerutty coached Herb Elliottand Stampfl Ralph Doubell.

In some previous times, athletesran up and down rectangular fields— as was the case in the ancientGames — or even in sweeping cir-cles of the labyrinth rather than roundan oval.

Athletic orthodoxies about howwe run, throw or jump have changedin the past and continue to evolve.

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2 June

Not Just theChinese, butAustralia Too— Australia’sDrug Problems

That drug problem just won’t goaway. We used to think that it

was a problem for other countries,such as the former German Demo-cratic Republic (East Germany) andChina.

Our media love to show the pic-ture of the back of that Chinese swim-mer, built like an incredible hulk. Thepicture was taken as proof that theChinese system was rotten to the core.

Australia, by contrast, was por-trayed as one of the toughest drug-enforcing nations, one that was push-ing for random drug testing.

So the public might be excusedfor being a bit confused as to whywe now seem to have a drug prob-lem, why football and cricket authori-ties are rushing out to test wholesquads of players.

It seems now that drugs are notjust an Olympic problem — wholeteams in popular team sports are un-der a drug cloud.

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It came as a surprise to many Austral-ian that there were a spate of drugconvictions in Rugby League andAustralian Rules football. It seems thatAustralia, too, has a drug problem insome of its popular sports suggestinga need for better drug policies, en-forcement and education. Maybe, too,we should stop pointing a finger atChina and clean up our own house.

The public are confused, andwonder why a particular footballerwith an extraordinarily high dosageof an anabolic steroid can escape viaa legal technicality. And why was thisfootballer unaware that he was tak-ing a prohibited substance?

They are also curious why foot-ballers have admitted taking anabolicsteroids in the past, have tested posi-tive and have been exonerated.

It makes one wonder whetherAustralian sporting officials are seri-ous about drug enforcement.

Why don’t athletes know whatdrugs are illegal? Who is promoting adrug culture in sport? Who is ben-efiting from it? Why are the proce-dures so inadequate?

There are now greatly improvedscientific testing techniques so thatsmall portions of a particular drug,such as steroids, can be detectedthrough the mass spectrometer. How-ever. it’s also true that it is difficult to

detect a high dosage of drugs that natu-rally occur within the body.

However, none of this scientificknow-how will be of any use unlessindividual sports have well-developeddrug policies backed by education andenforcement programs which spellout what is legitimate and what not.

Players are also entitled to knowwhat is fair to take to deal with pain,to heal an injury or to cope with someother medical problem and whichdrugs should be avoided at all costs.

The call to test every RugbyLeague player appears a knee-jerk re-action which underlines the fact thatone sport has failed to develop an ad-

equate and regular system of drugtesting and education.

Drug testing to date in manysports has been haphazard and incon-sistent. While one footballer has beentested ten times, another 200 playershad no test whatsoever in the pastyear.

It is important for us to stoppointing the finger at the Chinese andto clean up our own house beforethe 2000 Olympics.

Because the issue is such an im-portant one, there will be a specialDrugs in Sport Forum at the Con-ference on the Olympic Athlete on15-16 July.

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7 July

Harnessing theMind —Learning fromHigh Achievers

What is it drives high achievers tosuch extremes to become the best inthe world. The champion mindset ofhigh-performing athletes is shared byartists, inventors and scientists whoare driven to pursue a particulardream. Professor Snyder, of the Cen-tre for the Mind at the AustralianNational University, believes thatthere is much to be learnt from thesehigh achievers, who work in manycultural and intellectual fields.

ast week was Olympic Week.L or even psychotic because they goTo celebrate this event, the Di- to such extremes to become the best

rector of the Centre for the Mind at in the world.the Australian National University, Pro- But they are not alone. Artists,fessor Allan W. Snyder, delivered the scientists and other creative peopleinaugural Edwin Flack Lecture.* are also great achievers and are equally

Why, you might ask, was a Pro- determined to go through the agonis-fessor holding a Chair of Science and ing process to realise a dream.the Mind giving a lecture dedicated We can learn a lot from highto our first gold medallist, Edwin achievers because, whether it is inFlack? What has winning gold med- sport, the arts or science, they areals got to do with extending the mind people who can visualise success —and enriching science? by developing a champion mindset —

Professor Snyder suggested that and even the steps leading to success.Edwin Flack, like other successful Ol- They have a mindset which helps gen-ympians, was a man possessed — in erate this self-fulfilling prophecy.fact, some people may have consid- Those with mindsets which areered him mad — because of his sin- more narrowly focussed limit them-gle-minded will to win. selves, setting boundaries which

In one sense, successful Olympic scale down expectations,athletes may appear clinically neurotic By contrast, those with champion

*The Inaugural Edwin Flack Lecture took place at the University of Sydney on 26 July 1998and was given by Professor Allan W. Snyder, Director, Centre of the Mind, AustralianNational University. The Australian Olympic Committee initiated this annual lecture. Thesecond Edwin Flack Lecture in 1999 was delivered by Lord Asa Briggs.

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mindsets have ‘the courage to chal- found that decision-making is impairedlenge others and expand boundaries’. significantly in patients who lackThey are the risk-takers of excel- awareness of the body.lence. Professor Snyder suggested that

‘Isn’t the Olympic Movement Australia, which has a tradition of in-with its global allure and its dignity’, novation, could add a new dimensionadded Professor Snyder, ‘the ultimate to the Olympics.venue for the exploration of human It could organise ‘an open, inter-achievement?’ active, world-wide forum on the

‘Isn’t the Olympic Movement the study of performance’ inviting crea-ideal platform for encouraging the tive people from many arenas.cross-fertilisation of ideas about per- Australia could bring together ath-formance in the broadest sense?’ letes, artists, academics and other

It’s also time we stopped thinking achievers to consider the question ofabout matters of the mind and the performance.body as separate. Particular issues relating to athlete

T h e A m e r i c a n neurologist performance will be canvassed at theDamasio discovered that the mind symposium on ‘The Olympic Athlete’learns a great deal from the body and which will be held on 15-16 July atis greatly influenced by the body. He The University of New South Wales.

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21 July

Immigrants takeGold —Multiculturalismand theOlympics

It’s hard to fathom why some pol-iticians regard multiculturalism as

a dirty word.While there is room for construc-

tive debate about the level and char-acter of Australia’s migration intake,many seem to forget that apart fromthe Indigenous population we are all‘recent’ immigrants who have cometo this country in the last one, two orseven generations.

No-one can deny that a succes-sion of immigrants have contributedto our culture, the economy, cuisineand other central parts of Australianlife — including sport.

Immigrants have also contributedto Australia’s fine record at the Ol-ympics.

John Konrads, who won the goldmedal in the 1500 m freestyle at Romein 1960, was born in the small repub-lic of Latvia. John was only two whenthe Soviets overran his country inAugust 1944. His family fled the coun-

Australia has had a rich tradition ofsporting immigrants who have con-tributed to Australia’s Olympiclegacy. Their expertise and interestshave added to the variety of Austral-ian sport and have helped Australiaachieve success in some ‘new’ Olym-pic sports.

try to escape Soviet rule.The Konrads family attempted to

migrate to the USA but their applica-tion was refused. They came insteadto Australia under the immigrationprogram, arriving in New SouthWales in August 1949. Their firsthome was at Uramquimty migrants’camp, near Wagga Wagga.

John and his famous sister, Ilsa,learnt to swim at this migrant campfor their own protection. Becausethere were numerous dams and wa-ter holes nearby, they were taught toswim by their father for their ownsafety.

Immigrant expertise has also beeninvaluable in coaching.

Austrian-born Franz Mairinger, thefather of Australian equestrian coach-ing, played a big role in Australia’ssuccess at the Rome Olympics in1960, when the equestrian team wontwo gold medals.

An instructor in the famous Span-

46

ish Riding School of Vienna, Mairingerlost most of his possessions in WorldWar Two. When he came to Australiahe had to work as a labourer on thewharves and as a farm-hand beforehe gained the opportunity to becomeAustralian equestrian coach.

When Mairinger prepared the firstAustralian equestrian team to com-pete in the Olympics, it was a caseof raw Australian talent being en-hanced by skilled immigrant coach-ing. The team finished fourth at the1956 Olympics -the first time Aus-tralia competed in this event — be-fore its success at Rome in 1960.

Franz Stampfl was another Aus-trian-born coach who migrated toMelbourne in 1955. He coached RalphDoubell to a gold medal in the 800 mat Mexico in 1968.

Australia has had a long line ofoverseas-born sporting stars and arich tradition of sporting immigrants.They have enabled Australia to com-pete successfully in a wider range ofsports including gymnastics, martialarts, soccer and weightlifting. Theircontribution in many sports has beendocumented in a book Sporting Im-migrants: Sport and Ethnicity in Aus-tralia, published by Walla Walla Pressin 1997.

Australia’s team in 2000 will re-flect its multicultural society. mostrecent swimming sensation, MichaelKlim, the star of the 1998 WorldChampionships, was born in Poland,and did not come to Australia untilaged 11.

The Olympics are a global rite cel-ebrating our common humanity andthe rich diversity of the cultures ofthe world.

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28 JulyFinancial AxePoised over theParalympicTeam—AReducedParalympicTeam?

It’s crunch time for the Austral-ian Paralympic athletes.The Australian Paralympic Com-

mittee (APC), which is responsiblefor training and assembling the team,has reported a severe financial short-fall.*

The APC has only received anallocation of $1 million from the Ol-ympic Athlete Program for 1998-99,which is just 4 per cent of the $25million provided for able-bodied Ol-ympic athletes for the same period.

The APC needs another $1.5m inthis period to field Australian teamsin all 18 Paralympic sports.

If requests for additional fundinga r e n o t m e t , t he Aus t r a l i anParalympic team might be slashed

The Australian Paralympic Commit-tee reported a funding crisis thatmight mean that the successful Aus-tralian Paralympic team could be cutalmost by half for the 2000 Games.This would reflect very poorly onAustralia because Australia will fieldits largest ever team at the 2000 Ol-ympics. However, the news on thesponsorship front was more prom-ising The Sydney Paralympic Organ-ising Committee believed that itwould meet its targets.

from 280 to 155 athletes.Australia might only be repre-

sented in only nine of the 18Paralympic sports.

It would be a sorry state of af-fairs if Australia staged a great andlavish Olympics followed by a nofrills Paralympics.

The contrast between the twoGames would indeed be very stark in2000.

As the home country Australia willcompete in every event in the Olym-pics, its team of 650 athletes will bemore than double the Australian con-tingent of 314 at the Melbourne Olym-pics and more than 50 per cent largerthan the Atlanta team of over 400.

It is likely that the year 2000 will

*It was reported, later in the year, that Federal funding for the Australian Paralympic teamwas increased to $1.8 million, thereby alleviating the immediate crisis.

48

Courtesy, SydneyParalympic Organising

Committee.

mark the flowering of another goldenera in Australian Olympic history withthe target of 60 medals likely to be met.

A home Olympics provides agreater number of athletes with theopportunity to perform in front oftheir own crowd.

The Paralympians come off a veryhigh base, having been the second bestteam in Atlanta, achieving 42 gold med-als and 106 medals in all.

At Atlanta Australia fielded aParalympic team of 160 athletes rep-resenting in 13 sports.

A smaller Paralympic representa-tion in our own country in 2000 isunthinkable and would be an unmiti-gated disaster.

While the Australian ParalympicCommittee struggles to reach its fund-ing targets, the preparations for theParalympic Games, by the SydneyParalympic Organising Committee(SPOC) are progressing satisfactorily.

Three sponsors have signed up tosupport the Games — Telstra ,Westpac and the Motor AccidentsAuthority — and the Chief Executiveof SPOC, Lois Appleby — believes

that preparations are on track.So what can be done to avoid sav-

age cuts in the number of athletes onthe Paralympic team?

The responsibility rests largelywith the Federal Government and theAustralian Sports Commission.

Sponsors and government, themain sources of large funds, do notoperate in a vacuum. They have al-ready opened their purses freely forthe Olympics.

They need to be reminded by allof us that the Paralympics must beadequately funded.

The Paralympics deserve publicsupport because it broadens the baseof Olympics, opening up top sport toa wider range of athletes. It also pro-vides us with a chance of reviewingand improving leisure opportunities forthe disabled in our society.

The Paralympics will be stagedfrom 18-29 October 2000. Let’s hopethat the host country will have a fullcomplement of athletes and demon-strate to the world that elite sport forathletes with a disability is as impor-tant as elite able-bodied sport.

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4 August

A PositiveLegacy —Raising theGreen Bar forthe BuildingIndustry

ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR

DEO PRASAD*

illW the Olympic Games leavea lasting impact on the con-

struction industry? Can Councils learnfrom the innovative approaches be-ing used at Homebush Bay concern-ing project delivery and performancemeasurement? Can we learn moreabout how to build on a more envi-ronmentally sustainable basis from theHomebush Bay experience?

When Sydney won the bid to hostthe 2000 Games, there was a com-mitment to the ‘Green Games’. How-ever, the issues that comprise greenconsiderations were not fully under-stood. There were also few bench-marks to measure how green theGames should be. How green is greenenough in 2000?

Deo Prasad argues that the Olympics,and the ‘Green Games’ are havingsignificant effects on the building in-dustry on the plans developed by lo-cal councils for compliance-based re-quirements for energy, water or wasteperformance of building projects.Prasad argues that communities, out-side Olympic Park, are profiting fromthe green strategies and guidelinesdeveloped by the Olympic Co-ordi-nation Authority.

The knowledge and developmentguidelines being developed by theOlympic Co-ordination Authority(OCA), which have been tested atHomebush Bay, will be useful forCouncils such as Randwick which isin the process of putting in place itsdevelopment control plans.

In trying to honour the bid prom-ises, the OCA set about the task ofestablishing environmental strategies,designing guidelines and project briefsin a way that had not happened in thebuilding industry before.

The approach has been quite stra-tegic and involved getting the ‘proc-ess’ right in order to deliver success-ful outcomes. The consultations withstakeholders and experts led to a

*Associate Professor Deo Prasad, SOLARCH Group, The University of New South Wales.

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number of high-quality documentswhich can be more widely applicableto a number council jurisdictions andlarge developments.

With the current drive by coun-cils to address the local agenda 21considerations and the ‘Kyoto prom-ise’ for greenhouse gas reductions,councils can learn from the OCA’sexperiences. They can learn how theissues of sustainable urban develop-ment can be addressed in today’seconomic and social climate.

The delivery of green projects re-lies heavily on a co-ordinated holisticapproach to design and analysis. Theset of considerations range fromgood land-use and site planning (con-sidering issues of building orientation,zoning, landscaping and so forth),transport (both within an area andconnections to outside of a suburb),material selection for constructionsand an overall life-cycle assessment.Other concerns are low-energy de-sign and energy demand minimisation,environmentally benign energy sup-ply waste and water management,ecology preservation and cultural,social and economic considerations.

All of these considerations arebeing applied at Homebush Bay withvarying degrees of success.

The benchmarks being set atHomebush Bay may be exceeded by2000. However, the Olympic site isstill the first attempt in Australia todeal with such a range of issues.

Councils have yet to develop com-pliance-based requirements for en-ergy, water or waste performance ofbuilding projects.

One of the key opportunities aris-ing from the green promises for theSydney Games is the possibility ofcultural change within the buildingindustry.

Architects, designers, planners,builders, clients and financiers willhave to deal with the issues of envi-ronmental performance. Councilswill also have to educate themselvesabout measures and assessment tech-niques.

All of this clearly will clearly leadto green issues being made an inte-gral part of considerations by indus-try. We can anticipate that the Ol-ympics will provide a positive legacyfor the building industry.

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11 August

Make Moneywith Care —The Role ofSponsors

Despite all its crises of drugs, cor-ruption and politics, the Olympicsstill retain some of their mystery andmagic which is appealing in a secu-lar society where sporting and en-tertainment spectaculars have be-come commonplace. This is why theOlympics are such hot commercialproperty. However, unless the spon-sors respect the best traditions of theGames, the Olympics may becomeover-exposured and over-commer-cialised.

Why are the Olympic Gamessuch hot commercial property?

Why are the big multi-nationals fall-ing over each other to get that Olym-pic endorsement? How does the Ol-ympic association improve the brandof a product? How does an Olympicassociation improve the brand of aproduct? Have the Olympics becomeover-commercialised?

Sponsors recognise that the Ol-ympics are the biggest show in town,the largest peace-time internationalevent to take place in Australia and achance for Sydney to market an at-tractive postcard image to a worldmarket. Naturally business wants tobe part of the Olympic party. Al-though the biggest bills — consider-ing both direct and indirect costs —for the 2000 Games are being paidby the taxpayer, private sector sup-port is substantial.

The Games still generate a ‘feelgood’ factor. Despite endless storiesof drugs, politics and corruption, the

public still have a positive view ofthe Olympics. Why is this so?

In an era when sport has gonefrom the sublime to the prosaic, theOlympics still retain something of themagic and mystery of a great worldfestival.

While much of contemporarysport suffers from overexposure andhas become humdrum and predict-able, the Olympics still have a spe-cial feel. The Olympic experience isstill highly valued.

While few sporting contests canboast of traditions of more than acentury, the Olympics have an an-cient and religious legacy which addto their aura.

The ancient Greeks, the first greatsporting society, provide the Olym-pics with a rich pool of symbols andsites.

The torch is lit at Olympia, thesite of the ancient Games, wherethose involved in the ancient Olym-pics came to celebrate the Games

52

Kevin Berry addresses aBusiness Breakfast

organised by the Centrefor Olympic Studies on

26 August 1998.

and to worship Zeus.Fire, a powerful symbol of purity

and sacrifice, is a central symbol ofthe Olympic pageant. Olympic med-als include a laurel wreath, anothersymbolic link with the ancient past.

The Olympics have rites and sym-bols that are evocative: they includethe lighting of the torch, the torch re-lay, the march past, the oath, the fiverings, the Olympic flag and anthem,the opening and closing ceremonies,the Olympic village and so on.

In a more secular and scepticalworld, the Olympics provide thesporting public with the opportunityto feel part of a global family.

The symbols and sites are backed

Olympic ideals. Although some of thenotions of fair play and chivalry areless evident in the current Games, theOlympics are still regarded with aweby athletes — as the best of the best.

Olympic internationalism still livesin the village and in the closing cer-emony, when athletes mingle in a joy-ous celebration.

Isn’t there a danger that market-ing and media might diminish the gran-deur of the Olympic festival?

It is crucial that sponsors andmedia interests understand what theOlympic Games are about and respecttheir best traditions. They may evensecure a better return for their dollarif they do so.

*The Centre for Olympic Studies organised a Business Breakfast for Olympic sponsors andproviders on 26 August 1998.

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18 August

Trial for theBig Event —The Gamesand Asia

Where do the CommonwealthGames in Malaysia fit into the

Olympic scheme of things? What isthe importance of these Games forAsia?

The Commonwealth Games are agood international hit out for some up-and-coming athletes. While the stand-ard of competition is not world classin some events, some swimming andtrack and field athletes attract a classfield at the Commonwealth Games.

Kuala Lumpur will be a good test-ing ground for young sprinters suchas Matt Shirvington and LaurenHewitt.

A number of team sports will ap-pear at the Commonwealth Games forthe first time including netball, lim-ited overs cricket and rugby sevens.

Malaysia represents anotherchance for Sydney organisers to learnlessons about staging the Games.SOCOG, which sent a team of ob-servers to Nagano, will send a del-

The Commonwealth Games pro-vided Australian Olympic officialswith an opportunity to observe howa big sporting event should be or-ganised. Being the first Common-wealth Games to be held in Asia, theyalso represent an important Olym-pic advance for Asian countries inthe staging of international athletics.Since the Tokyo 1964 Olympics,Asian countries have become moreinvolved in the Olympics.

egation of 40 observers to KL.This is the first time that the Com-

monwealth Games have been held inAsia. Surprisingly the CommonwealthGames have never been held in Asiaor Africa.

The Commonwealth Games, sincetheir inception in 1930, have beendominated by the big four of the ‘oldempire’ — Britain, Australia, NewZealand and Canada. The one excep-tion was when the Games wereawarded to Kingston, Jamaica, in1966.

Three Australian cities have hostedthe Commonwealth Games since theirinception in 1930 (Sydney, 1938,Perth 1962, Brisbane 1982), and theGames have gone to New Zealandthree times as well.

Both the modem Olympics and theCommonwealth Games were initiallylargely European events.

Asia did not get its first IOC mem-ber until 1909 when Jigoro Kano from

54

Japan became the IOC’s 62nd mem-ber.

By the 1930s Japan had developeda strong swimming tradition and theJapanese men dominated the pool in1936, winning ten medals includingthree gold medals in nine events.

Tokyo was awarded the Games in1940 but they were cancelled.

The holding of the Games in To-kyo in 1964 was an important eventfor Japan and for Asian sport.

Opened by Emperor Hirohito theGames represented an acceptance ofJapan back into the world commu-nity.

New sports in which Asians ex-cel — judo and volleyball — wereadded to the Olympic program atTokyo in 1964. Japan won three offour judo gold medals as well themen’s and women’s volleyball.

When the Games were held inSeoul in 1988 table tennis and bad-minton were added to the Olympicprogram and taekwondo became ademonstration sport. Taekwondo willbe one of the new sports at Sydney2000.

The involvement of Asia andAsian athletes is welcome because itmakes the Olympics a more globalevent.

Unlike Australia, Southeast Asiadoes not have a strong Olympic orCommonwealth Games sporting tra-ditions.

The Games attract many people. TheChristian Brethren Assemblies of

Klang Valley, Malaysia issued a Gamesprogram which also advertised a free

Bible correspondence course.

Given the downturn in the Asianeconomy, it will be more difftcult forMalaysia to s tage a successfulGames.

Australians should support Malay-sia’s Games because it is only fair thatgreater numbers of people shouldhave access to these major festivals.

I will attend the Games represent-ing the Southern Courier and InnerWestern Courier and look forward tofiling some reports on these Games.

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25 August

New Sportsfor Old — TheRace tobecome anOlympic Sport

The Commonwealth Games willfeature some new sports particu-

larly for teams.Hockey, netball, cricket, rugby

sevens and tenpin bowling will beadded to the program in 1998. Lawnbowls (from 1930) and badminton(1966) are the only team sports witha long Commonwealth tradition.

In adopting more team sports, theCommonwealth Games are followingthe Olympic model. Hockey, for in-stance, has a long Olympic tradition.Netball and squash are logical additionsto the Commonwealth program be-cause both have a strong following inCommonwealth countries.

Cricket was played at the 1900Paris Olympics when England beatFrance by 262 runs to 104. However,this event did not later gain status asan official event. Rugby was part ofthe Olympic program from 1908 to1924. Australia won the gold medalin 1908 and the US beat France 8-0

The Olympics play such a crucial rolein setting the agendas of world sportthat there is keen competition to be-come part of the Olympic program.In the late 1990s no less than tensports were attempting to gain thatsought after Olympic status. To im-prove their prospects of success somesports changed their names. Othersattempted to improve their respec-tive image or tried to use the Com-monwealth Games as a steppingstone to higher honours.

in 1924 — the Americans thus arethe reigning Olympic champions!

However, Olympic rugby was fif-teen-a-side rather than the seven-a-side game. At least in Malaysia cricketwill be an eleven-a-side game ratherthan an eight-a-side slogathon.

Tenpin bowling is one a sizeablenumber of sports vying to gain Ol-ympic acceptance. Officials are at-tempting to use the CommonwealthGames as a stepping stone.

Other sports with Olympic aspi-rations include billiards and snooker,competitive aerobics, DanceSport,darts, fly fishing, karate, lacrosse,surfing and ultra marathon.

Ballroom dancing has changed itsname to DanceSport to enhance itsathletic image. Meanwhile darts is at-tempting to improve its image, totransform itself from a sport playedin smoke-filled pubs.

The Olympics play a key role indefining what is ‘real’ sport. The lure

56

of being part of the Olympic programis irresistible. Officials of such sportsbelieve that access to the Olympics willenhance their respective sport’s status,adding to its visibility and popularity.

There will be a number of newsports in Sydney 2000. The Gameswill begin with the triathlon, a sportpopular in Australia. When the ath-letes dive into the Harbour, for thefirst leg of this event, a postcard im-age of Sydney will be beamed aroundthe world.

The introduction of women’s wa-ter polo and women’s pole vault rep-

resents another step towards genderequity. Taekwondo, which makes itappearance in 2000, will extend therange of Asian sports.

It is considered desirable to place aceiling on the number of athletes — setat 10,400 in 2000. So for every newsport added there is a possibility thatothers may be dropped or scaled down.This is not altogether a bad thing.

Some of the more violent and gen-der-specific sports or those that areless televisual may have to reinventthemselves if they wish to remain onthe Olympic program.

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1 September

Global Focuson Australia —Representationof Australia

Australia will be under the mi-croscope in 2000. Its history,

culture and symbols will be closelyscrutinised by Australians and visi-tors alike.

How can Australian culture bestbe represented in 2000? Kangaroos onbikes? Aborigines playing didgeri-doos? Bondi lifesavers? Cappuccino-drinkers in black skivvies?

Is there a gap between public ex-pectation and corporate Australianculture? Is the public nervous andembarrassed about how we might bepresented in 2000?

These were several issues raisedby the Director of the Australian Cul-tural Studies Centre at The Univer-sity of New South Wales, Dr DavidHeadon, at a recent business break-fast organised by the Centre for Ol-ympic Studies.

Dr Headon argued that past mar-keters opted for lazy images of Aus-tralia and Australians. They concen-

How will Australia be represented inthe media in 2000? Will Australiansbe embarrassed by hackneyed andcliched representations of this coun-try when we are on the world stage?How can the richness, diversity andsophistication of Australia best beconveyed? Marketers and imagemakers have a responsibility to con-vey a picture of this country whichmore accurately and honestly depictscontemporary experience.

trated on fun in the sun, or beaches,kangaroos or stereotypes of Aborigi-nes, such as a near naked Aboriginestanding on one leg holding a spear.

By avoiding controversy and ro-bust debate, marketers have pre-sented a sanitised and clichéd versionof Australian identity.

While shrimps on the barbie mighthave impressed many overseas in the1980s, such images are now dated andhackneyed—they undersell the rich-ness of Australian culture and conveya view of the country which is notcomfortable to many Australians.

These images don’t convey themassive changes in Australian culturein the past 25 years.

Dr Headon argued there should bea representation of the richness ofAustralian culture as a mature andtolerant democracy, one keen to de-bate its future.

There was the opportunity to de-pict Australia as a place shaped by

58

The Big Roo used in Norman Dawn’ssound film. ‘Showgirl’s luck’ (1931)

looks strikingly similar to thekangaroos which paraded at Atlanta

recently. (Reproduced from OlympicCountdown, occasional magazine, The

Centre for Olympic Studies.)

sport, social legislation and an unu- Australia is a clever country andsual, yet fragile environment. its inventors deserve recognition for

Australia is a land of subtleties and their many innovations. For all its crit-distinctiveness in speech and humour. ics, multiculturalism has worked bet-

Dr Headon suggested alternative ter here than in many other countries.ways of representing Australia and Let’s hope that the representationAustralians in 2000. Australia is a land of Australia in 2000 will be honestof fine tastes in the arts as well as and comprehensive.food and wine. Australia has a fasci- We no longer need to hide behindnating history, both physical and hu- the clichés and stereotypes.man, dating back many millennia. We Australia, in all its diversity, has aare mostly a land of doers rather than fascinating public face.couch potatoes. The Olympics and the Millennium

Australia is a country with a dis- provide opportunities for us to de-proportionately large global sporting bate our past, present future, andsuccess and we have developed a spe- about what we have been and whatcial relationship with the Olympics. we want to become.

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8 September

AustralianLove of theGames —Australia andthe Olympics

ustralia will bathe in the gloryA of rivers of gold at the Com-monwealth Games. Australia was thedominant team at the last Games atVancouver. There may be even greatersuccess in Malaysia.

In some events, such as the 1500metres swimming, the main issueseems to be which Australian teammember will win.

It’s not surprising that Australiahas achieved great success at recentCommonwealth and Olympic Games.

Australia has had a long a love af-fair with the Commonwealth Gamesand the Olympics. We take them farmore seriously than many other coun-tries.

Just look at the cricket competitionin Kuala Lumpur. The best availableAustralian cricketers will represent Aus-tralia at the Games for the first time.All the team, from captain Steve Waughdown, are keen to accept gold on thevictory podium.

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Australians are more passionateabout the Olympics than most othercountries. That is one reason whyAustralia has won the right to holdthe Summer Games twice in just 44years. Australia, along with Greece,is one of only two countries that haveattended every Summer Games. Thisarticle explores some of the possiblereasons for Australia’s love for theGames.

England, by contrast, will notbother to send a side, and India willonly send half of its national team,the other half will head off to meetPakistan in North America.

Australia will not meet the fullWest Indian side rather they will playagainst Antigua, one of several teamsfrom the West Indies region.

So why does Australia love theGames? Why do we get so excitedby success at the Commonwealth andOlympic Games?

Australia has had a long traditionof success at both Games.

The Games, particularly the Olym-pics, are the chance for Australiansportspersons to achieve internationalstardom, to be the best of the best.

Australian Rules footballers, bycontrast, can only become the best inthis country. Rugby and rugby leagueplayers can achieve success overthose countries which play thesesports. But they can’t achieve success

over athletes from some 200 countries.Australian soccer players do have

the opportunity to play in a truly globalcompetition, the World Cup, but haveonly reached the Cup once, in 1974.

Unlike European and North Ameri-can Olympians, who have access toa wide range of international meet-ings, Australians in the past have hadfar less opportunity to participate ininternational sport.

All but two of the Summer Olym-pics (and none of the Winter Olym-pics) have been held in the northernhemisphere, so it’s often been a strug-gle in the past just to get to the Games.

In earlier decades some athleteswere selected for the Olympic Gamesbut were unable to attend the Gamesbecause of the high cost of travel.Aub Laidlaw, the controversial BondiBeach inspector, was selected to at-tend the 1928 Games but was unable

travel to Amsterdam.There is also the problem for Aus-

tralian athletes of competing out ofseason.

Perhaps the very problems of Aus-tralians attending the Games havemade out athletes more determinedto overcome the many obstacles toachieve success.

Swimmers Fanny Durack andMina Wylie only made the 1912 Gamesat Stockholm at the last minute cour-tesy of a public fund-raising effort.

Durack won the gold medal andWylie the silver in the first Olympic100 metres for women.

Whatever other countries think ofthe Games doesn’t matter to Austral-ians.

Australians take pride in a collec-tive pride in our athletic high achiev-ers, who battle against the odds, toachieve success on the international

to secure funds to cover the cost of stage.

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22 September

Fanfare for theBowlers —Being part ofthe Big Event

Over the past few years I’veread a lot about the Games and

have taught various courses on theOlympics and world sport. I’ve alsoinspected the sites of the past twoOlympics in Barcelona and Atlanta,but I had never before attended anOlympics or a Commonweal thGames.

So what’s it like to be at theGames? How does it feel to be partof the big event? What did I learnfrom being at the CommonwealthGames at Kuala Lumpur?

First of all, it’s very big. The Gamesdominate everything in the city.There’s bunting, flags, mascots, dis-plays, cultural events, merchandiseeverywhere. The venues are spreadaround the city and it can take an hourto get from one event to another. Soone can only see a fraction of theevents that a viewer at home mightsee, flicking from one event to an-other.

The Games are the topic of con-versation for all Malaysians, from

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Attending the CommonwealthGames was a special experience andprovided an insight as to what it mightbe like in Sydney in 2000. The Gamesare a form of carnival, where every-one is in a party mood and caught upwith the heightened experience of thisform of ‘deep play’. Television cannever quite capture the sense of be-ing part of the Games.

those who will attend events to thosewho will not, including bus driversand even street sweepers. Restaurantwaiters have an eye cocked on thetelevision to catch the latest Gamesnews.

Many Malaysians regard theGames as a once-in-a-lifetime eventand enjoy being part of it, even if itmeans watching yet another Austral-ian swimmer winning gold.

There are just as many localsstrolling outside the venues watchingthe passing parade, buying from themany stalls and participating in themany cultural events.

The Games remind me of the com-ment made by anthropologist CliffordGeertz on the Balinese cockfight thatit represented ‘deep play’, a time ofheightened awareness providing asense of meaning and identity for allinvolved.

It’s festival time when everyoneis caught up in the collective excite-ment of the opening ceremony, aworld record or a spectacular per-

formance. Malaysians at the poolseemed genuinely excited by an Aus-tralian world record and enjoyed theswimming even though the best a lo-cal could do was to win a ‘B’ (con-solation) final.

These magical moments will besavoured and remembered.Malaysians are also aware that theirculture is on show — they are onstage. Collectively they appear to betaking great pride in placing theircountry on the world sporting mapand proving that they can stage a goodGames in spite of the downturn in theAsian economy.

There’s a great sense of camara-derie at the Games. It’s easy to starta conversation with a total stranger,almost everyone has a badge or em-blem, whether it be a uniform or anaccreditation card which identifiedthem as an athlete, volunteer, offi-

cial, journalist or photographer andtheir country of origin

Although there is a keen rivalrybetween national teams and their sup-porters — particularly by the pool —there seems to be a spirit of interna-tionalism at these Games, as if every-one if part of some larger athletic fam-ily, bigger than one’s own country.

It was a great experience to wit-ness some exceptional performances,including a world record at the pooland a Steve Waugh century on a sti-flingly hot day.*

I also enjoyed the triumphs of thecommon person — it could be you orme — in the tenpin bowling. Unlikethe sprinters and the gymnasts, withtheir finely sculptured physiques, thebowlers came in all shapes and sizes. . . but the drama and emotion as theprosaic Sunway Shopping Complexwas just as real and riveting.

*Steve Waugh stood on the victory podium at KL but received a silver rather than a goldmedal, however in 1999 he did have the consolation of winning the World Cup. The lack ofsupport of the world cricket community for the Commonwealth Games is presumably a keyreason why cricket will not be part of the program at the Manchester Commonwealth Gamesin 2002. However, it will be part of the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne in 2006.

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29 September

Success at theDeath —Post-GamesPlanning

What will be the legacy of theSydney Games? What will be

left for Sydneysiders after all themedals have been won and the greatOlympic caravan moves to anothercity?

Atlanta didn’t plan for the post-Games period. The city is still search-ing for a Games legacy.

One year after the Atlanta Gamesthere was a revealing headline in theAtlanta Journal and Constitution:‘Remains of the Games ... we’re stilllooking for a legacy’.

Billy Payne thought it would be agood idea to have a one year anniver-sary celebration, but there was noplace to hold it.

The Olympic Stadium had beenturned into a ball park. The cauldronwhere the Olympic flame lit up theGames, had been dismantled andmoved elsewhere. Most of Centen-nial Park, the heart and soul of theGames, was still cordoned off by achain-link fence.

Atlanta has turned its back on its

The Olympics will be over in theblink of an eyelid. When all theshouting and excitement subsides,what will be left? Planning for the‘death’ is essential because many cityresidents will experience a deepsense of loss after the Games areover. There is also the challenge tomake Sydney’s and Australia’s in-vestment in the Games work wellbeyond 2000.

history, there are few visible remind-ers that the Games had been held there.It’s sad in a way that Atlanta is unableto fully savour its Olympic momentof Olympic greatness.

So why should a city plan for thepost-Games period? Why should webe concerned with Olympic legacy?

For many people in Sydney andAustralia, a home Olympics will be apeak experience in their lives.

Many will want to re-connect withthat experience after the event, to re-live the magic of the Olympic mo-ment.

‘Touching’ the Games is evenmore important for those whowatched the Games on television,they will want to assure themselvesthat their Olympic experience wasreal.

After the Games are over manyresidents will feel a great sense of lossthat the Games have come and gone.

Part of this represents a post-Ol-ympics depression, coming back tothe humdrum routine of life after the

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all-too brief ‘high’ of the Olympics. event and deal with sense of loss.It’s a problem which needs to be ad- A city shouldn’t mm its back ondressed. its history. It should explore ways that

A sense of loss, mourning the the memory of the Games can take itsGames, can be a longer-term prob- place in the city’s history.lem. Once the Games are over the Time in an Olympic city can becity can lose part of its identity. divided into three phases.

Legacy is a constructive and posi- There is a decade or two involvedtive way of dealing with mourning. A in winning the bid and the often fran-city has to deal with its ‘death’ — tic preparations to get everything rightwhen the Games have gone — in the in time for the Games.same way an individual deals with the Then there is the time of theloss of a close friend. Games, three weekends and two

Symbols, rituals and memory are weeks, which will pass in the twin-all part of the healing process. kling of an eye.

The dedication of Olympic sites The post-Games per iod wil land monuments, the establishment of stretch for decades after the Games.Olympic museums, anniversary cel- It is the longest and least plannedebrations are ways in which the pub- phase. Post-Games planning needs tolic can ‘touch’ the Games after the be considered now.

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6 October

Games PlanLesson —Learning fromthe Common-wealth Games

What can Sydney learn fromthe Commonwealth Games in

Malaysia? Are there any things, thatwe should copy? or try to avoid?

If anyone in Sydney is compla-cent about the success of the 2000Games, they shouldn’t be.

Organising a modern Olympics isa massive undertaking, which requiresfine tuning at many levels.

There were only some 70 coun-tries represented at Kuala Lumpur,at Sydney there will be some 200 —close to three times Malaysia’s num-bers.

Malaysia had first rate facilities,as will Sydney, but good venues don’tensure a successful Games.

The challenge is to make OlympicPark and Darling Harbour—the mainvenues in 2000 — work smoothly andefficiently.

Moving people expeditiously is adaunting task: there’s the task of mov-ing a mass of humanity to and fromvenues, and in and out events.

There are many ingredients to stag-ing a successful Games. It involvesmaking sure the athletic events runsmoothly, the spectators can moveeasily to and from events and the vol-unteers can deal with specific prob-lems that may arise. It also requiresthe support of the whole community— taxi drivers, hotel and restaurantstaff and the general public — whowill all be asked to help visitors in oneway or another.

This involves providing clear in-formation (in many languages) as tohow Games transport works, howpeople can best access a particularevent.

It also became clear at KL that torun a successful Games also requiresthe support of the wider community.Visitors to a city or a country for thefirst time require a lot of assistancefrom transport to local currency tounderstanding the local culture. Taxidrivers, hotel staff and the generalpublic will play an important role.

I found Malaysians in general tobe helpful and polite. This was animportant plus for the Games.

Training of volunteers is anothercrucial area for us to get right. Whilethe volunteers at KL were enthusias-tic and friendly, some were unable torespond to specific needs for infor-mation.

Sydney will depend a lot on its40,000 Olympic volunteers and an-other 10,000 Paralympic volunteers.

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Their ability to deal with specific prob-lems will be enhanced by specialisttraining. There will also be specialistvolunteers to deal with communica-tions, media and looking after visit-ing teams.

It was obvious in Malaysia thatthere were just as many people out-side the venues as inside. The desig-nation of appropriate public space —for people to stroll around and revel-lers to unwind after an exciting dayof events — is an important aspectof planning.

With its attractive food stalls andother stores featuring local artefacts,the ambience outside the Main Sta-dium was an attractive one.

It’s important to avoid some of thetacky commercialism of Atlanta and

use Olympic space to promote someof Australia’s better cultural contri-butions.

Providing up-to-date informationfor the world’s media is anotherdaunting task. There will be some10,000 accredited media in the MainPress Centre at the Show Ground siteand many other non-accredited me-dia.

We will also have to be flexible in2000 because unforeseen issues mayemerge.

While the opening ceremony atMalaysia was judged a success, therewas some rain on Dr Mahathir’s pa-rade by the time of the closing cer-emony in the form of political unrestinvolving the supporters of AnwarIbrahim.

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13 October

OlympicPartnerships —Opportunitiesfor the Centre

Networking and partnerships are im-portant activities for institutions suchas the Centre for Olympic Studies.A partnership provides a way inwhich a Centre can reach out to in-dividuals and groups within the com-munity for interchange and mutualbenefit It was a worthwhile move toextend an informal relationship withOlympian Kevin Berry and the Ol-ympic Broadcaster, Channel 7, at aBusiness Breakfast on 26 August1998.

It was a great pleasure, at a re- cess over four years, he won gold incent business breakfast of the Cen- this event.

tre for Olympic Studies, to establish Berry is a high achiever who haspartnerships with an Olympic athlete, a passionate commitment to the Ol-Kevin Berry OAM, and with Channel ympic Movement and since 1964 he7. has spent much of his life promoting

Kevin Berry was the first Olym- the best traditions of the Olympics.pian inducted into the Centre and He has already appeared in a numberChannel 7 became the first corporate of Centre forums including a panelmember of the Centre. on ‘The Olympic Athlete’.

Why should a university-based He has a keen interest in all issuesCentre recognise an Olympic athlete relating to athletes, past and present.and the Olympic broadcaster? What Berry believes that Australia hasare the benefits of such partnerships? made all too little use of its athletesWhy should these parties want to be — individuals who have a championinvolved in the Centre? mindset. He believes that they have

Both relationships are key ele- more to contribute than that of a ‘smil-ments in the Centre’s involvement in ing face’ to sell breakfast cereal orthe community. health products. Sponsors could

At 15 Kevin Berry was the young- make far greater use of athletes thanest member of the 1960 Australian they currently do.Olympic team at Rome. He finished Without athletes there would be nosixth in the 200 metres butterfly. Games. Through Kevin Berry the

From that time Kevin Berry dedi- Centre has a link with this importantcated himself to achieving success at community and a way of understand-Tokyo in 1964. After visualising suc- ing their needs.

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The first members of theCentre for OlympicStudies, Stephanie

Atkinson from the SevenNetwork is

congratulated byRichard Cashman and

Kevin Barry OAMdisplays his-award.

Simon Francis, from theSeven network is to

the left.

It is our hope to induct more Ol-ympians into the Centre in the future.

The Centre and Channel 7 sharecommon territory — ideas, informa-tion and image.

Gary Rice, the former Chief Ex-ecutive of Channel 7, stated that thepartnership with the Centre is a wayof linking with the community.

The Centre, through its publicforums — including this column —takes its role as a bridge to the com-munity seriously.

In return the Centre can provideChannel 7 with Olympic information,research and access to Olympic experts.

It is in the interests of the whole

community that the Olympic broad-caster should offer the best possibleservice.

If the Centre can refine or im-prove Channel 7’s service even insmall ways — making it a more in-formed and sensitive to cross-culturalissues for instance — the result willbe beneficial for all concerned.

Partnerships with individuals andinstitutions outside the university areessential if the Centre wishes to fullyinvolve itself fully in Sydney’s Olym-pic journey.*

It is a rich, challenging and enjoy-able experience to work with otherswho share common territory.

*A Memorandum of Agreement, between the Australian Olympic Committee and the Centrefor Olympic Studies was signed in September 1999. This represented another importantpartnership.

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20 October

The ArtisticSide of theOlympics —The CulturalOlympiad

The Olympics are about morethan sport.

According to The Olympic Char-t e r t he r e a r e t h r ee s t r ands o fOlympism — sport, culture and theenvironment.

Culture was an issue dear to theheart of Pierre de Coubertin, thefounder of the modem Olympics in1896.

De Coubertin believed that theOlympics should involve the wholeperson — mind, body and spirit —and should encourage high achiev-ers in the arts as well as athletics.

He also wanted the fine arts toenhance the beauty and harmony thatwas the Olympics.

De Coubertin even participated inthe 1912 Cultural Olympic. Partici-pating under a pseudonym, he wasawarded a gold medal for his poem,Ode to Sport.

Such ideas provided the genesisof the Cultural Olympiad that has beenpart of the Olympics since 1912.

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The Cultural Olympiad is the poorrelation of the Olympic sportingfestival. Despite limited resourcesthe Sydney organisers of the fourarts festivals have developed someinnovative ideas to advance deCoubertin’s ideals that the Olym-pics have an artistic and culturaldimension -they should encour-age high achievers in art and cul-ture as well as sport

However, for much of the century theCultural Olympiad has been the poorrelation of the Games.

The organisers at some Gameshave only paid lip service to the ide-als of the Olympics. It’s good to seethat the Cultural Olympiad is gener-ating much interest in Sydney eventhough the organisers of the variousfestivals have to work with modestbudgets.

Last year I enjoyed attending vari-ous events of The Festival of theDreaming, which explored the arts andculture of Indigenous people.

The Festival conveyed the varietyand richness of Indigenous artisticexpression. It also raised the manyimportant and unresolved issues aboutAustralia’s Indigenous population.

This year’s Cultural Olympiad isentitled Sea Change. It’s an appro-priate theme given that most Austral-ians arrived here by sea at some timeor another. Living in a sea-boundcountry, Australians have a close af-

finity to the sea. Sea Change also re-lates to important changes in the lifeof an individual.

On a brilliantly sunny Sunday (11October) I joined a throng of peopleon the Bondi to Tamarama cliff walkto view 90 sculptures which werepart of an impressive Sea Changeexhibition.

I particularly liked Barbara Wulff’s‘Seehorse’ that was inspired by a songthat dealt with the romance and harsh-ness of the South Seas. Then there wasa fish curtain, made of silver lamé, fish-ing line and bamboo, which shimmeredon Tamarama Beach.

The cliffs and the sea provided aspectacular backdrop for this open-air art gallery. It was a great way totake art to the people—the cliff walkwas crowded with people of all ages,and included many families.

This year’s Sea Change exhibitionemphasises the best traditions of theOlympics, encouraging high achiev-ers in the arts and enabling them ac-cess to a wider audience.

It was a pity that the Bondi exhibi-tion lasted for only four days, but SeaChange exhibitions have already ap-

peared at spectacular coastal locationsat Darwin and Broome and will appearat Albany (31 October-8 November)and the Tasman Peninsula (7-15 No-vember).

Andrea Stretton, the Artistic Di-rector of this Festival, stated that theaim was to involve the community inevents and to celebrate the diversityof cultures and landscape that is Aus-tralia. Sculpture by the Sea succeededadmirably in achieving these aims.

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27 October

Sense ofHumourEssential forthe OlympicGames — TheGames ComedyProgram

The Olympic Games for mostpeople are deadly serious.

Athletes concentrate intensely toget that extra fraction of a second thatwill give them a winning edge. Themedal tally is followed closely by thesports public. Australia’s status, interms the total medals achieved, is amatter of great media concern.

The organisers of the Sydney Ol-ympics have a deep commitment tostaging the best possible Games in2000. Any hitch or criticism becomesa serious issue because the mediatakes its role as the Games watch-dog seriously. In fact we seemoverly concerned about what therest of the world will think about thispart or that part of Sydney’s prepa-rations.

The Olympics are serious and sol-emn occasions. However, is there aplace for laughter and even humour?Humour is part of the Australian wayof life and comedians love to pokefun at ‘tall poppies’ and dig events.So humour features in an AustralianOlympics. The Games are a cleverand popular comedy television se-ries devoted to Olympic humour.

So, is there scope for humour, oreven laughter, at the Games?

Are we in danger of taking it alltoo seriously? Has the Olympics be-come a matter of life and death?

Fortunately, there is humour in theAustralian approach to life. Humouris a big part of the Australian way oflooking at the world, the bigger theevent, the more we like to poke funat it.

There were some amusing inci-dents in the lead-up to and during theMelbourne Olympics.

When the torch came to the Syd-ney Town Hall there was a large crowdand cheers as the torch-bearer madehis way up George Street to the TownHall where the Lord Mayor, AldermanPat Hills, was ready to receive thetorch.

The Lord Mayor then launched intohis speech when he was upstaged bystrange event — a second runner ap-peared in George Street carrying an-other flaming torch.

It soon became apparent that the

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second torch was the real one, thefirst torch being a hoax. I was madefrom an old fruit tin attached to abroom handle.

There was another unusual andamusing event at the Games them-selves.

The starter of the marathon waseither a stickler for the rules ... ormaybe he had a sense of humour.

For the one and only time in Ol-ympic history there was a false startin the marathon. The runners werecalled back for a second start.

It’s probably only in Australia thata comedy program, The Games, couldbe broadcast. John Clarke, the starof the program, cleverly pokes fun atOlympic pomposity and protocol andpresents a wry and satirical view ofthe Games organisers.

The Australian Broadcasting Cor-poration has invested substantially inthis thirteen-week one-hour program,which involves some prominent Aus-tralian comedians.

Developing comedy about the Ol-ympics is a tough but important task,because there are many sensitivities(and egos) attached to the Games.

Comedy is an important way of

A successful hoax. An unidentified andunofficial torch-bearer hands his

home-made torch to the Sydney LordMayor. Courtesy, National Film and

Sound Archive and Film World.

dealing with the stresses and strainsof staging a home Olympics,

There has been so much energyexpended to make the Olympics asuccess that we also need to relaxand laugh along the way.

Satire is also a positive way ofdealing with the occasional Olympicpomposity and ‘uptightness’.

It is important for Australians toexperience the full gamut of emotionswhich are part of the Olympics —there will be joy and even exhilara-tion, there may be sadness and evenpain, but there should also be laugh-ter and fun.

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3 November

Information inHot Demand— The Valueof OlympicResearch and

Providing information, undertakingresearch and documentation of theGames are key activities of the Cen-tre for Olympic Studies. There aremany Olympic information issues toconsider because Sydney and Aus-tralia have so many information gen-erators and providers. What will hap-pen to this information after 2000?Will it have value? How should it bestbe stored and made available?

Information

he demand for Olympic infor- Canada and England.Tmation is accelerating. The Library at the Centre for Ol-Almost every day the Centre for ympic Studies already has a number

Olympic Studies at The University of completed postgraduate theses onof New South Wales gets many que- Olympic subjects. Many more post-ries from near and far, from coun- graduate these are underway on atries as diverse as the United States, range of Games-related topics includ-Britain, Russia, Japan and even ing tourism, the Cultural Olympics,Bangladesh. environmental issues, sponsorship,

Along with queries about the or- community involvement, policing andganisation of the Sydney Games in Aborigines and the Games.general, there is much interest in spe- There is also a vast amount ofcific facets of the Olympics such as paper being generated by the Games.the Green Games, Olympic tourism, SOCOG (the Sydney Organisingtransport issues, the Cultural Olym- Committee for the Olympic Games)pics and many other topics. has a special department, Research

The Centre for Olympic Studies and Information, which has an im-has a steady stream of Australian and pressive and expanding collection ofinternational visitors, who are under- files, reports and books.taking Olympic research. Recent visi- There are many other authorities,tors include postgraduate students such as the Olympic Co-ordinationfrom universities in England, France, Authority (OCA) and the OlympicJapan and Spain and Professors from Roads and Traffic Authority (ORTA),

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which have bulging Olympic files.There are many other Olympic

providers with substantial Olympicrecords.

TAFE has the job of training thevolunteers. It will generate many in-teresting records about how it under-took the exercise of training 40,000volunteers.

When the dust settles after theGames, Australia will be left with amountain of Olympic papers alongwith posters, programs and othermemorabilia.

So is there any value in Olympicinformation after the Games? Whatshould be done with this material?Who should have ownership of it?

Olympic information and papersare a valuable legacy of the Games.They are a national treasure.

It is important that we have a com-plete and well-housed record of thebiggest international sporting event inAustralia. In the years after 2000,many researchers will want to exploreall manner of issues about the Gamesand their impact.

Australian Olympic know-howwill also be of great benefit and usefor future cities bidding for theGames, Rather than each city havingto ‘reinvent the Olympic wheel’, in-formation could be passed on to Ath-ens or some other cities.

Australia could profitably exportits knowledge of how best to trainvolunteers for instance. They couldinform Athens of the strengths andweaknesses of the Sydney volunteertraining program.

One of the objectives of the Cen-tre for Olympic Studies is to gatherinformation about Sydney’s experi-ence of the Games.

It is also encouraging to knowthat those involved in informationmanagement at some of the larger li-braries in the country are taking theirOlympic role seriously.

I attended a symposium on Olym-pic information organised by the Na-tional Sports Information Service,Canberra, that attracted all the majorOlympic information providers -theNational and State Libraries, the Aus-tralian Sports Commission, the Aus-tralian Gallery of Sport (Melbourne),the National Sound and Film Archiveand SOCOG’s Research and Infor-mation Department.

As a result there is now greaterawareness of the specific role andplans of each agency to gather Ol-ympic information and to disseminateinformation before, during and afterthe Games.

Australia has the chance to set ashigh a standard in the informationstakes as the athletic contests in 2000.

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10 November

QuestionsRemain —OlympicDissent

Toronto Canada is one of the earlycontenders for the right to host

the 2008 Games.However, Toronto also has to over-

come opposition from within — afifth column — which could be thekiss of death in the cut-throat com-petition that is the bidding war.

Toronto has an active coalition ofOlympic dissent, calling itself the‘Bread not Circuses Coalition’.

It started in 1989 and by 1990 in-volved 1500 individuals and 60 or-ganisations. The Coalition has got big-ger since.

It has organised public protestsand issues an Internet newsletter,Bread Alert.

The Coalition is highly critical ofmost aspects of the Toronto bid. Itargues that the Olympic Games willbe the most ‘costly mega-project inthe history of our city’.

The costs will be measured notonly in ‘billions of public and privatedollars’, but also in ‘social and envi-ronmental terms’. The Coalition ar-

In some bidding cities, such as To-ronto, organised opposition to theGames has emerged. While it is easyto dismiss the platform of dissentinggroups as idealistic and ‘pie in thesky’ material, these groups raise im-portant issues about the social costof the Games and the need forgreater community involvement inOlympic decision-making.

gues that if the Games are not ‘so-cially responsible’ the bid should bewithdrawn.

The Coalition’s demands are ex-tensive and idealistic.

It wants the Games to be fullyaccountable and affordable, with noincrease in local taxes or levies.

Bid organisation procedures, italso argues, should be open anddemocratic and the Games should begreen and clean.

The bid and organising commit-tee, it contends, should reflect thegender, racial and cultural make-upof Toronto.

It also argues that gender imbal-ances in the Olympics should be cor-rected, the homeless and street peo-ple should not be harassed and civilliberties should be protected duringthe Games.

It also contends that the situationof tenants and those on welfareshould not deteriorate.

Bread Alert advocates neighbour-hood meetings, particularly in those

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areas adjacent to proposed Olympicvenues.

Bread Alert, in many respects, is‘pie in the sky’ material. It is hardenough for any Olympics to live upto Olympic ideals and to stage a suc-cessful athletic event, let alone solvethe problems of a city.

Given the time frame, money andpolitics associated with the Olympics,it is difficult to convert the Games toa caring and sharing institution.

I suspect strongly that the Coali-tion does not really want the Gamesin Toronto and is using the Gamesissue to push various reform and pro-gressive barrows.

Whatever you think of the stanceof the Coalition, it does raise someimportant questions.

Why shouldn’t there be more con-sultation with local government or morediscussion with residents who will beaffected by Games events? Shouldmore be done to evaluate the ‘socialcost’ of the Games?

What will happen to the homelessand those who live on the margins in2000? Must we bus them out of town?

If the Toronto Coalition errs on theside of being too critical of the Games,the difficult questions posed by theCoalition pose many questions wor-thy of reflection.

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17 November

A NewGolden Era —Nostalgia forthe 1950s

Why does Australia have sucha special relationship with the

Olympics? Why are Australians sopassionate about the Games? Whydoes success in the Olympics seemto mean more to Australians than topeople in many other countries?

Australia has a long and impres-sive tradition of achievement in theSummer Games going back to 1896.Edwin Flack, the ‘Lion of Athens’as he was described, was one of thestars of the Athens Games, winningthe 800 and 1500 metres.

Australia, along with Greece, isone of only two countries that haveattended every Summer Games.

The British have tried to claimmembership of this unique club butHarry Gordon, historian of Australiaat the Olympic Games, contends thattheir claim cannot be supported be-cause they had no representative atthe 1904 St Louis Games—the three‘British’ athletes were in actual factIrish.

The 1956 Olympics were the cor-nerstone of a golden era of Austral-ian sport which is still savoured bythe Australian sporting public. Thisis one key reason why Australianshave such a passion for the Olym-pics. Winning the Summer Olympicsfor a second time offer the hope thatthe country may again enjoy anothergolden era of sport

British Olympic officials even of-fered to pay the fare of an Irishman,Tom Kiely, to the 1904 Games but hepreferred to pay his own passage.

There are a number of reasonswhy Australia has a love affair for theOlympics.

First, there is the long tradition ofsuccess in this peak event for worldsport. The Olympics have providedAustralia with its most revered femalesporting star, Dawn Fraser, and manyother admired athletes.

The Olympics are also the peakevent for world swimming and Aus-tralia has long been one of the power-houses of world swimming, particu-larly in freestyle. The Games haveprovided the theatre for a successionof swimming greats from FannyDurack and Boy Charlton in earliertimes to Dawn Fraser, Shane Gould,Kieran Perkins and, presumably in2000, for the current crop of localworld beaters.

A third reason for Australia’s proud

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Olympic tradition is that Australian ath-letes have had to overcome many ob-stacles to win overseas, out of seasonand with limited international competi-tion (in previous decades).

Australia’s success in the 1950sis another crucial factor in the con-temporary passion for the Olympics.Many Australians remember the1950s as the golden era of Australiansport when our swimmers and trackand field athletes (as well as tennisplayers) dominated the world. The1956 Olympics were the jewel inAustralia’s sporting crown in this dec-ade of glittering success.

The 1950s have become the stuffof legends even to the point of over-looking the fact that Australia hadsome failures, even debacles, in the1950s. In the same year as the Ol-ympics the Australian cricketers werehumiliated by English spin bowler, JimLaker, who took nineteen out of the

twenty wickets to fall in the FourthTest at Old Trafford.

Romance and nostalgia are impor-tant ingredients in sport. One factorbehind the push to get the 2000Games was undoubtedly a desire toexperience another golden era insport.

Many Australians have a deepyearning to experience again thosehalcyon days of the 1950s. Maybe italso provides a means for many Aus-tralians to feel good about themselvesand their country and to experience asense of community when Austral-ians are divided over many other po-litical issues.

It is likely that Australia will real-ise its Olympic dream and that 2000will usher in another golden era ofAustralian sport.

Although success in sport is tem-porary and transitory, it will be some-thing to be savoured for many decades.

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24 November

Making theGames moreGlobal —Improving theBid System

e all remember Mr Samaranch’sWfamous words of September1993: ‘unfortunately there is only onewinner, and the winner is Sydney ...’

While there was euphoria for thewinning bid city, there was obviousdisappointment for the losing cities.

What is the fate of a losing city?Does it get any return for staging acostly bid effort?

Some losing cities will use theexperience to bid again. When Beijingbids again it will be a strong contender.

Other cities, like Manchester, cutits losses and secured the Common-wealth Games for 2002.

Istanbul was a long shot for theGames in 1993 and its bid pretensionswere not taken all that seriously. TheGames have never been awarded to aMiddle Eastern country and is unlikelyto be so in the foreseeable future.

Buenos Aires pulled out from the1993 contest before the final vote. Ithas had a long history of trying to

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During the 1990s there were manycalls to reform the bid system thathad become too costly and unwieldy.If the Games were to become moreglobal there was the challenge to takethem to Africa, South America andAsia (outside of Japan).

win the Games. Way back in 1949 itlost the bid for the 1956 Games toMelbourne by just one vote.

Who bears the cost of unsuccess-ful bids? What happens to the sport-ing facilities constructed for a losingbid? How does a country cope withrepeated Olympic ‘failure’?

Although the Games are the peakworld sporting event, the Olympicshave yet to appear on a number ofcontinents and important countries.

So far, the Games have not beenawarded to any country in Africa orto South America, though the 1968Games were in Mexico City, in Cen-tral America.

The Games have also yet to bestaged in the two most populouscountries of Asia, China and India,or to be awarded to Southeast Asiaor the Middle East.

European and North American cit-ies have dominated the Summer Ol-ympics. The Summer Games have

gone outside these two continents five home Olympics to spread the Olym-times: twice to Asian cities, twice to pic message, it is important that theAustralia, and once to Mexico. Games be taken to new countries and

The Winter Games have been even continents.more skewed in favour of Europe and One possible reform would be toNorth America. The Games have allocate each Games to a particulargone elsewhere only twice, both region of the world.times to Japan. The 2008 Games might go to a

The current bid system is un- North American city, 2112 to thewieldy. No less than eleven cities bid Middle East/Asia; 2116 to Africa,for the right to stage the 2004 Games South America, Australasia; 2020 tonecessitating a short list of five at the Europe and 2024 to a miscellaneoushalf-way point. field — someone who has won the

Some ten cities made an Olympic Games before.investment which did not produce It is important that the Olympicsany worthwhile return at least in the become more of a truly global event,short term. shared around the world community,

Because there is nothing like a in the future.

*In 1999 it was reported that Havana, Cuba, and Buesos Aires, would bid for the 2008 Games.

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1 December

Sporting SafeHaven —OlympicCapital atLausanne

Recently I visited Lausanne,Switzerland, proclaimed the Ol-

ympic capital in 1994.Lausanne, which is the home of

the International Olympic Commit-tee (IOC), is a small (with a popula-tion of around 150,000) but pictur-esque city. Nestled between the Alpsand the tranquil Lake Geneva, it is apeaceful and charming old-worldtown, full of villas and chateau-stylebuildings. All the town streets rundown hill to the lake.

So how and why did this smalltown become the Olympic capital?What is the Olympic presence inLausanne?

The IOC has been in Lausannesince 1915, when its founder, Pierrede Coubertin, moved his house, fam-i l y a n d O l y m p i c a r c h i v e s t oLausanne.

In 1915 Coubertin was virtuallythe Olympic Movement. One reasonfor the move was that de Coubertin

The Olympic Movement has two im-portant sites, one at Olympia, Greece,the site of the ancient Games, and theother at Lausanne, Switzerland, theheadquarters of the IOC since 1915and Olympic capital since 1994. TheOlympic Movement now dominatesthe small town of Lausanne, which isthe home of IOC headquarters, theOlympic Museum and other recordsand is the place where the founder ofthe modern Games, Pierre deCoubertin, was buried.

believed that neutral Switzerland wouldbe a safe haven for the Olympic Move-ment in time of war.

Given that internationalism is acore ideal of Olympism, it proved ashrewd move to remove the move-ment from his native France to neu-tral Switzerland.

Since 1915, the Olympic presencein Lausanne has grown impressively.De Coubertin, if alive, would hardlyrecognise it today.

The IOC headquarters is at theChateau de Vidy, to the west of thetown. The President of the IOC hashis office here along with a host ofother offices who run the many pro-grams of the IOC

The Olympic Museum, opened in1993, in another part of town. It ispart of an Olympic Park, on a finesite overlooking Lake Geneva.

The park is attractively set out withlawns, fountains, portals and sculp-tures of athletes, donated by various

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national Olympic Committees. It is animpressive walk up the hill from awide tree-lined boulevard.

In addition to a magnificent state-of-the-art museum, there is also alibrary, archives and documentationservice and an extensive video li-brary.

The site caters both to tourists andscholars. Next year the IOC will of-fer scholarships for postgraduate stu-dents to work in this collection.

There is another Olympic site atLausanne, the grave of Pierre deCoubertin, who was buried in theB o i s - d e - V a u x C e m e t e r y . D eCoubertin’s grave is flanked by animpressive headstone which includesthe Olympic rings, one of his manycontributions to Olympic symbols.

Such was de Coubertin’s devotionto the Olympic Movement that whilehis body was buried in Lausanne, hisheart was removed and buried in asacred grove at Olympia, Greece.

Even in death de Coubertin wasaware of the power of Olympic sym-

Pierrre de Coubertin’s grave atLausanne, Switzerland.

bols. He was able to provide a uniquelink between the ancient and modemOlympics and its two great sites atOlympia and Lausanne.

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15 December

OlympicStories — TheStruggle toAchieve

The Olympic Games are a richstorehouse of stories — some in-

spiring, others tragic, some others hu-morous and yet others even appall-ing.

There are heroic stories of ath-letes, such as Australian swimmerFanny Durack, who had to overcomehuge obstacles just to attend theGames. She and Mina Wylie wereonly able to travel to the Games cour-tesy of a last minute fund-raising ef-fort organised by some prominentSydney women.

Many, including Rose Scott, aprominent woman swimming officialand feminist, thought that womenshould not swim in the public gaze.Scott feared that men would come toleer at women swimming at theGames.

This made Durack’s victory in thefirst Olympic 100 metres freestyle forwomen at the Stockholm Games of1912 even more memorable.

Equally legendary are the storiesof Marjorie Jackson, who won the

Each Olympics produce new starsand stories of success and failure.While the end result is importantthe process of how an athleteachieved this outcome is equally rel-evant Stories convey a sense of thehuman drama behind the Olympics,how each athlete had to climb amountain in an attempt to pursuetheir particular ‘impossible dream’.

sprint double at the 1952 Olympics,training in the fog and sleet ofLithgow.

To train in foggy weather Jacksonhad to run full tilt towards the head-lamps of her coach’s car. It must havetaken a great act of faith to run insuch poor conditions.

Jackson has had to live with thestory that she dropped the baton atthe final change of the 1952 relay withAustralia well in command, therebyrobbing the country of a certain goldmedal.

The baton was, in fact, knockedfrom her grasp by the knee of the thirdrunner.

Ron Clarke, the final runner in thetorch relay in 1956, was a great dis-tance runner who held many worldrecords.

He was unfortunate that the 1968Games were held at high altitude.

Clarke ran with great courage inthe 10,000 metres race but collapsed,and was near death, at the end of therace.

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Kayaker Grant Davis was unlucky There have been plenty of otherto be a ‘gold medallist’ for just eleven stories of athletes intent on cheatingminutes at the Seoul Games in 1988. by methods other than drug-taking.

At the end of the race his name Fred Lors finished first in the 1904was flashed up on the scoreboard as marathon at St Louis, well ahead ofthe winner but he was placed sec- the next competitor, but it transpiredond, eleven minutes later, after the that he had hitched a ride on a truckjudges had studied the evidence of a for part of the way. He was later dis-computer-enhanced photo. qualified.

Davies took his demotion with The Sydney Games will producegood grace. a new set of stars and stories of ath-

Swimmer Freddy Lane obtained letic highs and lows.two gold medals for Australia at the The story of how an athlete1900 Olympics at Paris. achieves success is as important as

He smashed the world record in the end result, whether he or shethe 200 metres swimming by a wide achieves a medal, reaches a final ormargin but he had a great advantage achieves a personal best.— he was assisted by a powerful A story tells of how the athletecurrent of the River Seine. climbed a particular athletic mountain,

Lane is the one and only Olympic it informs us about the human side ofchampion of the obstacle race. the Olympic athlete.

It was an unusual event that in- Athletes, like us, have to struggle,volved swimming to and clambering to overcome obstacles and to makeover a succession of rowing boats many sacrifices to realise a particularmoored in the river. dream.

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January 1999

Olympics inCrisis — AUniqueOpportunity

The past two months have beena disaster for the Olympics.

From the time that the Salt LakeCity bid bribery scandal broke, everyday has brought a sensational newround of allegations which threatenthe very fabric and future of the Ol-ympics.

By January the crisis appearedtotally out of control, like a summerbushfire, it spread in no time fromSalt Lake City to Lausanne and everyother recent Olympic city, includingSydney.

By January the scandal claimed abody count which included someprominent Salt Lake City Olympicofficials, a US Olympic official and anumber of IOC members.

How can the Olympic Movementdeal with this crisis? Are the Olym-pics now tarnished? Will this crisisbe detrimental to the Sydney Games?When and how will it end?

One thing is clear, the briberyscandal is the worst in modern Ol-

The Olympics have been in a state ofcrisis for the past two months withscandal upon scandal tarnishing thereputation of the International Olym-pic Committee. It’s hard to tell whenthese damaging allegations will endand how the Olympic Movement canrecover its reputation. However, thedepth of the current crisis provides aunique opportunity for the Olympicorganisers to reform the Movementand to redefine its goals.

ympic history and it won’t be resolvedeasily.

Once a sport falls into disrepute,it takes years for it to regain the sup-port of loyal and long-suffering sup-porters.

It took cricket about five years toproperly recover from the fight overWorld Series Cricket and it will takesome years for some rugby leaguefans to return to the code, if they everdo, after the split in the code betweenthe Australian Rugby League and Su-per League.

It’s yet too soon to assess howmuch damage has been done to theOlympics though it’s abundantly clearthat it will be disastrous if the allega-tions continue for months.

First of all, the Olympics have topromptly clean up its house: to purgeitself of corrupt members, to franklyface up to its current problems andto reform its structures, such as thebid system.

In late January there were some

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promising beginnings. Six memberswere sacked from the IOC, and it wasreported that the bid committee maybe cut from 115 to fifteen. CanadianIOC member Dick Pound apologisedto athletes for the hurt occasioned bythe crisis.

But is this enough?The IOC has to change its culture

and its image. There is a widespreadpublic perception that the IOC hasallowed a culture of gift-giving andinducement to flourish largely un-checked. Some even believe that brib-ery is a regular part of the IOC life-style.

The IOC needs to become moreopen and transparent and closely ex-amine the operation of Olympic gov-ernance. How should IOC membersbe chosen? Should they have an un-limited term of office? Why shouldn’t

athletes, even contemporary athletes,have a greater voice in the IOC?

More attention needs to be paid toOlympic education, to redefine andremind people of what the Olympicsstand for. Olympic ideals also needto be adapted in a changing sportingenvironment.

There is a silver lining to the darkcloud which hovers over the Olym-pic Movement. The depth of thecurrent crisis provides a unique op-portunity for the Olympic Movementto examine honestly and thoroughlyboth its strengths and its weak-nesses.

This desperate crisis provides aunique opportunity to restore the cred-ibility of this peak sporting event. Ifever there was a genuine opportunityto reform the Olympic Movement, itis now.

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February 1999

Olympic Ideals— Redefiningthe Purpose ofthe Event

The Olympics have taken an aw-ful battering during the past two

months.Some of its officials have been

depicted in the media as grubby andgreedy — having their snouts firmlylocated in the Olympic trough.

Because there are so many chal-lenges to the credibility of the Olym-pics, it is even more important to askagain what the Olympics represent.

So what are Olympic ideals? Dothey still have any relevance in a morecynical and grasping sporting world?Do the Olympics operate on a higherplane that other forms of world sport-ing competition? Can the OlympicMovement benchmark best practice forworld sport?

Whatever the public might thinkof the guardians of the Olympics andthe organisation of particular Games,Olympic ideals, known as Olympism,still have some force and appeal.

Internationalism is a core ideal of

The Olympic Movement is todayvery much on the back foot, withmore and more officials under scru-tiny for unethical practices. It’s notsurprising that some of the leaders ofthe Movement are in damage controlmode. However, while it is importantto curb unethical behaviour and torestrict opportunities for corruption,it is more important to redefine andrestate Olympic ideals in a changingsporting world.

the Olympics.Even at the height of the Cold War

athletes from a variety of oppositecountries came together in a worldsporting festival.

Although each team was organ-ised on separate national lines, theyintermingled in the village and at theclosing ceremony.

Athlet ic f r iendships, whichcrossed national, language and evenreligious boundaries, attest to thestrength of such ideals.

During the two weeks of the Ol-ympic festival, most of the worldbecomes part of a larger Olympicfamily.

The Olympics also stand for‘citius, altius, fortius’ — faster,higher, stronger—a contest to chosethe best of the best. At their best theyrepresent ‘fair play’, abiding by therules and respecting one’s opponents.

As the premier world sporting or-ganisation it would be valuable for

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Olympic authorities to deal withsome of the ethical issues that havearisen from globalisation, such as thedisparity between the rich and poorsporting nations’ sport and sustain-ability.

The Olympics, unlike other WorldCups and world championships, alsohave wider humanistic goals.

The Cultural Olympiad, which hasbeen part of the Games since 1912,encourages high achievers in art aswell as sport. More could be done tomake culture a more central part ofthe Olympics.

The environment became the thirdstrand of Olympism in the 1990s soto ‘faster, higher and stronger’ wecan add ‘cleaner’.

Olympic ideals are enshrined in animpressive set of symbols and sitesincluding the torch, the flame, thefive-ring symbols and the oath.

The rich array of symbols and sitesmake the Olympics into a treasuredglobal rite.

The torch is ignited at Olympia,Greece, thereby linking the modem

with the ancient Games.Fire is a potent symbol of purity

and sacrifice and the torch relay is afocus for community celebration.

The men and women who carrythe torch for some 500 metres pro-vide a community access to this worldevent.

During the 1990s the Olympicshave failed to live up to many of thesehigh ideals.

Some athletes, the drug cheats,have no commitment to fair play.

Some officials have preferred toline their own pockets rather thanuphold Olympic ideals.

Olympic ideals, and the very in-stitution itself, are now very muchunder threat.

The Olympics can only survive intothe next Millennium if the public —whose support makes the Games sucha great event—demand that the besttraditions of the Olympics are upheld.

If the sporting public is willing tosettle for less, the Olympics might loseits place as a unique world sportingfestival.

*The Centre for Olympic Studies organised a Conference on ‘The Olympics in the NextMillennium’ on 22-23 September 1999 to explore the strengths and weaknesses of theOlympic Movement and to make constructive suggestions of reform.

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March 1999

Conclusions— EighteenMonths to Go

ow is Sydney travelling eighteenHmonths out from the Games?What is the public Olympic mood inthe Games city? How do the Gameslook this far out?

Sydneysiders take a lot of pridein Australia’s busiest building site atOlympic Park. Homebush Bay hasbecome a popular tourist destinationand both the locals and visitors mar-vel at the way the former wildernessis being transformed so rapidly intoa spectacular state-of-the-art sport-ing park. The venues look impres-sive and most have been completedahead of time.

However, many Sydneysidersnow question what kind of eventthey have inherited, whether the hopeof a golden Sydney Olympics areforever tarnished. Day after day theOlympics news is unbelievably bleak,with one scandal following another.There seems to be no end to the sto-ries of inducements, improprietiesand various forms of improper con-duct of Olympic officials. However,it’s likely that the Australian publicmake a distinction between officials

and organisers versus athletes andideals preferring to believe the Gamesare larger than some corrupt officials,some self-seeking local politiciansand drug cheats.

In another sense the crisis facingthe International Olympic Commit-tee is just another saga and contro-versy — admittedly bigger than anyprevious ones — that have been do-ing the rounds since Sydney won thebid in 1993. Maybe the long lead-uptime generates monthly crisis storieswhich can vary f rom dioxin a tHomebush Bay, the bed tax issue,questions about Sydney’s bid to theresignation of another prominent Ol-ympic organiser.

Seven years is a long lead-up timeto an event and once some of theinitial euphoria of 1993 evaporatedSydney had perhaps too much timeto contemplate its Olympic destinyand all the twists and turns of theroute along the way. Perhaps Aus-tralians are too concerned with howwe will look in 2000.

The Salt Lake City scandal, andthe crisis facing the InternationalCommittee, has made the SydneyGames more important than ever. Ithas elevated the Sydney Games togreater importance, for if Australiacan deliver a trouble-free event whichis good for athletes and spectators itmay set the Olympics back on a morepositive track. If the Sydney Gamesare clean and green the Olympics willbe enhanced.

Maybe the depth of the current

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crisis will provide the substantial tion, research and even constructivepush for much-needed reform in the criticism — to understand and culti-Games and the governance of the Ol- vate the best traditions of the Olym-ympics. Hopefully there will be a pics—which can be enhanced in partgreater role for athletes in Olympic by the work of Centres for Olympicgovernance and for Olympic educa- Studies.

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