Post-Sydney 2000 Australia: A Potential Clash of Aspirations Between Recreational and Elite Sport

Abstract

The extent to which the Australia government values elite sport following the euphoria of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games is demonstrated through its policy and funding commitments. However, this forms only part of its overall responsibility to sport in a nation with a sport ethic that values success. As a relatively small country it has to balance the struggle to match the increasing budgets of its more successful international competitor nations, such as Great Britain, while confronting the problem of an increasingly unfit population which is more interested in watching than participating in sport.

Notes

[1] Bauman et al., Trends in Population Levels.

[2] Toohey, ‘The Politics of Australian Elite Sport’, 14, 54.

[3] Ibid.

[4] Australia, Department of the Interior, ‘Sport: A Reference Paper’, 92.

[5] Toohey, ‘The Politics of Australian Elite Sport’, 14.

[6] Australia, Department of Tourism and Recreation, Report of the Australian Sports Institute Study Group, xxvi

[7] Toohey, ‘The Politics of Australian Elite Sport’, 15.

[8] Ibid., 173.

[9] Green, ‘Olympic Glory or Grassroots Development?’.

[10] Magdalinski, ‘The Reinvention of Australia’, 308–9.

[11] Green, ‘Olympic Glory or Grassroots Development?’.

[12] Toohey, Official Report of the XXVII Olympiad, 346.

[13] Ibid, 344. See also www.gamesinfo.com.au/postgames/en/pg002076.htm, accessed 30 Sept. 2008.

[14] Ibid.

[15] Ibid., 346.

[16] Goward, Speech to National Press Club, Canberra, 12 April 2000. Available at: http://fulltext.ausport.gov.au/fulltext/2000/npc20000412.pdf

[17] Australian Olympic Committee and Australian Paralympic Committee, National High Performance Plan.

[18] Australian Sports Commission, ‘Australian Institute of Sport Timeline’.

[19] Toohey, ‘The Sydney Olympics: Striving for Legacies’.

[20] Australian Sports Commission, ‘Developing an Olympic Legacy for Community Sport’. Available at: http://fulltext.ausport.gov.au/fulltext/2000/ascmedia/20000627.html, accessed 28 Feb. 2009.

[21] Veal et al., ‘“Sport for All” and the Legacy of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games’; Toohey and Veal, ‘the (Sporting) Legacy of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games'.

[22] See National Centre for Culture and Recreation Statistics, The Impact of the Olympics on Participation in Australia, 2001; Australian Sports Commission, ‘Impact of Hosting the Sydney 2000 Olympic and Paralympic Games; Toohey and Veal, ‘The (Sporting) Legacy of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games’.

[23] Australian Bureau of Statistics, ‘Involvement in Organised Sports and Physical Activities’.

[24] Veal et al., ‘“Sport for All” and the Legacy of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games’.

[25] Green, ‘Olympic Glory or Grassroots Development?’.

[26] Stewart et al., Australian Sport – Better by Design?.

[27] Green, ‘Olympic Glory or Grassroots Development?’

[28] Coates, ‘President's Address to the Australian Olympic Committee Annual General Meeting’. Available at: http://corporate.olympics.com.au/files/79/AGM_09_President_Address_with_ HPP_2_.pdf

[29] Bauman et al., Trends in Population Levels; Bauman, ‘Updating the Evidence’ .

[30] Bowles et al., ‘Mass Community Cycling Events’.

[31] Toohey and Veal, The Olympic Games: A Social Science Perspective, 74.

[32] Australia, Department of Health and Ageing, Australian Sport: Emerging Challenges, New Directions, 10.

[33] Australia, Department of Health and Ageing, Sport.

[34] Ibid.

[35] Ibid., 10.