Australia's cycling performance in Beijing

I'm a bit surprised Australia is getting so comprehensively creamed by the
Brits in Beijing. At the Commonwealth Games in 2006, Australia won 7 gold
medals in track cycling to England/Scotland/Wale's 4. Australia also won
all four gold medals in road racing. Nothwithstanding that GB has some new
personnel, it seems like a pretty dramatic change in the fortunes of both
countries.

Claude wrote:

I'm a bit surprised Australia is getting so comprehensively creamed by the
Brits in Beijing. At the Commonwealth Games in 2006, Australia won 7 gold
medals in track cycling to England/Scotland/Wale's 4. Australia also won
all four gold medals in road racing. Nothwithstanding that GB has some new
personnel, it seems like a pretty dramatic change in the fortunes of both
countries.


Maybe Oz coaches can earn more in the UK.

Patrick Turner.

"Claude" wrote in message
...
I'm a bit surprised Australia is getting so comprehensively creamed by the
Brits in Beijing. At the Commonwealth Games in 2006, Australia won 7 gold
medals in track cycling to England/Scotland/Wale's 4. Australia also won
all four gold medals in road racing. Nothwithstanding that GB has some
new personnel, it seems like a pretty dramatic change in the fortunes of
both countries.
The Brits appear to have thrown money (and associated expertise) at the
task. Anyone who has the money and is prepared to be a little methodical in
dealing with machine and athlete development can expect to do better than in
the past. Expect the competition to become tougher.

John Dwyer

On Sun, 17 Aug 2008 12:38:31 +0000, Claude wrote:

I'm a bit surprised Australia is getting so comprehensively creamed by the
Brits in Beijing. At the Commonwealth Games in 2006, Australia won 7 gold
medals in track cycling to England/Scotland/Wale's 4. Australia also won
all four gold medals in road racing. Nothwithstanding that GB has some new
personnel, it seems like a pretty dramatic change in the fortunes of both
countries.

When did the olympic cycling change from being amateur to just another
battle between professional sportspeople?

On Tue, 19 Aug 2008 12:36:50 +1000, terryc
wrote in aus.bicycle:



When did the olympic cycling change from being amateur to just another
battle between professional sportspeople?


Between the 1988 games and the 1992 games


Regards
Dinsy

Tantum religio potuit suadere malorum - Lucretius

On Aug 19, 10:36*am, terryc wrote:
On Sun, 17 Aug 2008 12:38:31 +0000, Claude wrote:
I'm a bit surprised Australia is getting so comprehensively creamed by the
Brits in Beijing. *At the Commonwealth Games in 2006, Australia won 7 gold
medals in track cycling to England/Scotland/Wale's 4. *Australia also won
all four gold medals in road racing. *Nothwithstanding that GB has some new
personnel, it seems like a pretty dramatic change in the fortunes of both
countries.

When did the olympic cycling change from being amateur to just another
battle between professional sportspeople?

About 20 years ago, when it became apparent that most countries
contestants were professional sportspeople anyway. Are you suggesting
we go back to amateurs only? That would remove all people being paid
to play sport, Including those employed by the AIS. There would be no-
one in our current team, and no medals for us to say _we_ won.

Theo (who didn't win any Olympic medals)

On Tue, 19 Aug 2008 20:10:42 -0700, theo wrote:

Are you suggesting we go back to amateurs only? That would remove all people being paid
to play sport, Including those employed by the AIS. There would be no-
one in our current team, and no medals for us to say _we_ won.

So?
I think some "sports" have become bottomless pits for money. We are a
small nation and for us to try and match the funding available in
contries with populations one or two orders of magnitude greater is
just ludicrous.

I'd also prefer to see the money spent in other areas rather than
subsidising the production of entertainment for the masses.

If people really feel that strongly about funding for their sport,
then they can chink the collection tin in their LBS, etc.

We could also tithe people supported through the AIS for a percentage of
future income in certain areas, e.g product endorsement, future winnings.

We could also tithe people supported through the AIS for a percentage of
future income in certain areas, e.g product endorsement, future winnings.

Good point. My understanding is that if you are an AIS athlete, you
get your training done and science stuff done for free. It is your
full time job, and all the costs are borne by the Taxpayer (or as Kev
puts it, the Working Families). That being said, if I was proved wrong
it would not be a great surprise.

IF this is the case, why can't we (the Taxpayer) expect a $$ return on
our investment?

Brendo

On Aug 20, 2:03*pm, terryc wrote:
On Tue, 19 Aug 2008 20:10:42 -0700, theo wrote:
Are you suggesting we go back to amateurs only? That would remove all people being paid
to play sport, Including those employed by the AIS. There would be no-
one in our current team, and no medals for us to say _we_ won.

So?
I think some "sports" have become bottomless pits for money. We are a
small nation and for us to try and match the funding available in
contries with populations one or two orders of magnitude greater is
just ludicrous.

I'd also prefer to see the money spent in other areas rather than
subsidising the production of entertainment for the masses.

If people really feel that strongly about funding for their sport,
then they can chink the collection tin in their LBS, etc.

We could also tithe people supported through the AIS for a percentage of
future income in certain areas, e.g product endorsement, future winnings.

You elect a government, they govern. I'd rather they spent it all on
pensioners (checking retirement date of 1/7/09) :-)

We ddo very well indeed on a relatively small budget. Back in the
sixties our cricketers weren't paid, but they all had jobs at
rothman's and Wills, the major tobacco companies, who allowed them to
take unlimited time off on full pay to go away. Paid their fares etc.
Were they amateurs? No, not really.

Theo

On 2008-08-20, Brendo (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:


We could also tithe people supported through the AIS for a percentage of
future income in certain areas, e.g product endorsement, future winnings.

Good point. My understanding is that if you are an AIS athlete, you
get your training done and science stuff done for free. It is your
full time job, and all the costs are borne by the Taxpayer (or as Kev
puts it, the Working Families). That being said, if I was proved wrong
it would not be a great surprise.

IF this is the case, why can't we (the Taxpayer) expect a $$ return on
our investment?

We will, just you wait. When the mining sector collapses and the
dollar falls through the floor, we'll be able to trade those gold
medals in for beans.

--
TimC
C Code.
C Code Run.
Run, Code, RUN!
PLEASE!!!! --unknown