The event will be, as protocol demands, declared the greatest Olympics
ever. And the world's athletes will be summoned to re-assemble in four
years in London.
For all the controversy that attended on some aspects of the
organisation - the authorities' paranoia about freedom of information
and, in particular, a distastefully totalitarian disinclination to let
the facts get in the way of a good-news story - the Games have been
extraordinarily well run.
The host nation has plainly pulled out all the stops, raking the sea
on the sailing course free of a rudder-tangling algae and even
virtually shutting down private transport and heavy industry to keep
the skies clear. The Chinese have good reason to be proud of their
achievement.
Australians, too, have had plenty to cheer about in a fortnight of
competition that has seen our team do the nation proud.
The raw numbers are creditable enough: with 46 medals - 14 gold, 15
silver and 17 bronze - our athletes finished sixth on the overall
table.
But proportionate to its population, this country had the fourth-
biggest medal haul of all countries. Our 2.15 medals per million
people was beaten only by Jamaica, the country that gave us, in the
world's fastest man, Usain Bolt, one of the Games' great sensations;
Bahrain, and Estonia and put us ahead of the Poms - which just proves
what we already knew: that one Australian is worth five Poms any day.
To single out individual achievements is invidious: all our team
members, not simply the medallists, have held the flag aloft.
The victors and the ones who have dealt with disappointment and held
their heads high deserve our admiration in equal measure.
They have acquitted themselves with commitment and passion on an
international stage and shown themselves to be exceptional athletes
and human beings.
http://www.smh.com.au/section/466/story.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=10528675
Don't tell Chuckwit, he claims no Australian ever mentions this
Higgs
=Don't tell Chuckwit, he claims no Australian ever mentions this
poor Huggies Lying again
<<>The tumult and the shouting dies. In the late hours of tomorrow
>evening Australian time the Games of the 29th Olympiad will draw to a
>spectacular close.>>
This is a rugby NG.
Ferdi really, don't rattle the Australians.
Why don't we have 7s in the Olympics? Or did we?
No, but such a keen student of history such as yourself would know
that Rugby (15's) was an Olympic sport at one time.
Care to guess who the reigning Olympic Champions are? No googling
now.....
Keegan...
Hence the OT. Want to read rugby stick away from the OT threads
Fraid not random dunder head Aussie journalist: It proves that life
expectancy is far greater in Britain than Australia. Mostly because
Australia is shit.
England.
>
> Keegan...
Ok, no googling except for didge...
Keegan...
Wrong.
Actually it proves that the population of certain countries have nothing
else to do but play outside in the sun.
William Clark
You are correct. In fact they won the last two Olympic gold medals
in rugby...
Keegan...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oY5ybpfmOZ0
Keegan...