Post-Sydney 2000 Australia: A Potential Clash of Aspirations Between Recreational and Elite Sport

Abstract

The extent to which the Australia government values elite sport following the euphoria of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games is demonstrated through its policy and funding commitments. However, this forms only part of its overall responsibility to sport in a nation with a sport ethic that values success. As a relatively small country it has to balance the struggle to match the increasing budgets of its more successful international competitor nations, such as Great Britain, while confronting the problem of an increasingly unfit population which is more interested in watching than participating in sport.