Australia's cycling performance in Beijing

In article ,
"Claude" wrote:

"terryc" wrote in message
news

I'd prefer nobel Prizes. apparently we have already scored 9 by
Australians.


I suspect most Australians quite like Nobel Prize winners, but they're not
up there with sporting heroes. Come to think of it, I reckon most would
even prefer 11 new international celebrities (like Nicole Kidman) to 11 gold
medals.

Celebrities? Bunch of people who contribute bugger all to society and I
never cease to be amazed about how they capture the media's attention.
It is impossible to read a Sunday newspaper in Sydney without at least
one mention of Nicole Kidman or Cate Blanchett. Give us a break, please.
Does NIDA have HECS?

I am immensely proud of Australian Nobel prize winners because they have
improved the quality of life for humankind but I don't believe that was
their intention when they started their research.

Sportspeople do work hard and have far more dedication than I could ever
muster. Their careers are short and only very few ever make good money
at the end. At least in this country they have freedom of choice to
pursue their sporting dream and are not conscripted into it.
Unfortunately for sporting types at all Institutes of Sport it is a
lifestyle that trades their childhood for a rigid regime of training and
competition. Not sure I think that is fair on the person. For that
reason alone HECS debt is not appropriate.

20cents

On Fri, 22 Aug 2008 03:14:28 +0000, 20cents wrote:

Unfortunately for sporting types at all Institutes of Sport it is a
lifestyle that trades their childhood for a rigid regime of training and
competition. Not sure I think that is fair on the person. For that
reason alone HECS debt is not appropriate.

But what do they contribute in return for the millions of dollars that we
pour into the AIS? All I am hearing is the screams of drug addiction;
more, more, more.

At least celebrities are funded directly by the public.

Nobel Prixe winners are really just the top of the pyramid, a slim one in
Australia, and there is a host of spin offs for our country (and the world).

I am just troubled by this continual call to gamble millions on something
that can be disrailled by a low flying gnat on the final performance.

"theo" wrote in message news:ef55c680-3a14-4d35-9058-

People lived half their lives with stomach pain, now they take a
course of antibiotics and it's gone.

Yeah, those guys are brillliant - they objectively improved the wellbeing of
millions of people

I think the depth of interest in gold medals underlines how important status
is to people, even if they get it vicariously through the efforts of other
talented people who are part of the same group (nation). I think we tend to
under-estimate just how important it is and how much utility people get from
status at the individual level (BMW rather than, say, a Honda) and at the
national level (gold medals)

Claude wrote:
"terryc" wrote in message
news
I'd prefer nobel Prizes. apparently we have already scored 9 by
Australians.


I suspect most Australians quite like Nobel Prize winners, but they're not
up there with sporting heroes. Come to think of it, I reckon most would
even prefer 11 new international celebrities (like Nicole Kidman) to 11 gold
medals.



Some time ago the MIT university cycle club was raising money by
auctioning two of their club cycle jerseys on eBay. They had been signed
by four Nobel prize winners plus some other guy that had won the
Presidents prize. I bid for and won one of the jerseys for not much more
than the cost of a jersey. It's one of my coolest possessions.

Movie stars are dime a dozen, and there are new sports champions every
year, but science discoveries only occur once in history.