Sporting Idol: the search for Australia’s Olympic saviour

iansand says:

07:34am | 04/08/12

I’m sure it already happens.  I know it happens with our aerial skiers.  I think that all our aerial stars come from a gymnastics or trampolining background and not a snowsports background.

P. Walker says:

08:58am | 04/08/12

Well certainly won’t be Josh Booth, that guy has two choices.  One he gets psychiatric help or two, never socialises in public again.

So sick of hearing statements like “In no way do they reflect the type of person I am or the type of person I aspire to be.” 

You ARE that person, you tool.

Carol says:

09:00am | 04/08/12

Surely the many $millions would be better spent on health, education, public housing or our highways?
Does the winning of Olympic medals make up for people waiting years for medical treatments?

Realist says:

10:20am | 04/08/12

Actually, everyone isn’t really having a whinge about the performance of our swimmers. Most Australians are largely occupied with other things, watching the Olympics as an amusing diversion from work/study/childrearing etc.

Babylon in Canberra says:

10:35am | 04/08/12

As well as sticking Ads in the paper we can use the ‘Plastic Brits’ strategy as well. In exchange for Olympic services we can hand out citizenship to good athletes. Instead of pursuing Americans like the POMs we can target some of these Chinese and Russian athletes.

Throwing athletes at the games can also work wonders. While the Australian entourage numbered 411, the POMs had 541.

Gregg says:

10:40am | 04/08/12

With those Brits well and truely on their bikes maybe we could interest them in getting some hair removal treatment.
Came across this little story through another hairy episode:

” My wife found out that our dog (a Schnauzer) could hardly hear, so she took it to the veterinarian.

The vet found that the problem was hair in the dog’s ears.  He cleaned both ears, and the dog could then hear perfectly.

The vet then proceeded to tell Andrea that if she wanted to keep this   from recurring, she should go to the store and get some hair remover and rub it in the dog’s ears once a month.

Andrea went to the store and bought the hair remover the vet had recommended. 

At the register, the pharmacist told her, “If you’re going to use this under your arms, don’t use deodorant for a few days.”

Andrea said, “I’m not using it under my arms.”

The pharmacist said,  “If you’re using it on your legs, don’t use body lotion for a couple of days.”

Andrea replied,  “I’m not using it on my legs either.  If you must know, I’m using it on my Schnauzer.”

Without blinking the pharmacist said, “Well, stay off your bicycle for about a week.”

Shane From Melbourne says:

12:19pm | 04/08/12

The Olympics are a big wank- Badminton players trying to lose games, Bike Riders deliberately crashing to get re-starts, swimmers using illegal kicks- Australia would be better off spending the millions of dollars elsewhere than participate in such a farce…...

Mel Gibson says:

12:47pm | 04/08/12

Theres a few “clubs” on the Gold Coast I’m sure could train for boxing, shooting etc…

Mick says:

03:32pm | 04/08/12

We shouldn’t be copying anything from the british after their disgraceful performance on the track. Deliberately crashing to get a better start! Clearly not the sort of people we should emulate.

stephen says:

07:37pm | 04/08/12

I can think of a couple of Coaches who need demoting.
And it may be time to start again : close the AIS for 3 to 5 years and spend the savings on primary school sports instead.
I’m not being really critical of our athletes, but I get the feeling that they have been getting mollycoddled, or maybe there is someone in the heirarchy in the Minister for Sports Department who was experimenting, and thought that elitism in sport leads to a bad political stance and Olympic Athletes can run riot - well, one certainly did - and use their own instinct for motive.
Bad move, and the paucity of medals at least should redden the faces of Coaches.

pa_kelvin says:

09:30pm | 04/08/12

Ponder this….Are the athelites breaking trademark when they get an Olympic tattoo, or do they pay royaltys to the IOC for the rest of their lives???

stephen says:

12:34pm | 06/08/12

The old AIS model is broken and worn out by not being able to keep up with salaries on offer to talented coaches.

Help is at hand however.  With th Euro zone crisis on a temporary hold while the UK is in a delirium, reality will take hold as coaches, gold medal athletes and various other goods and chattels are sold off to pay the administrators.

You cannot eat Gold medals

Aspiring Pen Warrior says:

02:35pm | 06/08/12

We could have the same concept for the same reasons and apply it to journalism. “There must be a huge amount of undiscovered talent out there in the suburbs just waiting to be called upon.”