Nick Kyrgios may not possess ideal Australian Olympic Committee image but he’s just what IOC want

IS it up to the Australian Olympic Committee to choose the best athletes, or the ones that most resemble their image of an Olympian?

Nick Kyrgios has put the ball in AOC’s court.

I WAS watching the TV news while downing my early morning coffee when one of those sports updates moved across the bottom of the screen.

“Kyrgios beats Milos Raonic to move into third round in Rome.”

Nick Kyrgios has put the ball in AOC’s court.

Just Kyrgios? Not Nick? Roanic gets his first name on the screen, so why not the local boy?

Now it could have just been a slip of the keyboard, but if you were a Kyrgios supporter or a conspiracy theorist (or both), you could make a pretty good case for it being just another example of the anti-Kyrgios campaign in action, doing its best to further deflate his public image.

A couple of days earlier I heard a TV reporter state that Kyrgios had “dared” Australian Olympic boss Kitty Chiller not to pick him and Bernard Tomic for the Rio Games.

I listened closely to the report, and read articles dealing with the matter, but nowhere could I find any quotes in which Kyrgios used the word “dare” or even addressed Chiller directly.

The closest I could get was an online ABC report which said he had “all but” dared Chiller to leave him and Tomic out of the team. “All but” seems to be a little short of a dare, but obviously by the time it got picked up by TV it had hardened up somewhat.

The actual quote that the reporters were referring to was, “I mean, if you don’t want to pick me or Bernard, you know, there are plenty of others you can pick to represent your country as well. If you don’t want two of the best players in Australia to represent your country, so be it.”

I guess it’s all in the way you read these things, but to me that sounded like Kyrgios saying to Ms Chiller: “Well, do what you have to do. That’s your job.”

Which of course is true. Tomic (an Olympian in London) has saved Ms Chiller the trouble of making a decision by pulling out, but if she doesn’t want to take Tomic (already) and Kyrgios to Rio, just as he said, there are plenty of others she can choose. And also as he said, they won’t be as good.

All of which leads to an interesting question. Is it up to the Australian Olympic Committee to choose the best athletes, or the ones that most resemble their image of an Olympian?

Having had a bit to do with Kyrgios over the past few years I must admit that I’ve never really warmed to him, although I know that he has many supporters. To me, he comes across as cocky and arrogant. To them, he is exciting and edgy; irreverent and brilliant. An NBA basketballer in a tennis player’s body.

Kitty Chiller has a real selection conundrum to deal with.

In other words, exactly the type of athlete the International Olympic Federation has been courting since 1988 when they reintroduced tennis, and opened the door to professional basketballers four years later. It’s why we have BMX cycling and golf, and why one day we’ll probably have mixed martial arts and millionaire computer geeks sitting in front of gaming consoles.

The Olympics sold out to the corporations and went for the big bucks. Maybe they had to in order to stay relevant and survive, but it came at a cost. They let the genie out of the bottle.

It won’t worry me one iota if Kyrgios doesn’t get to Rio, but the thing is, it won’t worry him either.

As Tomic said after the “backwards racquet” stunt in Madrid that so appalled Chiller:

“Would you care if you were 23 and worth over $10 million?”

ANOTHER THING

Interesting to read about the end of the Matty Johns-Fatty Vautin feud at the Logies this week.

Having known Paul Vautin for 30 years or so I must say I had my doubts that he would ever just “forgive and forget” a former colleague making a public bid for his job.

Particularly a colleague he had stood by in his hour of need.

That all happened more than four years ago and apparently Johns and Vautin had not clapped eyes on each other until the Logies, which is strange given they live pretty close to each other on Sydney’s northern beaches.

The closest Johns had got to Vautin was regularly bumping into Fatty’s son Matthew at the local pub where Vautin Jnr works.

Apparently he would often tell Matthew that he wanted to “set things right”, a message that was obviously relayed back to Fatty.

Paul Vautin and the Logie-winning The Footy Show team.

Therefore it didn’t come as a great shock when Johns approached Vautin and offered his hand at the Logies, although I understand the clearing of the air didn’t go any further than Johns asking “How are you?”, telling Fatty what a good young kid Matthew is, and heading back to his table.

Still, as they say, all journeys have to start with one step, and given what had gone on four years ago, this was a big one.

As for the end of the feud, Fatty told me, “I didn’t know there was a feud. It’s television, I couldn’t give a fat rat’s about it to be honest.

“He’s a superstar on Fox now, so good luck to him.”

Of course Fatty can afford to be magnanimous.

Four years ago Johns made the prediction that The Footy Show could never survive with Vautin at the helm.

He’s still there after 22 years and the Logie the show won on the night was the fourth on the trot.

AROUND THE TRAPS

A warning to Australia’s elite cricketers: Don’t retire until you have sorted out your farewell package with Cricket Australia. Brad Haddin made sure all the financial details were written in stone before he walked away from the game, but apparently at least one former big name is still locked in negotiations over a financial settlement months after suddenly pulling the pin.

Brad Haddin planned ahead for his retirement.

THE feisty return of serve that former V8 Supercars chief and now Gold Coast Suns boss Tony Cochrane gave AFL legend Leigh Matthews this week has resulted in the biggest social media response in the history of the club. Supporters are coming out of the woodwork to voice approval for their fearless leader. As one wrote: “Forget just running the Suns. Tony for PM”.

THE fruit didn’t fall far from the tree in the case of Australia under-20 rugby fullback Jack Maddocks. One of the stars of the win over New Zealand on the Gold Coast last week, Maddocks is the son of former Northern Suburbs (Sydney) five-eighth Peter Maddocks, who could have gone all the way in either rugby or cricket before his sporting aspirations were ended by a shocking arm injury during a first-grade footy game in the early 1980s. Like his dad, Jack is a talented cricketer who had to make a decision on which sport to follow and, given the form he showed last week, his choice is one that Australian rugby followers will be grateful for.

BETTER late than never. Gold Coast tennis pro Diane Evers has recently been awarded a trophy for winning the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, 37 years after the event. Evers won the title with New Zealander Judy Chaloner in 1979, in the days before trophies were presented. In 2005 Tennis Australia, to commemorate the centenary of the championships, decided to send replicas to all winners from the pre-trophy days. The first she knew about it was last year when she read online that Chaloner had received her trophy 11 years ago. Evers contacted TA with a polite, “remember me?” and she now has a shiny new addition to the trophy cabinet.

SAY WHAT?

“Queenslanders have long memories. I honestly believe there will always be a stain against Daly Cherry-Evans. Even if he captains the Sea Eagles to a title, people will say, ‘That’s right, you were the bloke who dudded the Titans’. “

Billy Moore – a man never to be crossed

Originally published as Nick Kyrgios may not possess ideal Australian Olympic Committee image but he’s just what IOC want