Without commenting on John’s actions, do these results not confirm his complaints regarding the outdatedness of AA? Here are three athletes that over six months ago when the CG team was selected were in, or close to, PB shape. Now that we are on the eve of the Games, they are no where near the kind of form they have proven they are capable of. No doubt there will be those who complain that they should be able to do back to back seasons year in, year out as administrations have claimed every year since I can remember, but there is simply no evidence to support this. I understand AA faces competing demands regarding international and domestic performance, but domestic interest will not be piqued without international performances.
It needs to be accepted that amature sporting events in Australia cannot command the same level of excitement they did prior to 2000 simply by being an Olympic event and so a new approach needs to be taken. A long term strategy that actually balances AA’s conflicting needs must be identified otherwise athletics will simply continue to fade into obscurity, disappearing from the public consciousness without so much as a whimper.