I agree with you here, smashed.

I've been hearing this whole thing on the news (OMG! OMG! We need more money or the Poms might beat us in the Olympics!)

Has anyone out there actually heard of the GFC? It seems that everyone involved in the AOC think that a crash of the economic system is the perfect opportunity for a pay rise, from what I've heard.

Let's focus on the necessities first, and the Olympics later, at least until the economy stops shitting itself

John Coates Sucks massively . Replace the Gravy Train with people who spend the money on olympic stuff .
Crawford is a Legend

Another thing is they're all going on about how these "useless sports" participants would be insulted. My great-uncle was one of Australia's best shooters in the post-WWII era, and he never recieved a cent from the government for training. He just shot rabbits on a farm. I'm sure there is a farmer willing to let a shooter practice shooting rabbits on their property, damn things eating all the crops. It would actually save money as more crops can be sold, and they are not wasting money on building clay disks to shoot at.

They rarely raise a good point on Good News Week, preferring to raise humourous points, but Mikey Robins did raise a good point on there last week. When asked "How can Olympians get more money?" he replied "Get a job"

Imagine the uproar if the arts were given half the Federal funding afforded to Olympic sport. People complain about painters and musicians being on the dole but they don't have any powerful lobby groups getting them grants.

I agree with Smashed, I personally dont care if the English beat us in the medal tally invest the money into other things that will help reduce the incidence of cardiocascular disease, obesity and type 2 diabetes will in turn save money in the long run. Over half of the Olympians we send over to the Olympics are just there to make up the numbers and dont come close to winning a thing, i'd much rather see money invested into something that will help our country

They should give the tax payers the money back, taxes are too high!!!!!!

But thankfully i don't think has become a big issue, i thought it was going to get a lot more attention consdering Australians love for sports (it could have, i don't keep up with Australian news that much).

700 million Yuan per gold medal. This equates to 102 million Australian, and when you win 32 gold medals (Athens 2004), the total sums up. AU$3,264,000,000 (3.264 billion Australian) was spent on investing in individual Olympic participants and providing them with ample facilities to prepare for the Olympics. Is this a fair amount to give to these athletes, knowing the joy it gives them & the public, or is it unethical & unjust, given that China is country with 200 million people in poverty, with many others working 10 hour days, 365 days a week, getting paid nothing, to support their family?

In china, 102 million Australian dollars can build & fund 3,500 primary schools, which admit students for free, whom have no money, rescuing over 350,000 children living in poverty, without an education. But, in China, that money would be spent on trying to gain Olympic gold, and that 102 million AUD would earn, on average, one gold medal. If China was an economic superpower, like America of old, and ranked in the top 5 of GDP Per Person, then yes, it’d be slightly excusable, but, China are 100th. They are economically per person behind 99 other countries, and yet they invest, they waste more money than anyone else, even though they have 10 Australias worth of people living in poverty.

Aside from the fact that it’s almost a humanitarian crisis, the amount that is spent on Olympics, especially in countries like China with 200 million people living in poverty, it’s also an ethical issue. The money that is spent on Chinese, or even Australian Olympic gold, even Olympic medals could be better spent, even on the sports in general. Why invest in individual athletes, when, you could invest in sport in general. You could fund a lot of junior grassroots sport with that money, invest in the future. Australia especially is going through an obesity epidemic, especially among children. Even putting a small percentage of that money towards children’s sport, or childhood obesity campaigns, and make plenty of children happy, fit, and educated.

They could even invest in sporting facilities at schools, to ensure this. The childrens physical health is a much more important problem & issue than winning a gold medal, and it is blatantly obvious that the Australian government need to recognise this, get their priorities straight, and alter the amount of funding they give to Olympics, and put it towards better causes. With a new government in power, we are yet to see an Olympics under them, so, we have to wait until then to see where the priorities are, and how the Australian funding has changed now. You see the amount of children who are struck with cancer as a result of obesity (obesity is the number 1 cause of childhood cancer), and get diabetes as a result, so why spend so much money on Olympics. Spending money now will save money in the economy, that we’d spend on health care for these obese kids. If we don’t change now, the total budget in 2030 will be taken up of healthcare according to a new statistic. Governments need to clean up their act now, to save further lives, money, and people’s happiness.