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From glorious spectacle to sordid scenes

By Michael Jeh

Posted August 29, 2008 14:27:00
Updated August 29, 2008 15:53:00

Priscilla Lopes-Schliep and Sally McLellan celebrate wildly after dead-heating for silver

Sally McLennan wins silver in Beijing: Do girls just have an innate sense of what the word "celebrate" actually means? (Getty Images: Jeff Gross)

Twenty-four hours. That's all it took to descend from the glorious spectacle of the Bird's Nest in Beijing to the sordid scenes of another Bird's nest in Cronulla where rugby league player Greg Bird has been charged with the assault of his girlfriend.

Days after Australia woke up to an Olympic honeymoon or hangover, we will soon forget one set of heroes and turn our attention to football finals and the almost inevitable, mandatory tales of men behaving badly after weekend football games. Is it time now for Australian children to look elsewhere for heroes and role models? Does a 'real man' have to be a hard man? Does it need to be a man at all?

Take our Olympians for example. Years of sacrifice and hard work, no fat pay cheques each week and yet, they represent Australia with dignity and grace on the world's stage. At the first indication of bringing the Olympic movement into disrepute, a clear message is delivered. Just ask Nick D'Arcy.

Take our female athletes for example. Once every four years, they get the chance to shine and they do us proud. You don't hear of Sally McLellan, Emma Snowsill or Libby Trickett getting caught up in an unseemly nightclub brawl at midnight. Unlike the pathetic excuses, usually centred around a celebration party after another footy game, these girls are celebrating Olympic victory, no less. Do girls just have an innate sense of what the word "celebrate" actually means? Perhaps their parties are not sponsored by alcohol companies.

Whatever the reasons, we should be using this post-Olympics afterglow to redefine the sort of heroes we put forward to the community. Let's make a big deal of these athletes who sacrifice everything but their dignity to represent the very best that Australia has to show the world. Let's make a big deal of our female athletes who have stolen the Beijing limelight and done it with a smile and good grace. Hell, why not go one step further and make heroes of mothers, nurses, childcare workers and teachers who might actually come into daily contact with our children?

Perhaps Australian boys will never truly embrace female role models. I would love to hear the views of a sociologist, psychologist or educator who might be able to comment on whether young males will ever really take their leadership cues from female champions in all walks of life. Is it one thing to admire a girl but an entirely different thing to be influenced by her? It would make for a fascinating follow-up piece from someone who knows.

Females aside, why not make our male Olympians more heroic, not just every four years and not just for their athletic skill. Let's focus on the other things in life that keeps them in balance. Things like their education, careers, families and discipline. Or is that not sexy enough for the beer and bourbon barons and the ridiculous advertising messages they peddle? Some ad agencies even defend their insidious themes by claiming that it's not really meant to reflect society's view of women. Oh really? So they get paid the big bucks to design campaigns that are not really meant to work?

As our Olympians return to the inevitable tickertape parades, will we cheer deliriously this week and forget them the next? Until we jump on that big red double-decker bus to London in 2012? What about our female athletes from Beijing? Let's hope we wake up to ourselves and celebrate the achievements of those 'birds', the ones who really deserve to be heroes. The other Bird is just a goose!

Michael Jeh is the Manager of the Sports College at Griffith University. He runs special educational programs to help elite athletes learn to take on the responsibilities of being role models.

Tags: sport, australian-football-league, olympics-summer, rugby-league, rugby-union, australia

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Comments (48)

Comments for this story are closed. No new comments can be added. If you would like to have your say on this issue, you can do so via the Emails section of our Opinion pages.

Robert2:

29 Aug 2008 3:04:05pm

I tend to believe in the saying,"you can't make strawberry jam from pig s^&*", sporting persons, politicians whoever.

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Bertrand:

29 Aug 2008 3:26:20pm

So our football teams may be louts. THey come from loutish socioeconomic groups. You dont find kids at cherbourg training for the 50m freestyle, you see them playing league. The kids on the outer suburbs of Wollongong, the townships outside alice springs or in Geelong, play football. The kids from better socio economic backgrounds train in heated pools, have performance coaches, and make it to the olympics.

They are more likely to play football, and they are more likely to be exposed to loutish behaviour when they are growing up, and so are more likely to exhibit loutish behaviour when they are adults themselves.

But at least they are not drug cheats. Almost without exception, none of them take performance enhancing drugs. Meanwhile, our cycling team for Athens were getting pinged for steroids left right and centre, and our weightlifters seem to have a proud tradition of the same. Where was Michael's counselling then?

And lets not downplay Darcy, he made a bigger mess of that other guys face than any league player has done since Wally Lewis. And it was touch and go whether he would be excluded at all. Todd Carney was thrown out of his club for the mere suggetsion of impropriaty.

So when it comes to being sportspeople, out footballers are excellent role models. When it comes to being people, kids should look elsewhere than sports people, olympic or otherwise. What no one needs is some elitist sociologist justifying his own salary, and putting down sports where the vast majority of players are decent people.

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Pete:

29 Aug 2008 3:40:53pm

Is the writer suggesting that females athletes are innately more virtuous than their male counterparts? Sounds like it.

If so I would remind her of Tonya Harding, Jackie Joiner, and and Marion Jones. A motley collection of violent thugs, liars and drug cheats.

As for females being role models for boys I'm not sure. You tend to look up to role models who you can identify with and I guess boys tend to look up to men. Having said that, Layne Beachly is an absolute hero in the eyes of my 11 year old son. Right behind Kelly Slater.

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geoff:

29 Aug 2008 3:41:49pm

yep-just what every little boy dreams of-to grow up to be a role model.

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alldaylong:

29 Aug 2008 3:55:50pm

As much as I adore our successful female Olympic athletes and they certainly deserve more recognition I have a couple of problems with this article.

Firstly these days there is far more exposure to the male dominated sports (football, cricket etc) than ever before and this trend will always attract the the bigger side of sponsorship.

Secondly lets not catergorise all footballers as the same as some of the few that bring themselves as individuals into disrepute. There are some that certainly are ornaments to any sport.

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Ron T:

29 Aug 2008 3:56:20pm

I am surprised this didn,t blame Alan Didak or at least a Collingwood player.

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Paula:

29 Aug 2008 3:57:35pm

Right on, Michael! You took the words out of my mouth!
It is a constant uphill battle to guide our five year old son to develop into a conscientious, respectful, law abiding and civilized member of our community, when we are constantly bombarded with role models that behave appallingly. And worse; get away with behaving dreadfully!
And to have female role models? What a novel idea! Its like you are suggesting that both genders contribute towards the world we live in

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michelle :

29 Aug 2008 4:05:52pm

Never a truer word was spoken. It's not just the boozey footballers however who are idolised for reasons that are often unclear. It would seem that lack of talent and pure obnoxiousness rate almost as highly. You have only to switch on the tele or listen to the radio to see a bevy of underwhelming people who are adored nationwide. If you happen to get your face on Idol, Big Brother or any other shows where talentless hacks abound you can be fairly sure to rack up your fair share of worshippers. It's about time we made some better decisions about what is to be admired and what is to be ignored. Great article!

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Jeff N:

29 Aug 2008 4:09:02pm

who cares - its only elite sports. Doesn't really affect 99% of us.

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Geoff:

29 Aug 2008 4:24:59pm

Were Greg Bird's actions any different to those of any other red blooded (cough cough, splutter, choke) Australian male's actions?

It does make you think twice about going out at night, just in case you encounter some of them. However whenever there are reports of someone being beaten up, in almost all cases there is at least one female who gives just as much as the males. Plus at least one third of all child molesters are female, and while I'm not sure of the exact number, I have a feeling roughly one third of rapes are perpetrated by females (please correct me if I'm wrong.)

So while the girls do seem to get the short end of the stick victimwise, perhaps there are also some unreported cases of boys joining the ranks of the spontaneous celebrators.

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Si:

29 Aug 2008 4:26:32pm

Do you think that maybe the main reason we don't hear about Olympians falling into disrepute is that nobody cares enough to notice?

Certainly football is blokier, more testosterone-addled, and likely there's an atmosphere in football that encouraged violence and loutish behaviour that's lacking in, say, diving. But you hear stories about the rampant sex in the Olympic village, and regularly some Olympian or other is busted for taking drugs.

But only the swimmers are superstars, and then only the cream of the crop. The rest are briefly famous if they get a gold medal, then they fade into obscurity. Who cares if a 1996 synchronised swimming 4th place team member assaults someone? It might get mentioned on page 12 of your newspaper if you're lucky.

Maybe we should move away from sports heroes altogether. Grow up as a nation and realise there's more important things in the world.

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NT boy:

29 Aug 2008 4:27:50pm

no comment needed - he said it all perfectly

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timeh:

29 Aug 2008 4:30:05pm

sport sport role model role model sport sport. That's part of the problem. Take your cues from people you admire and actually know and can therefore get real guidance from. Anything else is just celebrity worship. Role models don't have to be famous. But see the thing is - these people have to actually do something tangable to justify their AIS type funding - any one got any ideas? Oh, I know, they can be role models.....and by the way, the women swimmers celebrations? "oh my god, i just can't, like, believe it, oh my god, i just remained focused and put my head down, oh hy, like, oh wow, oh ...." ad nauseum. Sooo inspirational its scary!!!

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martygeeoz:

29 Aug 2008 4:32:01pm

Rubbish. We should be celebrating the men and women who actually contribute something meaningful to Australia society. The philanthropists, the tireless charity workers, the medical researchers busy discovering cures for diseases we can't even pronounce the names of. Scientists and Engineers, Surgeons and Carers. Heroes should be judged by the tangible and practical benefits they provide to the community. Sports 'heroes' are out for themselves and their own glory.

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Mark:

29 Aug 2008 4:46:41pm

Actually, for someone who enjoys league and union, the Olympics makes these codes look second rate!
Yes, there is something definite we can learn from the Games but unfortunately people forget .

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mikej:

29 Aug 2008 5:15:22pm

they are not heroes. they are sports people. the fact that sports people are something to aspire to is the problem. they have not cured cancer,solved world hunger or global warming. they can swim or run fast or hit or kick or catch a ball well (my dog is a pretty good catch!) and are as frail, misguided and prone to failure in other aspects of life as us mere mortals.
so once these sports people are seen as human and not some form of god, i spose michael will be out of a job

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Spider Dijon:

29 Aug 2008 5:24:18pm

The answers are as follows:

1. Yes it is time for childron to look elsewhere for REAL role models and heroes. Rugby and AFL have long been devoid of people to look up to. No. A real man need not be a "hard man". In fact, "hard" men are far from real men (just look at Bird). Willing to glass their girlfriends, go on wild drunken police chases and just generally disrespecting all people except for their "mates". I can see a bit of an attitude shift in the general population away from this kind of "man". That's only based on personal experience though.
But yes, a real man does have to be a man. Try telling a woman she's a "real man" and you'll have a sore face.

2. "Girls" (read: women) have a different sense of what it means to celebrate, but its by no means the correct way. Everyone has their own way. But I do take the point that female "role models" present a much more acceptable figure than the standard footy head. Having said that, I think male olympians also show their maturity when celebrating (apart from Nick). Perhaps its more the nature of the Olympic competitors, and the discipline they adhere to. Footy players just have no self control, but Matthew Mitcham... thats a different story.

3. Hero is in the eye of the beholder. For many kids, their mother or teacher really are their hero. As a young lad, one of my greatest role models, and hero's was my female yr 5 teacher. So individually, I think a lot of people do find those everyday "forgotten" people as heroes. In terms of a societal shift towards valuing those people, well... where do you start?

4. I suppose, in spite of my above comment, it is difficult for a young boy to relate to female role models. I'd put it down to the fact that boys/men simply relate to each other far better. And thats purely because they encounter the same problems.

5. Yes, we will most likely forget the larger group of Olympians we sent over this time around. But not just women, the men as well. We always do. Its the stars that we'll remember. Like Hooker, Rice, Mitcham and Snowsill. And I guarantee you that all of those competitors will have inspired at least one child in each of their sports, and they are definately all viewed as heroes.

And to conclude, I'd say that this batch of female competitors are (as a collective) possibly the most celebrated female sports people in Australian history.

Spider.

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Ray:

29 Aug 2008 5:27:26pm

Congratulations again to our Olympic athletes, by & large they are excellent role models. I don't know what to make of our "Footy" players, whatever the code. It seems the more money involved, the less attractive the behaviour. Or is it a team sport thing?

I recall jogging down by the Brisbane river some years ago & having a rugby training group come the other way, doing their best to shove me out of the way in the process, even though I had moved over for them. I copped an earful of abuse to go with their boorish behaviour, which left me wondering what else I could have done in the circumstances.

It seems being "tough" with some sports people equates to being a bully 24/7. I wonder what the role of coaching staff is in all of this. It seems that it is only in recent times people are saying they have had enough, which can only be a good thing.

I don't wish to single out League, because they are by no means the only culprit, however I am over what I would describe as their thuggery, both on & off the field.

Whatever happened to skilled players focussing on their skills as a means of winning a game? Surely that would also enhance their status as role models.

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meg:

29 Aug 2008 5:30:54pm

I'm with you Michael - all the way. And apart from being bad role models - there are plenty of other 'tough' sports that can also train a mind to be mentally strong and focussed (a good recipe for the rest of one's life after sport.

I use to work for a Sydney ophthalmologist. Outside diabetics and the odd industrial accident, most of our other business seem to come from the Macquillan Boxing Studio or from Sydney R'League players with detached retina after detached retina - all those blows to the head, really DOES go to those guys'heads after a while. Maybe they think they are invincible...maybe they think they can treat people the same off-field as on and get away with a 'slap on the wrist' ofr perhaps even a friendly, all-is-forgiven handshake or beer' afterwards (NO REPERCUSSIONS).

I now work in disability industry and many of our clients have been invigorated during the Olympics and we have been able to incorporate this event into our programs - such is their interst and response. One gentleman has written to the PM asking that our athletes get more funding (even though he can't write, just squiggle). When I worked in mainstream schools, the sports students benefitted from most were track and field, swimming etc and the Olympics was always held up as a great positive for educators and parents because students (including teens) clearly preferred and responded better to, the role models/'stars' that this country produced in these particular areas. Yes they should be better funded and perhaps HECS assisted to be fast-tracked through an appropriate teaching,sociology, PE, physio etc etc degree. But as with all those who received assistance with funding or HECS, the results from financing athletes into personal Olympic glory and fame and perhaps post-olympic money-spinning...have to be repaid - with service to community in some way past this point(people's talents shouldn't be laid waste just because they have retired from elite level comps.

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Trust me I,m a rat:

29 Aug 2008 6:01:15pm

The whole heroes and role models mentality is very American and overrated. If someone is good at high jumping then they are good at high jumping. They are not good role models at anything but the method that they use for high jumping. They might be good mothers or fathers or bad mothers or fathers but who cares? They are good at high jumping. The media beat this up an awful lot, sure some kids like to dress or act like their favorite athlete/football player/actor. They are just kids being young and foolish. When they age they are invariably ashamed of anything remotely connecting them to that part of their life. And no boys dont need women as role models or vice versa. They just need to take what is good and right wherever they find it and leave whats bad and wrong behind, plain and simple.

You can trust me Im a rat.

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aletea:

29 Aug 2008 7:01:08pm

What a lovely change to see an article written by a bloke which encourages us to celebrate the achievement of women and take a long hard look at the "problems" within male-dominated sports. There is no PC language here, on the contrary, Michael refers to "girls" and amusingly to "birds". Hopefully, this article will encourage the average bloke to think carefully about the issues he canvasses, about male violence and its too ready acceptance in our society.

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Cycle Michael:

29 Aug 2008 7:01:13pm

Why is this incident seen as a surprise - to me it seems like the inevitable outcome of a thug becoming successful enough to date a princess. I'm not sure Griffith Uni is the place Michael Jeh should be running his "special education programs to help elite athletes take on the responsibilities of role models". The fact that this kind of appalling behaviour is perpetrated all to frequently by Rugby League players suggests that there is room for whole special education department in the NRL.

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Brad:

29 Aug 2008 7:47:33pm

Great minds think alike.
It was only last week I had a discussion about this with some people.

For a Elite sports person "Elite'
every second counts.
You cant say oh that was a bad pass or kick during the game.
You cant turn up to get a Gold medal hung over or even a Bronze.

These people of Track and field, Weight lifting, boxing, Swiming ect. Art the best most real athleets.
At that they are often invisible to the public.

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Nick:

29 Aug 2008 8:16:57pm

Massive generalisation. Simply Michael using the unfortunate Greg Bird incident to have a crack at the behaviour of Australain footballers. you never hear of the efforts of many professional footballers within the community because that doesn't sell newspapers. One only has to look at the community work of Collingwoods Paul Licuria or West Coasts David Wirrapanda to realise the healthy contribution of most pro footballers. You never hear of negative behaviour from athletes in swimming etc because there is very little publicity in comparison. Im sure if everyones life was exposed to the point of stalking like these players than there would be NO ONE in society fit to call a hero/role model.

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Chris:

29 Aug 2008 10:09:24pm

It remains unfortunate that our society has reduced the term 'hero' to sports stars.

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Eric:

30 Aug 2008 3:51:05am

Sorry, this is an unusually long post for me, but I do have a point at the end of it.

Before making comment on sporting role models and athlete behaviour, I would like to make a distinction between athletic endeavour, a game and a competitive event.

All of these are loosely gathered under the collective banner of "Sport". (An aside : by my definition the reference to Olympics "Games" is a misnomer.)

1. An athletic endeavour can describe anything from amateur boxing to synchronised swimming. It is the highly skilled execution of an athletic activity that is measured or judged subjectively by expert opinion. Will anyone ever get a perfect 10 again? Personally, I am looking forward to the introduction of ballet as an Olympic Event.

2. A game is a competition between opponents where the outcome is judged on the basis of aggregate point score supremacy. Hockey, Football, Ping-Pong, Tennis etc.

3. A competitive event is measured in time and/or distance with supremacy given to the fastest or furthest. Swimming, Track and Field, Cycling, Rowing etc.

** To further advance my Olympic "Games" misnomer argument, you don't have a Game of Rowing, or a Game of Diving but you do have a Game of Hockey.**

Whilst anyone who is over-indulged has the capacity for bad sportsmanship and behaviour, it is interesting to note that most of the bad behaviour comes from those involved in "Games" rather than the other two. What is it about the games category that brings out the worst on and off field behaviour in us?

I think it is tribal.

Success, given equal skill, in a game usually goes to the person or team that displays the higher level of aggression against their opponent on the field of play. Aggression is attractive to an audience, blood and brain damage are more common in "professional" boxing (aka for-profit boxing) than in amateur boxing.

Now in relation to role models ... we admire those individuals who have the ability to turn their aggression on and off. For example, juxtapose Roger Fedderer against John McEnroe, John Eales against Wayne Carey etc.

I think most of us have an aggressive behaviour on/off switch but in high stakes games we breed participants that too often get stuck in the on position. Are there differences between the sexes? Yes - males are easier to switch on and harder to switch off. When you beat the tribal war drum the men grab their spears and the women ask what all the noise is about.

We admire gymnasts and we admire swimmers but week in / week out we will turn on our television to watch OUR team play out some of our aggression for us. Why are we so surprised that the combatants we cheer for on-field become the villains we chastise off-field? All this talk about role models is bunkum, the good professor needs to direct his energy toward helping the combatants lear

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Michael Jeh:

30 Aug 2008 7:58:16am

A note from the author:

To those people who sarcastically questioned whether sports stars should be role models at all - EXACTLY. That's my point. Perhaps, as a society we should be celebrating other people to look up to (like good parents, nurses, doctors, social workers etc). Realistically, this is unlikely to happen because most people prefer to look up to a celebrity of some sort (sad but true) so if that is the case, then we should think carefully about the sort of celebrities we put forward. Our Olympians (by and large) present a better public image than the footy codes.

Grown ups can better differentiate between a good athlete and a good person. Not so easy for kids. My 5 year old son watches a punch-up in the footy and within a few minutes, copies those actions in a mock footy game with his little brother. It's mildly amusing but it tells a powerful tale. If kids see things on telly, they think it's automatically OK. If not, by their logic, why is it on the telly? Everything they watch is censored by mum & dad so the fisticuffs must be OK then. Problem is, I get banned from watching the footy too!!

Sure, the Olympians get upto mischief too in the Village no doubt but you don't hear of them taking the next step and attracting the lurid headlines. Why is that?

Perhaps it comes down to less alcohol consumption. I've worked with elite athletes most of my adult life and one thing is indisputable. The alcohol culture in male, team sports is entirely different to any other sport environment. Big drinking is almost taken for granted - virtually every social occasion involves alcohol. Losing, winning, celebrating, commiserating, relaxing, dating, hanging out: it's just part of the culture. Just listen to the way footballers talk about Mad Monday as if it's the highlight of the season! And in most of the bad news stories involving any sports star, what are the two common denominators? Alcohol and late at night. Not many bad things happen at 12 noon.

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Stev0-P:

30 Aug 2008 8:16:24am

Perhaps if we lavished massive public attention for only one fortnight in every four years on the footballers, they'd make better use of this opportunity. They wouldn't make the news headlines for misbehaving, nor would they waste all their training by showing up for competition underdone.

Consequently, only a handful of superstars would emerge from all those footballers just as Rice, Hackett, et al hog the spotlight and sponsorships that may have been shared with the "other Olympians".

This elitism may mean that only truly committed contenders are attracted to taking up that sport, although that never seemed to weed out the "touring Tamsyn" of althletics with her glorious performances in the Goodwill Games and various relay teams.

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insideps:

30 Aug 2008 9:02:03am

This would have been a half-way decent, intelligent commentary if the author hadn't chosen to turn such a serious subject into a pro-feminist, sexist diatribe.

Pretty much everywhere where the term "female athlete" was used (with regard to the Olympians), simple "athlete" would have done just as well in comparison to the louts amongst the football fraternity.

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Ivan:

30 Aug 2008 9:15:02am

What a laugh these commentaries are giving me this morning. Out come all the big egos, and straight into defensive mode.

Compare the comments here from ostensibly (by name) males, to those of female writers.

Tell you something guys?

Michael Jeh touched a raw nerve guys, because he's right. What's the joke: "Where to you find a footy player on Saturday night? In the back of the Paddy Wagon!"

Now that didn't come from nowhere, did it?

Monkey see ... monkey do.

I'm a male nurse, and I have seen men behaving badly most of my 25 years in medical and midwifery caring.

Usually it's beer and bravado (read: testerone) but even then, the drunks are just immature big boys asserting their "right" to "just have a few drinks"

I managed to raise my own 2 kids plus 2 step-boys to not "have to have a few drinks to celebrate." One day alcohol mis-use will go the way of cigarette smoking (I sincerely hope). I am rightly placed to see the destruction its misuse causes, and unfortunately, once "one or two drinks" gets on board, the inhibition to have more is gone.

Step #1 - Get alcohol advertising out of sport
Step #2 - Promote sport for its own sake, not for the big bucks paid by sponsorship
Step #3 - Name your own ... I'm sure greater minds than mine can see what's wrong here

Meanwhile the bully-boys above, who defend their rights to have a few beers to celebrate need to spend more time:

a) In the nearest casualty ward of a provincial hospital (Cherbourg people may attend Wondai or Kingaroy for one writer)
b) At the nearest Life Line or Salvation Army counselling Centres

Come back next week guys, after you've done the above ... and tell me honetly - testerone aside - that you still think the mix of role modelling and alcohol is a good thing.

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R G Hay:

30 Aug 2008 10:09:17am

Well, I don't any longer watch TV, but I do read Just In, and the Sports segment on this site.
I can't recall reading much about Australian football players behaving badly, but then, the best of them spend most of their playing lives playing for overseas clubs. And, on a world scale, Australia is definitely among the also-rans in football. I have a feeling the Matildas do a bit better.
I once taught on the same staff as a Rugby League player who had played, and toured, for Australia. He was no pansy, but he was a gentleman. I don't think he drank at all. He was a very good teacher, too. And did a lot to see that as many kids as wanted to play got a go in whatever sport they were interested in.
As I may have remarked before, sport is primarily something you do, not watch.
And, if anyone is neglected when kudos is handed out, it seems to me to be the umpires and referees and linesmen and groundsmen and so on who make it all possible. Although at the lowest levels, like country cricket and tennis, they are also the players, or sometimes ex-players.

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John Michaels:

30 Aug 2008 2:35:39pm

I can tell you right now that the vast majority of "Olympians" would get fat pay cheques while slogging it out. Any of these athletes chosen to train at AIS, QIS, VIS, and the other assorted varieties of sports institutes around the country get free training, free education in specialist fields such as sports medicine, body mechanics, advanced coaching techniques, health and dietary supplementation, and more. Then the successful athletes almost always move into lucrative careers such as the speaking circuit, media (television, newspapers, and radio), and high level coaching for the next generation of elite athletes.

While they are involved in the training they have sponsorship from a multitude of sports companies and receive their clothing and sports equipment for free. They are given exposure to some of the richest and powerful people in Australia and often receive cars to drive around in for free. It is wrong to assume that they are "struggling" athletes when training at the Olympic level because usually by the time they reach this level they have been scouted, selected, moved, sponsored, and trained. I give full credit where it's due, just don't try to rewrite the reality.

As for the girls I remember certain facebook furors about Australia's female members of the swim team. I highly doubt that they are angels when they go party, just more careful about what they do. Sure Australia's football codes are generally overrun by thugs that have been knocked in the head too many times to recognise the difference between the playing field and the nightclub dancefloor yet it isn't any different to the local pub at closing time. It seems to be an ingrained aspect of Australian culture at all levels.

Our Olympians and elite athletes are always in the news. Every International swim meet, every athletics meet, the Tour de France and other cycling meets around the world. Australia's sports culture is so ingrained that $217 million was spent on training the Olympic squad at a cost of $4.7 Million per medal won. That's a lot of money spent. Then we get to hear the media reports of Stephanie Rice being worth millions after the games and Michael Phelps to be worth billions. I'll wait until they pay some of the taxpayers money back for all of that free training, housing, education, and opportunity before I start thanking them for winning a gold medal under the guise of the Australian flag. They play for themselves much the same as a footballer is only thinking of themselves when they have had too much to drink after a match.

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Sioboz:

30 Aug 2008 11:07:53pm

How about we make some of our scientists, artists, writers, social workers and community volunteers heroes? Why does it have to be sporting starts that are the heroes?

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Nautilus:

31 Aug 2008 10:51:01am

In slamming the behaviour of Bird and extolling the virtues of the 'birds' we have not seen any really balanced commentary.

All of our 'Olympic heroes' have their role models. Just as do the likes of the professional footy players, from all codes. Just how we see the behaviour of them is an interpretation, do we also hear of the good things being undertaken by them in those lower socio-economic areas. I can't really recall so much from our olympic personnel. What kind of programmes have been created based around their sporting prowess. As I see it they are just like everybody, getting on with the job. Same as the footballers.

With all of the publicity and negative press around our footballers, do any of these females who attend these parties actually consider the risks associated with being there aftter midnight, in a highly charged environment, with volatile young men, conditioned to be the toughest bunch of bruisers in the country. I am not blaming the lass who was injured or trying to deflect blame, if it is appropriate, from Bird, I just want people to realise there is probably more to this situation that the author suggests.

So what about the infamy of Dawn fraser, these days a scion for us and what of D'arcy, was there not a reason for that incident. Better not look too deep if we don't have all the facts.

Symonds is being castigated publicly by the Australian Cricket Team, for fishing and having a beer as he did so. Michael Clarke, a stand in skipper was so very emotive I got the impression that perhaps the big fella had time to let him know he was a bit over the top, to put it mildly. Do we allow something minor to destroy the career of a superlative sportsman in the name of political correctness.

Lets get some perspective.

But lets just take the time to consider, they are all under pressure and the subject of huge expectations

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