First we? from our lounge chairs?
Yes bit of trash talk crept in and just a few did far worse than their personal best but did we do ok?
Well our athletes did, for years and years they bought home far more medals than a country our size appeared to be expected to.
It is about time they did not live up to media expectations
Again and again media shouted about swimming/running competing for gold.
While a quick look showed the person needed a ten percent over personal best performance to even win bronze.

Dear Belly,

There will undoubtedly be lots of media coverage
on this topic and blame will undoubtedly be given.
Former head swim coach Don Talbot has already said
it would take 4 to 8 years for Australia to
reverse its plunge to what he described as a
"mediocre swimming nation," blaming a lack of
individual drive and unity in the team.

I guess we didn't reach the heights that we did in
Sydney, Athens, and Beijing - with five gold in 2000,
seven in 2004, and six in 2008.

And of course some will question the amount of money
spent on the Institute of Sport. However, I personally
feel that silver is now the "new gold." And I'm sure
that the athletes did their level best. We have nothing
to be ashamed of.

Some of our people are past it.
Some are still coming, & may still be champions.
Some were beaten by the occasion.
Some were beaten by better athletes.
Some were probably beaten by our officious officials.

Still they are all Olympians, & as such are winners. What more can we ask than their best on the day.

Yes Lexi, the institute of sport is far too costly, & now has become far too bureaucratic. Time to clear it out, & start again.

The same goes for sports federations. Any one who wants to dictate to an athlete where they will sleep should be swept out with the trash.

I had an acquaintance who was a top motor bike racer. One Easter his wife was considering not going to Bathurst with him for the races. After he reminded her that he never could sleep, if he was sleeping alone, on practice night, she decided to go after all.

Another mate, with experience, reckons that the main reason for the less than expected performance of many, was the loss of their sleeping pills. Many poor performances may be down to the do gooders & bleeding hearts, making our lot "clearer" that all others. Cleaner but not well rested by many reports.

I know I could never sleep before a major race with out some form of help.

Not just a life time working habit that has me up this morning.
Like a lot I am watching the games.
Story's in on line news papers seem to support my view, we ask too much.
News papers ALWAYS put too much expectation on our sportsmen, and quite often those doing so know little of the sport they report on.
Every athlete getting to a final is said to be going for gold.
We over achieved for 50 years.
WE? yes there I go again, we revel in the good and protest at the bad.
I am concerned at those who did far worse than personal best.
And sport in general in this country, not amateur but any sport tainted by betting.
Over night, yet again, a phone link with life time NRL supporters asked the question, based on years of the worse possible referees actions, is the game fixed?
answer? YES!
Back on subject I am taking the Brits bagging us in good heart, we do it to them often.
Love the barmy army.
We will not stay on the bottom and I am proud of our folk who give up so much to compete.
Let us however, just a few, stop the trash talk, we do not need to copy another culture.

I don't know how we haven't won every event in the Olympics, I've been watching the TV and we're the only country there.

Apparently the other countries...

Don't use Facebook.
Are allowed the use of Stilnox
Weren't nervous
Got a proper sleep
Weren't distracted by people yelling out encouragement just before the beep to enter the pool.
Decided to shave for that .01 second less drag.

One thing we do win is the competition for the most excuses and the most wallowing tears from our athletes. Grace and humility and class are sportsmanship are sorely missing. We win the Olympics for the worst losers in world sport.

What ever happened to acknowledging other competitor's efforts and accepting they were better on the day. What happened to cheering on your team mates when the relay race is still going rather than sitting in a chair making sure the world knows you're upset you didn't do as well as you wanted to.

And what's with the leading questions about 'silver is good too', the back handed compliment from the interviewers after such an achievement.

HB bit harsh? I have seen every country competing and even caught news on SBS channels from other country's, but only of their athletes.
Sullivan twice breaking his personal best, to get in to the 400 final is out standing.
And considering the claims of racism around his selection, from both within the team, and Australia's most racist athlete out side the team, is telling.
I watched Coots words, then the reporting of them, and see great differences.
Australia's history of over achieving was always driven by the best and the few, who came via school athletics.

I think you miss read me Belly. I said all we can ask is their best on the day.

You'd be a fool not to realise there are times when we don't have many "best in the world" this year, or any other year. This is one of them, but I'd be damn proud to be an Olympian, coming home with no medal, if I'd done my best.

Some like the Chinese are putting massive efforts into some sports, especially gymnastics, where they seen to excel, along with diving. We may not see gold in some of these sports again, or only rarely.

I was a young bloke in Margery Jackson's era, & a mates sister took gold at consecutive Olympics in track & field, in that for us golden era. We can't expect these things to go for ever.

So mate you won't find me knocking the competitors, all though, I will not be so kind with many of the officials.

Not harsh Belly the Olympics is a place to show humility and grace under pressure, the competitive spirit, and to represent your country not yourself.

I'm happy with the effort and performance Belly, I'm talking about the attitude that we 'lose' gold medals, rather than recognising that other countries were just better on the day, or better overall.

The athletes like to talk it up big before the event and sook when they lose, and if they don't sook the meeja does it for them.

What is with asking an athlete who has just one a silver Olympic medal 'are you disappointed?'. It's the hight of arrogance to presume the medal is ours before the race, and that it's solely a personal misstep or lame excuse that has allowed the other athlete to beat us.

EVERY athlete must first recognise they were beaten by a better competitor. There is NO room for lame excuses. Just, 'I wasn't good enough today, the opposition was better'. Is that so hard to say?

I think it must be the everyone gets a prize times we live in all this shock and horror that they didn't get a medal for turning up. Life is about the moment, the test, not assessment tasks.

With the attitude of especially the swimmers, it's as if there is no need for the Olympics they should just give the gold to whoever has the best recent lap times.

Winners are grinners and you have to win on the day.

Australia has a reputation of being sore losers. Largely I think its because the media treats them like gods and then spits them out when they are shown to be just humans.We see special treatment given by the courts to our gods.

Hewitt was outstanding in winning a couple of grand slams at a time when so many countries play tennis (unlike previous times). He went from hero to zero in many peoples eyes when he started to lose and have every excuse under the sun. In recent times he has matured and admitted that Federerer, the Joker etc are just to good for him. I think he realises it is only a game of tennis. Some of our track athletes can't make a final but want to be regarded as a Usain Bolt. A little humility might endear themselves to the public.

To be fair HB and hasbeen I think much as you both do.
And not blaming ANY official or coach.
I openly am unhappy with one swimmer who fought to get there, then swam 2 seconds less than his PB, the bloke is trouble.
And the racism claims, held over and maybe true from the games in China?.
Mundane, yes spelling suits the bloke, is a racist.
But we will not ever get the results we once got, now nations put millions in to sport to beat each other again.
We have gold waiting , it will take place this games.
And maybe some who did not make it this time will be our next stars.
I do however think every country, rightly so, is giving more time to its own.

one hundredths of second put Magnussen into second place. That's just so ridiculous to say that he wasn't as good as the its place. He's as deserving of being recognised as just as good.
The sports commentators hyped everything & everyone up so much that most people came to believe that Gold for Australia was just a formality. They are the failures not our competitors.

I think this has been the wake-up call we, our media and our athletes have needed. And I'm mighty proud of those who have won silver or bronze in their events. They may not have been the best in the world on the day, but they have been second- or third-best. That's pretty impressive!

That said, two things have disappointed me, and they're both interlinked.

The first has been the 'sooking over silver'. I understand that, when caught up in the moment, silver can look like failure. Especially when you have trained for years to build up to that one pivotal moment (though in most sports it's one of many pivotal moments over a four-year cycle). But seriously - it takes some arrogance to discount the mere possibility that somebody else might swim that fraction of a second faster than you on the day. It bothers me that many attribute their silver medals to personal failure rather than somebody else's personal triumph.

The second thing that bothers me is the way this has been fuelled by our media. Our swimmers in particular have long been lauded as superstars, so you could almost forgive them for believing their own hype. An interesting article on news.com.au saw our long jump silver medal winner sticking up for the athletes:

http://www.news.com.au/sport/london-olympics/silver-is-not-a-dirty-word-says-australian-olympic-chief-nick-green/story-fndpu6dv-1226443541786

The journalist goes on to tell us that the media has been supportive of our athletes. That's true - they talked them up and talked them up BEFORE the event. Then, after 'failing' to win gold, they dumped them. One headline read 'MISSILE FIZZLES'. The use of the word 'failure' has spiked in recent days. I'm more ashamed of our press than I am of our athletes. I'd be close to tears if I could imagine the headlines 'the morning after'.

Like I said - I think this is the wake-up call we've needed. Not so we can win more gold - rather, so we can celebrate silver in future Olympics, rather than making our athletes feel like abject failures.

Otokoko I agree,with this reservation,our media has been as you say on every issue for many years.
Some reporters are lost in talking about issues they have no understanding of
I do not agree with the thought one onehundrth of a second is not a difference, we have won too by that margin.
High expectations, from us, the we, who do not get out doing the hard work for years is one issue.
The very few, those who just maybe should not have been sent, maybe two, is another.
But our small country is changing our social lives are different, WE should not load our expectations on others.

The Gold medal yesterday by that girl runner is probably because a: she obviously is extremely good and b; the media hype about how good she is had eased hence the pressure on her was purely the pressure from running the race rather then the added pressure of media expectation.
Congratulations to her & the other medal winners.

Well it had been my intention the thread look closer at our views and media expectations.
It has always to me at least, the media that leads the knifing brigade.
And that seems to be the same here, any headline,any reason to sell papers is in use.
Coates spoke the obvious, as we move away from early age sporting involvement, we move away from producing young champions.
It did not look like a criticism to me, until the press took over.
We, as is always the case, have seen gold from lessor known competitors.
We are going to see this games fuel future gold meddles maybe not in the number we are used to.

http://wwos.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=8512422
This link, for me at least, shouts about poor reporting and sportsman ship.
From the same web page this morning?
A low blow poll! asking is it fair in mens basket ball that America has its dream team!
Australia has the task of? beating them to progress.
Just what do these fleas want?
Should CHAMPIONS IN ANY SPORT be stood down, not let compete.
Media is like this in any reported event, not to be believed.

I find the emphasis on sport in Australia a pain in the butt. The amount of money spent at Canberra’s institute of sport and training for the Olympics is obscene. Sending our team to London cost $70 million while some $700 million has been spent over the last four years training our team. I don’t think the Germans and Canadians for example would commit themselves to this level of spending yet their nations are respected and do not endure the tantrums, tears and press lashing when their athletes fail to win gold.
For too long achievement in sport has been rewarded with public accolade such as Australian of the year.

I got mugged yesterday.
By a wonderful bloke.
Big happy Englishman of African decent.
He is a store manager at the big shed hardware store, a second home for me.
We needed to talk and I started it!
Asked him could he run, he answered if he could it would be for England.
He took on the roll of every single member of the Barmy Army!
We had fun!
Let as Friends both giggling.
So do we dislike the poms? or is it we like them but do not want to tell them?
He chanted 22 gold medals and my parting words, on behalf of our country?
Anna beat Queen Vic thats the one we came for, I then scuttled away in case he had an answer.
We give it we must take it.
NZ nearly had us.

Well it's now obvious what we need to do, if we want to win more gold at the Olympics.

Fill all those sports grounds & ovals with water. Stop wasting money on track & field, & put a bit into sailing, canoeing & rowing.

Interesting that these almost invisible, & very lightly funded, sports are bringing home the medals.

Actually it is the lack of funding, & government input that is probably the reason for their success. Our high point in track & field, in swimming, & even in tennis, was in the days of amateur sport, rather than the professional athletics of today.

Great to see a few medals coming out of left field, rather than the big ticket sports.

Well we did ok.
We may or may not need more sport in schools ,but have we the right to impose it.
We may or may not need more funds.
Only two offend me, a swimmer who fought,some times king hitting, to get there but may or may not have given his best.
And a runner who,it seems has caught the Anthony Mundene loose lip thing.
Saying he did his best in a team event, but maybe his team mates did not!
We, the us, that claims to have won?
Maybe we needed the wake up call.
I am with those exclusions, proud of every single one of them.
This thread, any subject in truth, could have been TAINTED by links to twisted truths, unsports man like or just bigoted media posts.
Maybe that needs confronting more than our sports men and women.