Nick Kyrgios ditching the Olympics is no great loss to Australia — but just might be to him

NICK Kyrgios’ withdrawal from the Rio Olympics shows why he — and his sport — never belonged there in the first place, writes Robert Craddock.

Nick Kyrgios has thrown in the Olympic towel in typically petulant style.

NICK Kyrgios’ withdrawal from the Rio Olympics showed why he — and his sport — never belonged there in the first place.

Talk about a threadbare excuse.

Kyrgios’ claims that “not one member’’ of Australia’s Olympic Committee “reached out to’’ him or his staff during the tempestuous lead-up to the Games are totally true — and totally irrelevant.

The AOC never reached out to Kyrgios because he had not been chosen by Tennis Australia to go to Rio. That decision was three weeks away.

He was not under their control.

The AOC don’t “reach out’’ to anyone before they are selected.

But, as is their want, tennis players expect privileged treatment — to be the centre of attention because, of course, in their own eyes, they are bigger than the game and the Games.

It’s one of the many reasons why their presence at the Games leaves a lot of people stone cold and tennis demeans the Olympic ideal.

Just as Bernard Tomic pulled out of the Games because of a schedule clash — someone obviously forgot to tell him they were on — Kyrgios’ excuses for not putting himself up for selection were lightweight and unconvincing.

Did he ever really want to go to a tournament that has no prize money?

Did he ever really want to go to a tournament that has no prize money? Or did he simply read the vibe that his selection was not going to be ratified and got in first?

Or did he simply read the vibe that his selection was not going to be ratified and got in first?

Kyrgios accused the AOC of “unwarranted attacks’’ on him but all the no-nonsense AOC chef de mission Kitty Chiller did was say that his behaviour was at times appalling and embarrassing.

You can’t argue with that.

The fact that Kyrgios was very comfortable with his own behaviour standards shows why he should never have been taken to a Games in which Australia is desperate to restore its reputation after the failings of London 2012.

Kyrgios could never have been trusted to behave himself but the man and not his country is the big loser here because there is just a chance that by mixing with athletes who have been existing on shoe-string budgets for years the penny may have dropped at how fortunate he is to have the life he does.

But maybe not.

If there is sentence in his statement that sums up the haughty world in which Kyrgios lives it is where he says the AOC’s decision “demonstrates the organisation’s inability to understand the circumstances surrounding highly competitive sports.’’

That’s right Nick. Players like the 25 men’s hockey players who have been driving each other to wits end in Perth duelling for 16 spots in the Games squad have no idea of what competition tension is all about.

Neither would affable weightlifter Damon Kelly who only last weekend thought he was Games bound when he lifted a weight high above his head but only got one white light from the three judges when he needed two.

Kelly has four years to wait for his next chance in a sports world where the rich are often miserable sods and the poor look as if they have inherited the earth.

Originally published as Nick Kyrgios ditching the Olympics is no great loss to Australia — but just might be to him