Who the hell cares? The so called "medal tally" has become a (vulgar) vehicle for national chauvinism and remains tainted by drug cheating. The AIS should be scrapped and the money instead spent on non-elite sport or returned to the taxpayer.

So Dr Davies says that $377 million was spent by the Australian Sports Commission on elite athletes for this olympics and he suspects that us Australian's would willing pay more. Well, personally as one of those Australian's (and not just an Australian, but a self funded retirement TAX paying one- which is becoming an a rare thing these days) I certainly don't want to see the government spend more.

In fact, I would like to see the government remove itself from athlete funding completely. Funding should be totally voluntary (eg: donations) or commericial (eg: sponsorships and endorsements) or winnings/appearance payments . I should only have to pay to support the sports that I want to support.

In addition, the Olympics Games is now a commercial venture, so it itself should contribute to paying it participants, eg: prize money just as in any other elite level sports competition.

The $377 million that is saved can be directed to spending that actually contributes positively to the overall health, wellbeing and wealth of the community. For instance, implement programs which deal with the obesity epidemic in Australia. Doing this is an investment and not an expense because it would be increase the productivity of many people and result in less use of tax paid public resources such as health services and disability support.

I more or less agree with Bren. The money on a sporting event which really achieves nothing apart from entertainment for the sport-obsessed, taking their small minds off more important things, is too expensive, particularly for disinterested taxpayers. The 'popular' entertainment getting the most money - things that we can be bored stiff by seven days a week - flopped big time for Australia, while the more obscure activities like sailing, shooting etc. did fairly well.

The countries with the the largest populations get the most medals, and the cheats are still cheating. China taking offence at every opportunity. The Channel 7 coverage was the worst ever, with the fawning over sporting 'heroes' the most annoying. It's a too expensive bore that I could certainly live without.

Because we're inherently too honest and naive? We think it's all about sportsmanship and honest competition, rather than prime time television and winning at all costs competition!

And who'd be surprised to find some corruption inherent in some of the decisions that affect passing strange medal outcomes?

Or deciding that a tropical climate near bankrupt country, would host the games?

I believe the prospect of eliminating all the drug cheats is nigh on impossible ever!

In which case, we need to basically beat them at their own game?

But not with drugs that incorporate eventual horrendous harm! But rather, via genetic modification that has only win win outcomes down the track and for future bigger, faster, stronger, smarter generations and as far out as it is possible to foresee! And in it for the long haul!

Currently each gold medal seems to have cost somewhere north of one hundred million per? In future, we need our athletes to peak much later and acclimatize far sooner!

In which case, I'd lease a large suitable building, install memtech water filtration and a medley of high tech training machines. and engage our own monitored english cooking staff! So as to avoid some of the, anything goes tampering, that seems to go on?

Given the current funding paradigm, not money well spent, with far too much spent on administrative outcomes? When less than half would accomplish what I'm proposing here!?

Time for our own successful laboratory outcomes, where we led the world,to move to human trials? And if you have a problem with that? Why not limit it to volunteering old fogeys like me, who have little enough to lose, as human lab rats?
Alan B.

I vote for the budget for the next games to be zero.

On another note I only flecked past the channels a few times. Was surprised to see that most times channel 7 was showing sports you see every weekend on telly.
I had to ask myself what the big deal was, the golf was the sadness the world best stayed away.

If only they would give out medals to politicians.

Then we could begin to measure our politicians, and see how good they are.

We had an election that cost the country about $250 million to achieve nothing.

Not one medal could be awarded to a politician for the abomination that was the last election.

And all the mass immigration that has taken place in recent years has not brought any benefits to anyone or anything, from sport to politics.

And the idea that increasing the population improves the country is just propaganda and brainwashing for the most naive spectator in the crowd.

I too completely agree with BREN and TTBN, tell someone who cares ! Imagine if you will, we spent just half the money we wasted on the Olympics, on our disadvantaged, our needy elderly people, and the homeless, instead of these 'spoiled' Olympians, many of whom often rake in buckets of money without ever thinking of paying a single cent of it back, makes me really quite annoyed !

Return the Olympic Games, back to how it used to be, strictly an amateur four yearly occurrence, then maybe many others will have much more respect for both, the participants and the Olympic Games per se.

Agree with Bren. Who gives a flying f#ck! The Brazilians didn't want it because of the debt they would incur and drive them more into poverty.Unless we end the private debt money creation system called fractional reserve banking, it will drive us all into oblivion.

I agree with the "who gives a rat's" comments.

It's about time the Olympics was privatised as well as the World Cup and all other sporting circuses. Next time some of the local plutocrats want to bid for the Olympics they can finance it themselves. If the government really needs to cut education, health, scientific research and welfare there's no justification to spend millions of taxpayer dollars producing elite athletes.