Sunday 22nd of December 2024
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passing the buck...

whitecoat

not his baby...

 

 

AUSTRALIA'S Olympic chief, John Coates, has put the presidents and chief executives of the country's sports federations on notice, revealing he suspected some were not giving their all to the London cause 18 months before the Games that ultimately produced Australia's worst gold medal haul in 20 years.

In a calmly delivered yet pointed assessment of the national team's results, the Australian Olympic Committee said: "I wouldn't point the finger at our athletes, I couldn't do that. I leave a question mark on whether the attitude and the ownership is as good as it could be in the management of some of some of the sports.

"Any corporation is only as good as its CEO or chairman and the direction that's coming from there."
Explaining that he was concerned enough to act 1 1/2 years ago after sensing a distinct lack of engagement from some chiefs of Olympic sports, Coates wrote to CEOs and presidents to "try to get them to take some ownership of what their objectives would be for these Games".

"What I was doing was just trying to make sure that they knew that their neck wasn't on the line but that they had to take some ownership," he said."They're largely being very, very well funded by the Australian Sports Commission, and with that comes responsibility.



Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/olympics/news-london-2012/coates-delivers-blunt-message-to-olympics-sports-bosses-20120813-2436p.html#ixzz23NXOW3Px

 

 

meanwhile in O'Feral country...

Australia's Olympic gold medal-winning sailing community is angry over plans to cut spending on the sport in the wake of the London Games.

The New South Wales Institute of Sport is poised to scrap its sailing program from next year.

The decision comes despite the fact that sailing was Australia's stand-out sport at the London Games, with three gold medals and one silver.

Seven out of eight of the sailors who won medals at the Games were from New South Wales.

The ABC's Mary Gearin says Yachting Australia was told two months ago that the New South Wales Institute of Sport would be dumping its sailing program.

Yachting Australia's Phil Jones wants the institute to change its mind.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-08-13/nsw-inst-of-sport-dumps-sailing-program/4194590

the fascist AOC...

 

 

Norman ought to be celebrated both for his Olympic achievements and for the courageous solidarity he showed in joining Smith and Carlos in their protest - he planned it with them and wore an Olympic Project for Human Rights badge - but instead it cost them all their future Olympic careers.

Carlos and Smith were banned for life. In recent years, both have been vindicated - celebrated at home and internationally for their role promoting the civil rights movement and for their ''Olympic idealism'' - but Australia is yet to properly recognise Norman.
He was reprimanded by the Australian Olympic Committee and made a pariah by the Australian media. He was not selected for the 1972 Games, despite ranking fifth in the world. He quit athletics in protest.
When the US Olympic Committee heard that the Australian Olympic Committee had not invited Norman to Sydney 2000 celebrations, they invited him as part of the US delegation.

Carlos and Smith attended his funeral in Australia in 2006, and implored Australians to ''go and tell your kids the story of Peter Norman''. A letter of respect was received from the US track star Michael Johnson, who declared Norman one of his biggest heroes and the US Track and Field federation declared October 9 Peter Norman Day.



Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/the-hero-too-many-of-us-still-dont-know-20120813-244vg.html#ixzz23TeWdVVg

 

 

it never had any problem with Norman...

Mr Leigh's motion also calls on the Parliament to ''apologise to Peter Norman for the wrong done by Australia in failing to send him to the 1972 Munich Olympics, despite repeatedly qualifying''.
He came third in the 1972 national titles. As reported by The Age's Ron Carter in March 1972, Norman said after the race: ''I'm history. I'm out of the team. All I had to do was to win, even in a slow time, and I think I would have been off to the Olympics.''
An AOC spokesman said it did not see any need to support the motion because it never had any problem with Norman.
''It has been suggested Peter Norman was 'punished' by the AOC for his role in the black power salute given by two American athletes, Tommie Smith and John Carlos, during the medal ceremony for the 200m … This is incorrect,'' he said. ''As to his non-selection in the 1972 Olympics, it had nothing to do with the incident in Mexico City. ''
Mr Leigh acknowledged there was some uncertainty about Norman's non-selection for the 1972 Games and said he would be focusing on Norman's important life as a role model for equality.



Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/aoc-sees-no-need-to-apologise-to-athlete-20120820-24inl.html#ixzz247jOKcfG