What the Olympics mean to Me!

Go Aussie Go!!!

Published on August 15, 2004 By Muggaz In Sports & Leisure

Everyone is happy, everyone is smiling… it’s almost day three in the 2004 Athens Olympics, and Australia is sitting neatly in second place with 4 Gold, 1 Silver, and 3 Bronze medals.

I have said it before, and I will no doubt say it again – Australia is one of the best, if not the best sporting nation in the world. I work on this theory based on per-capita, and looking at the Olympic medal tally now, the proof is in the pudding. At the conclusion of Athens 2004 I will collate a tally based on different medal values and population, Australia will be high to start with, but I hope to mathematically prove that Australia is the best!!!

The Olympics mean so much to us here in Australia, because it gives us a chance to excel on an international stage in many of our national past times… Australia has always, and will always be synonymous with sport, and over the next fortnight, stories involving our athletes, and others from around the world, will dominate our front and back pages of local media.

For Australia to do so well in such a prestigious event, it is an obvious ego boost for our little country, and national pride sky rockets. The Olympics are a fantastic concept, bringing people of the world together, and I do have to say, when I saw the Iraqi team walk into the stadium, it instilled my heart with tears of joy… I almost had a tear well up in my eye.

Every 4 years we look forward to the Olympics, it captivates the nation with hope and pride. The Olympics to me is a chance for Australia to shine, I wonder what it means for other countries that perhaps will not be so successful? Is the honour of competing at the Olympics enough? I know Indonesia was the only country in the Olympics who did not offer a live telecast of the opening ceremony - is Australia's love for sport totally misplaced?

I know this will be a fantastic tournament, in the birthplace of the Olympics where the joining of the body and mind is paramount, I also know Australia will do very well… here is to hoping for some great competition!!!

GO AUSSIE GO!!!!

BAM!!!

Comments

Gideon MacLeish

on Aug 15, 2004

:::scratching nuts, stretching, snd spitting sunflower seeds:::: Yup, let's see how them Aussies do at the '06 WINTER games.

(to plagiarize a great JU blogger): BAM!

(just kiddin' ya, mugz).

Muggaz

on Aug 15, 2004

Yup, let's see how them Aussies do at the '06 WINTER games.

Pffft... we won 2 gold medals last winter games... suck an egg

Besides, we both know which Olympics hold more prestige... the Summer Olympics have it all over the winter Olympics!!!

BAM!!!

Gideon MacLeish

on Aug 15, 2004

2 gold medals last winter games

2 gold medals...that's only 2 more than Jamaica, Ecuador, Lybia...lol

and the summer games may carry more prestige, but it's the sum total of all of them that counts...lol

(hey, I have to have someone to pick on after our US baseball team isn't even THERE and the US basketball team is starting to look worse than a college basketball team). lol.

Muggaz

on Aug 16, 2004

Just wait till your boys take on Lithuania... My house mate is Lithuanian, and I will love it when the US baketball team, who combined, make more than the entire Lithuanian GDP succumb to eastern European powerhouse!!!

Whoop Whoop Puerto Rico!!!

(FYI - the last winter games was our first ever gold medal - we won it by defaul in the speed skating, everyone else fell over!!! we won a legitemate one the next day in the Aerials, her name is Alysa Camplin, and she is HAWT!!!

)

BAM!!!

KissStephanie72

on Aug 19, 2004

There is no such thing as a 'Summer' Olympic Games. They are called the 'Olympic Games,' and to distinguish the difference, the alternate games are called the 'Winter Olympic Games.' All nations have a summer, or summer weather, but not all nations have a winter. For example, there is not an Australian city that will receive a single flake of snow, yet there there are many American cities that gets lots of snow. There are 202 nations at the 2004 Olympic Games, but only about 60 nations at the 2006 Winter Olympic Games, so to compare Winter Olympic Games to the Olympic Games is ridiculous. Because of this, the Winter Olympic Games results should not count at all when comparing the achievements of all nations.

There is no doubt that when all international sport results are evaluated per capita, then Australia is clearly the best sport nation in the world. Australia is the only nation that has beaten all others more in test cricket, Australia has also won a record three limited overs cricket world cups, a record two rugby union world cups, a record (heaps) rugby league world cups, and 29 Davis Cups in tennis. In the Commonwealth Games, Australia dominates and has won more medals than any nation despite having a lower population than England and Canada. In the Olympic Games, Australia is the greatest nation per capita for the population of 20 million people, and would be even better if the elite Australian athletes that play cricket, Australian football and rugby were able to participate.

The USA though? Very poor results for a population of 291 million people. They may have won 32 Davis Cups in tennis (only three more than Australia despite having 270 million more people), but their Olympic Games medal totals per capita every four years has them languishing in the low-40's of all nations. In other international sport, the USA has failed regularly such as in the rugby union world cup, and the soccer world cup. The USA may be good when they play amongst themselves in the NBA, NFL, and MLB, and they may even call the winners of these competitions 'world' champions for some strange reason, but in international sport, the USA is average/below average at best for their population size.

Muggaz

on Aug 19, 2004

Its all true!!!! hehehehe...

Man, we almost beat the 'Dream Team' last night as well.... that would have been soooooo Proooooo!!!!

BAM!!!

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