National pride and inspiration more than just medals
Just over a year ago, many of us wouldn’t have believed there would be an Olympic Games to celebrate, let alone a record medal haul by our Australian team.
The path to these Games has been longer than any marathon I ran, and filled with more obstacles than we have ever experienced before. However, despite the odds, here we are at the end of the 32nd Olympiad celebrating not just a historic number of gold medals, but also the power of sport to inspire and unite us all.
I was fortunate to proudly don the green and gold at four Olympic Games. Competing at this level is a serious test of character and nerve but our current crop of Olympians has risen to the occasion. Our athletes showed spirit and determination to dig deep and deliver in the most challenging of circumstances. They have experienced major disruptions to training and competition, uncertainty about whether the Games would happen and separation from family, friends and support networks who would usually be there with them.
The stands may not have been filled with fans in Tokyo but we were all there in spirit, with Aussies watching in record numbers. Who will forget the joy in seeing Ariarne Titmus and Emma McKeon state their dominance in the pool? Or Jess Fox achieve the dream of three Olympics and come away with gold and bronze? And the inspiring stories went beyond medals. Peter Bol, a truly great Australian story, running a magnificent fourth; Patty Mills, a proud Kokatha, Naghiralgal and Dauareb-Meriam man, simply an incredible Australian, leading the Boomers to bronze; and Cedric Dubler with the most outstanding display of fair play – helping good mate Ash Moloney to bronze in the decathlon. It was pure joy to watch and we surely need more joy in our world right now.
Every Australian watching can genuinely take some personal pride in the outcome. Research through Sport Australia tells us almost 80 per cent of Aussies take pride in and inspiration from our Olympic, Paralympic and Commonwealth Games athletes.
While they are achieving the extraordinary in Japan, our athletes are also displaying their human side. The Australian Institute of Sport runs psychology and wellbeing services to athletes and the AIS Mental Health Referral Network experienced record levels of in-reach in the lead-up to Tokyo, so we know many were experiencing mental health challenges – and I applaud those who’ve reached out for help, and who’ve championed the importance of recognising when we’re not “OK”. As chair of the AIS Athlete Advisory Committee, wellbeing has been a core focus of the group and to our athletes I would say we are always here to help. I am proud the AIS is working closely with the Australian Olympic Committee to continue supporting our athletes as they return home and complete the necessary quarantine periods.
I have always loved the Olympic motto: Faster, Higher, Stronger, but for the first time since 1896 a new word was added. Faster, Higher, Stronger – Together.
This phrase perfectly sums up how the Australian high-performance sport sector has managed the trials and challenges of Covid-19 leading up to Tokyo. It has been a genuine team effort to put Australian sport in the position to succeed. The AOC has supported a magnificent Games team, our state and territory institutes and academies of sport deserve enormous credit and I’m immensely proud of the leadership role the Australian Sports Commission has played through the AIS to prepare our athletes for Tokyo in partnership with our national sporting organisations.
The federal government deserves significant credit for its consistent support of high-performance sport. The funding certainty it has provided to Sport Australia and the AIS over an extended period has had a major impact and is critical in enabling us to provide and continue these important – and proven – programs. Even better, the most recent budget allocated more than $130m over the next three years to allow these programs to continue – including more than $14m per year in direct athlete payments from the AIS through to the next Olympics in Paris. The Covid delay means we are just one year from the Birmingham Commonwealth Games and Beijing Winter Olympics, and three years from the next Olympics in Paris.
To see medals in the new sports of skateboarding, surfing and BMX Freestyle in Tokyo has been amazing, as well as making me feel old, and is so important for the future of sport in this country. In addition to the traditional heroes from the pool, track and field and on the courts and fields Aussie kids can grab their boards and bikes – and dare to dream.
We are embarking on an exciting chapter in our sporting history. In 11 years, the Olympics and Paralympic Games will return to our shores for Brisbane. To Australia’s Olympic team, a big thank you for inspiring a nation and wearing the Olympic uniform with pride. And to our Paralympians, we can’t wait. Bring it on.
Steve Moneghetti is chair of the Athletes Advisory Committee at the Australian Institute of Sport and deputy chair of the Australian Sports Commission. He represented Australia in the marathon at four Olympic Games, finishing 10th in his final games at Sydney 2000. He won gold at the 1994 Commonwealth Games.
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