The Olympics Blog » Australia

Matthew Mitcham Wins Gold, IOC to Look Into Allegations That He is "Young"

bill — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 19:48:00 +0000

Australia’s Matthew Mitcham just became China’s public enemy number one when he denied his hosts a clean sweep of the diving gold medals. If I am one of them Chinese authorities, I will start digging dirt on this guy to disqualify him so the gold medal will go to China.

In fact, I personally believe that this Matthew guy is is only eight years old and should therefore not be allowed to participate in the Olympics. Look at his facial hair for instance. It kinda looks fake, no? I think Australia, in its desperation to get a diving gold, pasted kangaroo hair on the face of this poor eight year old boy to make him look older. Boo Australia, you are sooo an age cheating country.

Photo credit: Jamie Squire via Beijing2008

Eamon and Stephanie Sitting in a Tree

bill — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 11:09:00 +0000

Gold medal winner Stephanie Rice and Australia’s gold medal bet Eamon Sullivan are Australia’s version of Posh and David Beckham. But they reportedly split up before the Games began.

But did they really split up? Nah! They’re still together according to Rice’s grandpa. So maybe this splitting up thing is just a gimmick then?

Anyways, we hope Eamon wins himself his gold medal so they’ll be even if they are indeed still a couple.

Photo source: chinadaily

Olympic Results: Stephanie Rice Bags Australia’s First Gold Medal

bill — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 04:32:00 +0000

Congratulations, you earring-wearing swimmer. That was teh awesome. It seems that, as predicted, the girl swimmers of Australia will do better than the boy swimmers. The evidence so far: Stephanie Rice = teh awesome; Grant Hackett = a dud dude in the 400 meters. But to be fair to Grant, his event really is the 1,500 meters where he is the defending champion.

Photo source: beijing2008

Rohanee Cox Goes to Beijing

bill — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 02:51:00 +0000

Meet the newest member of our Dara Mama Club: Australian basketball player, Rohanee Cox. Here’s some info about Rohanee from olympics.com.au:

During the Women’s National Basketball League (WNBL) season in 2000, Rohanee Cox suffered severe anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) damage to her left knee.

The injury looked sure to end her basketball career when two seasons later while playing for Perth, she damaged the same knee again.

“Back then, I never thought I would play basketball again,” Cox said.

“I lost my passion for the game and took much needed time out.”

During her time away from professional basketball, her life went down a new path with the birth of her daughter Alyriah.

“She’s very important to me. She is part of the reason I got back into playing.”

[snip]

After impressive form in the national team’s 2008 international series and camps, Cox earned herself a ticket to Beijing.

“I’m ecstatic, absolutely over the moon,” Cox said. “It’s left me speechless and with a smile I just can’t get off my face.

“It hasn’t been easy balancing basketball with a family, but I have a great support group and I know they are backing me all the way.

“My daughter may not really know why I am going away in August, but I know she will be watching and that makes me feel so good.”

Cox will also play a special role in Beijing, as one of Australia’s proud Indigenous Olympians.

Yay. From an indigenous blogger to an indigenous Olympian, good luck to you Rohanee.

In case you are wondering, Australia’s women’s basketball team settled for the silver [to the United States] in the two previous Olympics. However, the Aussies just might grab the gold this time around. They are, after all, the reigning FIBA World Champions.

Photo source: cairns.com

Jana Rawlinson, a.k.a. Jana Mama, Is Out of the Olympics

bill — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 14:47:00 +0000

Argh! This is bad news to the fans of Australian hurdler Jana Rawlinson and to those of us who are certified members of the Dara Mama Fans Club.

Jana, according to reports, will not be participating in the Beijing Olympics because of a toe injury. Bad, bad, bad toe. Why did it “decide” to get injured at this time. Jana is currently the world record holder in the 400 meter hurdles so she really has a good chance of bagging the gold medal in Beijing.

Anyways, we here at The Olympics Blog hope that Jana Mama — she’s mom to one year old Cornelis Levi — will emulate Dara Torres and that she will continue to pursue her Olympic dreams despite this recent setback.

By the way, the Dara Mama Fans Club — named after Dara Torres — are composed of those of us cheering for mom Olympians who are proving that neither motherhood nor old age is a hindrance to Olympic success. Go, Dara Mamas.

Photo: dailytelegraph

The Money Report: Australia

bill — Mon, 12 May 2008 01:11:00 +0000

Wondering about Australia’s financial incentives to its athletes? Maybe this will give us an idea, eh?

We have a medal incentive scheme which only goes down to number four and the best are getting $18,000.

The above quote is attributed to John Coates, president of the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC). Coates warned that Australia might fall off the Olympic top five if the Australian government doesn’t put more funding for sports. Read more.

Update: A listing of financial incentives to Olympic athletes from different countries is published at How Much Money Do Olympians Make.

Beijing 2008: Australia’s Olympic Uniform

bill — Sat, 03 May 2008 06:02:00 +0000

We got a lot of hits blogging about Canada’s Olympic uniform so let’s blog about the outfits of the other Olympic teams. Maybe we should stick to Olympic fashion if that’s what it takes to be world famous? Joke joke.

Anyways, here’s the uniform of Australia’s Olympic team which was unveiled last February. For some reason, this set of uniform reminds me of Leonardo Caprio’s “Catch Me If You Can”; you know, that movie where Leonardo’s a pilot (or a pretend pilot) running away from authorities.

Apparently, I’m not the only one who thinks that this set of uniform is kinda like the stuff that flight attendants wear. Patty Huntington thinks so too. Great minds think alike, eh Patty?

See, the girls even run like the girls in the di Caprio movie.

Fortunately, the other set of uniform below — which seems to be what the athletes will wear during their practice sessions and the competition — looks appropriately more “Olympian”.

So that’s the uniform of our friends from Australia. If you want to see what other athletes are wearing click the following links: New Zealand Olympic uniform and Canada Olympic uniform.

PHOTO SOURCES: smh.com.au and abcnews

The Two Sides of Erin Philips

bill — Thu, 01 May 2008 13:08:00 +0000

Erin Philips, the basketball player. She’s a member of the Australian basketball team that won the 2006 World Basketball Championship.

And Errin Philips, the male magazine model. Now, just because she’s modeling doesn’t mean she’s forgotten about basketball. In fact, she’s got some warning to her team’s main rivals in Beijing.

According to The Herald Sun:”The World Champs definitely put us at the top, and other teams are respecting us a lot more. If I was the USA or Russia, I’d be worried.”

She also said something like, “We’re not going to be team USA’s little bitch.” Good for you Errin, at the time of Dubya, no one wants to be USA’s little bitch.

Anyways, are you looking for more Olympic hotties? Click here.

PHOTO CREDITS: Herald Sun and courant.com

Quote of the Day: Olympic Silver Medalist Mal Poole

bill — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 13:21:00 +0000

Australian hockey player and 1976 Montreal Olympiad silver medalist Mal Poole on his missing medal.

“I’m not materialistic and I don’t have a trophy cabinet, but it’s the one thing that has special significance to me.”

The medal have been taken when Mal’s house was burglarized a few months ago. We hope Mal gets back his medal.

Drew Ginn’s Rowing Video

bill — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 04:00:00 +0000

Rowing is an Olympic sport that remains exotic to us so we’re happy to discover this rowing video of Australian rower Drew Ginn.

Drew Ginn is a two-time Olympic gold medalist (he bagged one gold during the 1996 Atlanta Games and another in Athens 2004) so those of you who are gunning to deny him another gold in Beijing might find some clues on how you can do that in this video.

Anyways, Drew has a blog which you might want to read here.