Quite possibly young Australians have found there are better things to do like playing sports for fun rather than to win medals, using one's mind to study math, the sciences or the arts, starting a business, becoming teachers, helping those in distress etc. Chris Lewis, winning gold medals is a pointless activity. The benefit to Australia is minimal. Australia could get out of international sports competition altogether. Just have fun relaxing with sport and doing other things. Not to worry.

Yes, why is the big focus on not beating England? Should we be waging sporting war by matching them in money thrown at success? NIMO

If and it's a very big if, there is a budgetary emergency then may I suggest a saving of many tens/hunfreds of millions of dollars by not funding the AIS and its various incarnations. There are even some very valuable assets that could be sold off as well.

Yes get peopple to play and engage in sport or physical activity. My wife and I enjoy gym sessions several times a week. I sure would like someone else to pay me to do this. However I'm dreaming. If people want to play at this level good on 'em. I'll even watch some of them, cycling, gymnastics, gymkhana. Watch atletics, swimming, nee, rather watch grass grow. BUT if they want to play at this level, they pay and not I.

DKit

It is pretty obvious Chris. There are 2 reasons, money & hybrid vigor.

First the Poms have thrown huge amounts of money at the medal winning sports, & they have done it well. They have found the talent & honed it to get results.

We manage to spend a lot of money, but it produces very little. Perhaps the medal winning sports don't pay well enough to attract the talent

When the west indies cricket team ruled the world, cricket was the way out of poverty for their young men. Then they discovered US Basketball, & Gridiron paid much better, & their cricket lost the top talent.

The hybrid vigor was obvious if you watched the celebration following the men's 4x100 meter relay final. The winning English ladies team came out to join the men in their celebrations.

Of the 8 runners, 6 were mixed race Negro/European, & 2 were white. You will see the same effect at the Olympics. The mix of negro & caucasian genes produce the best explosive athletes, superior to either of the genes of either group alone in these events.

We should accept science & simply stop wasting a lot of money with our institutes of sport, training our mostly inferior, [for the purpose] genetically equipped people for sports at which we do not excel.

We can still do well at the more technical track & field, jumping throwing etc. but we are only likely to produce the odd short distance runner in a generation.

You only have to look at our football teams to see we are passing the baton, so to speak, to another group of people. Athletics come a very poor second in rewarding these new sports people.

Go the sun tanned people

"It matters not whether you win or lose, it is how you play the game that counts."

David

Perhaps first world nations like Australia haven't declined but third world nations are starting to be wealthy enough for luxuries like sporting teams.