Team Oz at Paris 2024

[Sir Rols]

Still very early, but the planning has started. First team announcement has been made:

Cycling great Anna Meares to lead Australian Olympic team at Paris 2024 Games

Two-time gold medallist Anna Meares will return to the Olympic arena after being appointed Australia's chef de mission for the 2024 Games in Paris.

[Sir Rols]

This is an outrage! Shamefull!

‘Sending them home early’: Aussie greats slam ‘shameful’ Olympic village ban

It’s a betrayal of one of the great ideals and attractions of the games to athletes, being able to mingle, and forge friendships (and more) with their peers from around the world.

Will our surfers even be allowed to take up their option to travel to Paris after their events?

[Bear]

17 hours ago, Sir Rols said:

This is an outrage! Shamefull!

‘Sending them home early’: Aussie greats slam ‘shameful’ Olympic village ban

It’s a betrayal of one of the great ideals and attractions of the games to athletes, being able to mingle, and forge friendships (and more) with their peers from around the world.

Will our surfers even be allowed to take up their option to travel to Paris after their events?

article from August 2021 -

Quote

 

"Australian athletes damaged their Tokyo Olympics athletes’ village rooms before departing, the Australian Olympic Committee said on Tuesday, while other teammates showed “unacceptable behaviour” on their flight home.
Australian media reported that a raucous gathering left damaged beds and a hole in the wall. Cleaners had to clear a pool of vomit in one room."

...

"Passengers on the 10-hour flight from Tokyo to Sydney had complained of rowdy behaviour as the Olympians reportedly became drunk.
Vomit was left in the plane’s bathroom, the Sydney Morning Herald reported."

 

i'd say it's fair.

[Sir Rols]

^^^

See, that’s what happens when they’re forced to leave early!

You’re probably right, it is punishment for that, though the AOC says it’s about “performance”.

Seriously, though. What’s the world coming to? The whole point of the Olympic village is for them all to mingle, and eventually turn it into an orgy and party town by the end of the games.

[TorchbearerSydney]

Its a hard nosed decision about performance- Australia had a great Games in Tokyo and they are repeating (funnily enough) the COVID model.

But it does come at a  cost.

[Bear]

30 minutes ago, Sir Rols said:

The whole point of the Olympic village is for them all to mingle, and eventually turn it into an orgy and party town by the end of the games.

no harm in partying and other things as long as you return it in the state you found it (by not leaving holes, damaged beds, and vomit), especially considering that there's still the Paralympians that have to be housed immediately after

[Bear]

1 minute ago, Bear said:

no harm in partying and other things as long as you return it in the state you found it (by not leaving holes, damaged beds, and vomit), especially considering that there's still the Paralympians that have to be housed immediately after

regardless, i do hope it is a one-time ban (unless there's a repeat of what happened), there's no need to punish any further than that.

[Sir Rols]

 

1 hour ago, Bear said:

no harm in partying and other things as long as you return it in the state you found it (by not leaving holes, damaged beds, and vomit), especially considering that there's still the Paralympians that have to be housed immediately after

Kids (cause that’s what most of them are) will be kids, and they’re not the first or last team to have gone overboard, but you’re right, that’s no excuse for being dicks. If it really is punishment for behaving badly in Tokyo, it should be handled by punishment to those who acted up badly, fines perhaps, rather than penalise the whole national squad. It should be the Chef de Mission’s job to police some discipline so the athletes don’t go overboard and embarrass heir country, yet still let them have the leeway to have fun and enjoy their nce in a lifetime experience.,

2 hours ago, TorchbearerSydney said:

Its a hard nosed decision about performance- Australia had a great Games in Tokyo and they are repeating (funnily enough) the COVID model.

But it does come at a  cost.

So they say, but they’ve had equally or even greater games in he past - Sydney, Athens - while being able to enjoy their Olympic experience. And it’s not, as Bear has so embarrassingly to us pointed out, as if they still didn’t act up in Tokyo. I’m sure a lot of factors came into the Tokyo results - extra year’s training, other teams’ and athletes’  preps disrupted etc - than just being more restricted that time around. Actually, considering that a huge bulk of our medals still came in the first week - when everyone was still around - and in swimming as usual (we had our best swim meet in a while), the fast in-and-out rule actually likely had little effect. Or it was likely more that the swimmers were under a bit more good behaviour supervision since Magnussen and co’s bogan-ish stilnox escapades at London, and performances were now reaping the benefits. That was more a text book case of how bad behaviour SHOULD be handled. 

It strikes me as akin to hanging onto a lucky superstition - “I always seem to win when I wear my green sock backwards, so I always do it now as part of my race preparation”…. Or just being plain fun-Nazis and micro-managing control freaks. 

Edited April 15, 2023 by Sir Rols

[TorchbearerSydney]

Q:  I’m sure a lot of factors came into the Tokyo results

 

Of course a lot of other factors were in play- Australia having had a 'mild' Covid experience (relatively), being in the same time zone as Tokyo, travelling to Tokyo from home base (Cairns) at the last minute etc. etc...

But the relative poor performances in Rio and London shook the AOC...they must have been wondering if Australia was on a terminal decline. Tokyo turned things around so they have adopted it as a model.

[Sir Rols]

2 hours ago, TorchbearerSydney said:

But the relative poor performances in Rio and London shook the AOC...they must have been wondering if Australia was on a terminal decline. Tokyo turned things around so they have adopted it as a model.

I think they’ve been all too well aware of the cause behind the “decline”, and not shy about what they need to turn it around:

Federal government warned of $2 billion funding black hole ahead of green and gold decade

it was the country’s willingness to throw money at elite sports and the AIS in the lead-up to the Sydney games that saw us achieve our second golden era, peaking with Athens. But then those funding flows started slowing about the same time others - notably Britain - borrowed the same recipe to boost their own results at their upcoming games.

It’s no coincidence that a lot of our declining golds have come at the expense of sports where Australia and Britain have traditionally been competitive. Take track cycling. It was, pre-2004, one of our best performing areas outside the pool. But Britain specifically targetted it in the lead up to London with the result of them basically owning the velodrome come 2012. Britain’s also benefited from having a more consistent funding model than Oz - their National Lottery funding model has basically put its elite sports investment on a reliable funding scale, while here in Oz our funding is dependent on the whims and expediencies of the political cycle, with the AOC having to go cap in hand to the government every four years to squeeze whatever it can get out of it. It’s such a pity our States have already become too reliant on gambling revenue to carry out even their most basic needs like health, preventing us from adopting the UK model.

Also worth mentioning is the existential struggle the AIS has gone through post-2008 or so, where it has been questioned whether it’s purpose has been to be specifically an Olympic gold medal machine or a general facilitator of elite sport. It’s a debate the UK is also having now a decade on from London. For us it resulted in various tinkering to the AIS’s internal funding and development priorities, with mixed results.

We can’t kid ourselves that we are some sort of physiological super-race that just needs to turn up to “punch above our weight”. What we do have is a great foundation of prosperous infrastructure that also needs a generously funded program of talent sporting and training to get the most out of it. Hopefully the target of Brisbane is going to get that funding increasing again.

And, of course, so much is dependent on luck and individual talent. It’s great to have a Thorpe or Phelps at your disposal. But when they retire, it’s not a simple matter to say we just need to create a Thorpe 2.0 now. We’re incredibly lucky to have a McKeon 1.0 at our disposal right now - let’s hope she’s still got fuel in the tank and fire in her ambition for 2024.   

i still see the “get out of the village” issue as a furphy that is more tailored to petty micro-management than a genuine performance enhancer. These athletes are elite competitors - to even make the team they need to have had the mental steel to be able to perform at their peak agains whatever distractions are thrown at them in elite competition. Our best swim meet since 2004 was achieved while the bulk of the team were in the village indulging through their usual shenanigans. The AOC now trying to restrict the Olympic village is just ridiculous petty over-reach.

Edited April 17, 2023 by Sir Rols

[Durban Sandshark]

Having read what I'm reading on this thread as an American at the other side of the Pacific who seriously follows LOTS of Australian and Kiwi things like sports, I very much agree with SirRols' stance on what the AOC plans to handle Australian Olympians in Paris--and what will come in the pipeline after elite Olympic legends leave the stage with luck and depth of talent. But I also see Torchbearer Sydney's and Bear's points. To me, the planned immediate post-competition exodus seems very childish, even though many are young adults. My guess is that the AOC wants to avoid lawsuits and nasty public and private complaints over how they erroneously treat or neglect its athletes to their detriment and not being "safe" (I put that in quotation marks because it partly reminds me of when my evil high school made us wear IDs for safety, they said, micromanaging, and restrict our movement as a senior when it had nothing to do with that and was more about social control on the students)--outside of legitimate harms. Anyhoo, I do believe COVID certainly made it easier for the AOC brass to enforce this, being in the same time zone as Tokyo, and make its athletes focus on the Olympic tasks they qualified for along with the Australian states and territories' (relatively mild) COVID restrictions in varying degrees when they returned after supposedly even more restrictive Japan's version. Shouldn't be replicated to cater with the "petty micro-management" in serving as "a genuine performance enhancer". They already possess some mental fortitude to make teams and qualify at elite competitions in peak positions against come what may in front of them. 

Going in this direction for Paris 2024 would rob the 2024 Australian Olympic Team, as stated by SirRols, of immersing themselves with the host city and nation and engaging with people from other nations. Like they're serious distractions from their missions. Elite athletes, Go on and have your parties and hot sexy Olympic orgies as long as you maintain things in the original state as you find them. Can Australians be boisterous and rowdy? They can. So can anybody else--and we Americans had that 1998 US men's Olympic hockey team in Nagano trashing things at the Olympic Village after getting eliminated. They were NHL players at the time! But the AOC leadership must explain the stern consequences of breaking property, making holes, and vomitting individually with fines and suspensions but not punishing the team as a whole. Must also learn when NOT to act like mindless kids who shouldn't be excused for "unacceptable behavio(u)r" because...they're representing Australia reasons. 

Australia is indeed a very strong sports nation with solidly talented athletes and coaches in multiple sports with a strong heritage and foundation. I don't really believe there will be near-future "terminal decline" as feared for Australia's Olympic campaigns. Just the ebbs and flows that happens to participating nations in attaining Olympic medals unless you're an all-around bonafide power like USA. It needs to maintain it AND adjust to future trends. Can't stay static. Not to up on the current state of the AIS' existential struggles, but you would hope it would adjust effectively.   

[Durban Sandshark]

Back to the Aussie Olympic sports. The Matildas Women's World Cup afterglow continues on as (Soccer Australia) announced Monday a Matildas' Asian Olympic qualification women's soccer game next month will be moved from originally due to take place at the 20,500-capacity HBF Park in Perth, and that's the middle fixture will now be held crosstown at the much larger 60,000-seat Optus Stadium to satisfy mass ticket demand. Iran (October 26) and Taiwan/Chinese Taipei (November 1) will still be played as group games at HBF Park. Haven't played at Perth since 2018. The Philippines, incidentally, happen to have a couple of Aussies on the team like Angie Beard but competes internationally for The Philippines. Nonetheless, the Matildas, buoyed by their WWC adventure as co-hosts, should have no problem in getting to the third and final round in February and qualifying for Paris:

https://www.thestadiumbusiness.com/2023/09/18/matildas-in-high-demand-as-olympic-qualifier-moved-to-optus-stadium/

Also Australia's Boomers qualified for Paris 2024 in basketball from the just-completed World Basketball Championships as the top Pacific team in it as New Zealand's Tall Blacks move on to the OQTs next July. Here's hoping they'll medal higher than bronze next year. Can also expect the Opals will accomplish likewise in February's OQTs

Speaking of New Zealand, ICYMI, the men just qualified as hosts in Paris 2024 men's Olympic soccer, steamrolling Papua New Guinea (actually couldn't travel and got a 3-0 forfeit), Fiji (twice), and Vanuatu (American Samoa withdrew). New Zealand will surely also take the top OFC spot in the women's soccer February 5–March 10, 2024. Australia's Olyroos will try to qualify themselves in Qatar April 15–May 3, 2024 with three Asian spots up for grabs. Right after Qatar also hosts the AFC Asian Cup. 

Australia has also qualified in women's water polo, men's (the Kookaburras) and women's (the Hockeyroos) field hockey, and men's and women's rugby sevens

[Sir Rols]

Maybe I should have saved this for Hot Bods de Paris…

Olympic medallist Showjumper Shane Rose stood down after wearing mankini during event

[Durban Sandshark]

The Opals qualified for Paris 2024 Olympic women's basketball out of Belem, Brazil last weekend, finishing tops in their group with Germany and Serbia.  

[Australian Kiwi]

Matildas’ Olympic qualifier LIVE updates: Australia’s Paris berth secured after 10-0 onslaught in Melbourne

ByRoy Ward

Updated February 28, 2024 — 10.16pm

Latest posts

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 10.16pm

Meares gives the Tillies their ticket

The Matildas have been given their official ticket to Paris 2024 by Australian Olympic great and cycling great Anna Meares.

They accepted the ticket away from their special Matildas stage, as that is from Football Australia, not the Australian Olympic Committee.

Now they have moved over to the FA’s stage and put on their winners t-shirts.

 

 

[Durban Sandshark]

What was so cool about their qualification was the return of Michelle Heyman, back after 6 years away--and making an instant impact with her goalscoring!

[Sir Rols]

Stuff the vegetarian Boeuf Bourgignon…

‘A taste of home’: Australia’s Olympians to be provided with Weet-Bix and Vegemite at Paris Games

[Palette86]

[Sir Rols]

45 minutes ago, Palette86 said:

No way!! 

Yuck! 🤮

[Rob2012]

OK, I've just gone down a weet-bix rabbithole. Still no real answers about the difference, so I'm guessing it's like weetabix but wrong.

Edited June 5, 2024 by Rob2012

[Sir Rols]

They’re just sorta compacted blocks of bran flakes. Think guinea pig pellets for humans. I could only stomach them when young with spoons full on sugar on top.

[Durban Sandshark]

Much too bad that Sam Kerr won't bring her backflipping and world class skills to France this summer with her torn ACL. The Matildas are still a very solid team without her, but she gives them that talent and boost. ICYMI:

https://sports.yahoo.com/australias-sam-kerr-ruled-paris-012039354.html

[Durban Sandshark]

With that, the 16-player Matildas team bound for Paris with hopes of being better than last summer after capturing the national hearts of Australia. No Kerr, no Lydia Williams, who is retiring soon and help model the Australian Asics Paris 2024 Olympic gear, and even Kyah Simon, who I think would not have a place on the roster with that reduced to 18. No problem. There are players who play in their third Olympics with this one--captain Steph Catley, vice-captain Emily Van Egmond, Mackenzie Arnold, Ellie Carpenter, Caitlin Foord, Alanna Kennedy, Clare Polkinghorne and Tameka Yallop.  Kyra Cooney-Cross, Mary Fowler, Katrina Gorry, Michelle Heyman, Teagan Micah, and Hayley Raso all return for their second Games, while Clare Hunt, Kaitlyn Torpey, Cortnee Vine, and Clare Wheeler have been selected to make their Olympic debut: 

https://www.matildas.com.au/news/history-making-matildas-team-selected-paris-olympics

https://www.matildas.com.au/video/australia-announces-their-squad-paris2024

[Victorian]

Will Jess Fox be competing in the Kayak Cross?

[StefanMUC]

33 minutes ago, Victorian said:

Will Jess Fox be competing in the Kayak Cross?

The Kayak Cross Qualifier is actually today during the WC in Prague:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_Canoe_Slalom_World_Cup#World_Cup_Race_2