The Olympians Return

I know I've said it before, but nothing brings Australians together more than their love of sport. The Olympics were a perfect example of that. What I found particularly interesting was not the way the Australians came together to support their Olympians, but the way the Olympians came together as a TEAM to represent Australia. Since a great many of the sports that are competed at the Olympics are individual events, it would be easy to forgive these individuals for being inward focused and oblivious to their fellow competitors or compatriots. One can also understand that even when team sports are concerned, teams from one sport may not have any knowledge or interest in teams playing in another sport different to their own.

As an observer to the most recent Olympic Games in Beijing (and by observer I mean, from the comfort of my own home in front of the television), I have to say my take on the Australians is the entire Australian Olympic team seems to be much more of a 'single unit' than any other I've come across.

In the lead up to the Olympic Games, the various athletes representing Australia would have been completing their training regimes in all corners of the Earth. Many of them arrived in Beijing at different times depending on the schedule for their events. Which is all, as they say in Australia, fair enough.

Once they arrived in Beijing though and competed in their events, they rallied around one another. I didn't witness any early exits, most of the athletes seemed to stay on till the closing ceremonies to support their fellow countrymen and to soak up a bit of the rare experience of being an Olympian.

To give you some indication of how unified the Australian Olympians appeared to be and what a big deal the Olympics were in Australia, have a look at the welcome home reception afforded the select few who represented Australia in Beijing and returned home to Australia on Tuesday morning.




The Australian (a national Australian newspaper) covered the homecoming in an August 26th article entitled, "Beijing Olympians return to emotional welcome" with the following description:

"THE Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Opposition Leader Brendan Nelson have welcomed home Australia's Olympic athletes in Sydney.
Qantas charter flights, carrying more than 500 Australian competitors and support staff, landed shortly after 6.40am (AEST) today. The medallists arrived on a Qantas 747 while the remainder of the team travelled home on a Qantas A330.

The Olympians were met at Sydney's International Airport by Mr Rudd, Mr Nelson, NSW Premier Morris Iemma and Sports Minister Kate Ellis.

Hundreds of family and friends waving Australian flags and carrying flowers, gathered in aircraft hangar 96 at Sydney airport to welcome the athletes."

How's that for unity? 500 athletes, coaches and support staff traveling back together to Australia to be welcomed by the Prime Minister and a legion of fans. Never saw anything quite like that in the USA. Did I mention this reception was covered LIVE on television? We got to see the plane landing and taxiing into the hangar and all the athletes disembarking. It was quite the party atmosphere.

A brief Google search this morning (and I didn't spend too much time on this--I've got kids remember?) leads me to believe that this type of reception for the Olympians immediately upon their arrival home from the Olympics isn't done in too many places. There were indications that perhaps the Irish and the Canadians may have had similar receptions for their athletes.

Lucky are those who do, I say. What a lovely way to celebrate your personal Olympic accomplishments with your fellow Olympians and to be appreciated together as one team, representing one nation.

We Are One, But We Are Many

The Olympics...

Watching the Olympics here in Australia has been quite an eye opening experience for me.

Firstly, I've noticed the coverage here tends to favour sports that the Australians are actually competitive in (ie have a good chance of medalling) and that these are not the same sports that are emphasised in the USA. It makes sense doesn't it that each country would have a handful of sports that are preferred and played with more frequency than others. There are also certain nationalities that seem to dominate particular events. The Australians seem to put a lot of their emphasis on the swimming. The Australian swim team is very competitive and is a tough rival for the USA.

After the swimming, Australia's Olympic performances are pretty hit or miss. They've medaled in a variety of sports, but haven't dominated any. The Australians love their sport so much though that each and every medal is celebrated and cherished. There isn't a single medal that has gone by uncelebrated by the Australian media and public. There have been a few hard fought silver medals that have almost captured more media attention than some of the gold medals.

In fact, the entire Olympic Games coverage here has been pretty Australian-centric. That is to be expected I suppose, but even in the USA, I remember the networks doing profiles of athletes from other nations and really explaining who were the top contenders in each sport. That seems to be missing here. So much so that I'm not even sure who any of the US athletes are. It's all Aussie all the time and as a result, I'm all Aussie all the time. I find myself barracking (that's Aussie for supporting or rooting) for the Australians even in races when they are competing against Americans. I've been questioning this behaviour for two weeks now and have finally come to the conclusion it's because I don't know the stories of the athletes from the USA. I didn't get to experience a media build up to the Olympics that let me know who these people were--I only saw the Aussies. Well, that's not entirely true. Michael Phelps has gotten quite a bit of media coverage here, but I'd say he's the exception to the rule and the exception is made because he's 1. a swimmer 2. EXTREMELY GOOD and 3. 8 GOLD medals are hard to ignore.

Other than Michael though, it's been hard to keep track of Olympic athletes from other countries. This strikes me as very odd because normally I'd say Australians are very outward focused. They are quite interested in what's going on in other parts of the world and are very knowledgable about other places. I guess the Olympics are one of those times when their competitive spirit takes over and they see it as "us against them".

Whatever the motivation, I haven't enjoyed the coverage as much as I used to in the USA. I say, give me Bob Costas and a sappy athlete profile any day...(does he still do that? anyone? anyone?)

Love of Sport...

Have I mentioned that Australians love their sport. No? Well, Australians love their sport. With the Olympics just a week away, the sport frenzy is just about to begin. Nearly every Sports Reporter in Australia has made his/her way to Beijing to witness and report on the 2008 Olympic Games. Our daily dose of media has already begun to refer to all things Olympic.


For the most part, Australians are not that nationalistic. They don't bandy around Australian flags at any given opportunity. They don't play their national anthem at the beginning of any and all major sporting events. They don't really even do much to celebrate Australia Day which is the closest thing they have to the 4th of July. We have never attended any Australia Day parades, seen any Australia Day fireworks, but we've enjoyed the public holiday. When polled, many Australians are at a loss to be able to sing all the words to their very own national anthem.

Now, don't get me wrong, it's not the the Australians aren't a proud people, they are. They are very keen to point out the unique aspects of their culture and their country when you speak to them. They don't however, seem to feel the need to come together and celebrate themselves. They are a bit too low key for that. Not reserved, but relaxed. They just aren't in to the hoopla I suppose.

The story changes, however, when sport becomes involved. If the Australian National team of any sport is competing against another nation, the Australians are there supporting them. It doesn't matter which sport is in question--the World Cup Soccer, Davis Cup Tennis, The Ashes, and the list goes on. When it's Australia against the world in sport, the Aussies wake up, start paying attention and begin to sing their songs and wave their flags. You start to get the feeling they are united and maybe, slightly just slightly patriotic.

There have already been small signs of this shift toward Olympic inspired patriotism in the advertising on television. Have a look and you'll notice quite a few subtle references to sport as the thing that brings Australians together.



So look for these crazed Aussies during the Olympics. They won't be wearing the Red, White and Blue of the Australian flag, they compete in the Green and Gold. These are specific colours used for Australian national sporting teams. You might also see them carrying around their national sports mascot, the boxing kangaroo. He's made his way to many an Olympic podium. They'll be chanting things like, "Aussie Aussie Aussie, Oi Oi Oi!". Singing their unofficial national anthem, which coincidentally most people seem to know better than the real one, Waltzing Matilda.

Yes, they'll be there cheering on their chosen representatives with all their heart and soul. And for those two weeks they'll be outwardly proud, unified, flag waving and rife with hoopla. Then, they'll sit back and relax again...until the next major sporting event that is.