Sydney Olympic Games proved our worth as a nation

Cathy Freeman after winning gold at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Picture: AP

Former rugby league great Steve “Blocker” Roach had a great line for those who believe that football or any endeavour in life should be conducted under Marquess of Queensberry rules. When confronted by a colleague with the words “he can’t run without legs”, Blocker replied: “He can’t run without a head ­either.”

When it comes to politics, former NSW premier Neville Wran was fond of saying that “you never know how tough anyone is until the blowtorch has been applied to their stomach”.

It is 20 years since the Sydney Olympics, where the controversy over ticket sales proved to be a real issue even if it was blown up to be larger than life. Many commentators predicted doom, gloom and chaos. When the crunch came, there were no disasters and everyone who booked a seat found one.

With any dispute, it is handy to have someone at the table experienced in handling the problem. As chairman of the ticketing committee, I am indebted to former Australian Opera boss Donald McDonald. He saved the day and there were very few complaints.

After receiving too many vague answers, I demanded the ticketing plan. Officials looked at each other with a mixture of fear and guilt. Finally came the admission that no such plan existed. McDonald moved in with his calm manner and agile mind and rescued the situation.

While the Olympics may have detractors, no one can dispute they made Australians, and Sydneysiders in particular, happy. The atmosphere of 2000 has never been replicated. I doubt it will. There was a spark in all those around at the time. If something did go wrong, it would be fixed with a smile. If a bus driver headed in the wrong direction, a phone call to an official with a Gregory’s Guide in hand would deal with it. Every athlete and every official was at their event on time.

And the Olympics will come back to Australia because, after the experience of Rio de Janeiro, they won’t take that risk again. Half-finished stadiums and gridlocked traffic were the order of the day. The athletes are entitled to expect first-class facilities to give them their best shot at being an Olympic champion. No matter who holds the world record, you can’t be the world champion unless you claim Olympic gold.

Television networks around the world pay enormous sums for the broadcast rights of the Olympics because when they are on, everyone wants to be a part of this beloved sporting extravaganza. Heroic moments abound. Who can forget the marathon where one poor bastard actually crawled over the finish line? “Eddie the Eagle” created his own legend at the Winter Games. It is proving difficult for the television networks to make a profit on the Olympics because if they set their advertising rates to do so, very few advertisers would line up to pay the exorbitant prices for airtime The networks know they will make a loss but for a time they will dominate the airwaves and dominance is a hard thing for anyone to resist.

I vividly recall the first time I met Juan Antonio Samaranch. We met at the Sydney Olympic Village, which was mostly finished but was still a construction site. It was just as well that I had been forewarned that Samaranch was always well prepared and fully briefed. He asked some probing questions and lived up to his reputation. You don’t get to run an organisation like the Olympic Committee or an event like the Games unless you have substantial brain power. Jacques Rogge and Thomas Bach, Samaranch’s successors, chose straightforwardness rather than guile to persuade others to their point of view. It’s a political exercise and whoever has the numbers always wins.

John Coates would have made a consummate politician and over the years I tried on countless occasions to convince him to do so. He has a well-developed sense of loyalty, which showed when he was challenged for his job. Despite $700,000 being spent in a campaign to unseat him, he got three votes less than the estimate we made when the challenge was announced. All that money and all that effort produced next to nothing because he earned over many years the loyalty that results had ably demonstrated. Australia has been so well served over the past couple of decades in its Olympic endeavours by the presence of Coates and his distinguished predecessor, Kevan Gosper.

These two have ensured Australia has punched well above its weight in Olympic circles. Both men have risen to great heights because both are very smart and have an ability to persuade others.

Australian sport owes them quite a debt. It is a tribute to the two of them that they could reach the heights they did because they are not European and come from the wrong end of the planet. The Europeans have always held a tight grip on the Olympic movement but they chose to allow these two from down under a prominent seat at the table.

When the teams enter the arena for the opening ceremony of every Olympic Games, one thing always impresses me — little Australia, with a population of just 25 million people, produces one of the biggest contingents to march around the arena.

We are a sports-mad nation and should be proud of it. We have a go at almost every sport and are likely to feature in the new added sport of skateboard riding. Our skateboard facilities are choc-a-block full of young enthusiasts, male and female, striving for that additional flair that might see them bring home the gold.