Forgive me, Lord God of Sport, for I have sinned.

I have entertained negative thoughts about our nation’s pre-eminent religion and, even worse, I have done so on the eve of your great quadrennial feast.

I have not found it within me, Lord, to shout “Yes!” in response to the call for more government money to be placed on your altar in the hope that you will may reward us with more gold medals in the future.

I pray forgiveness, Lord, for my cold-hearted opposition to increased support from the public purse for those who have chosen sport as their professional careers.

This reluctance is based on my heretical belief that any extra funds would be better spent on fostering the participation of young children in neighbourhood sport, and providing the spaces and facilities for this, rather than on producing elite athletes to be passively watched and worshipped by our hugely worrisome numbers of obese children.

I have also sinned, Lord, in wondering just how our Australian Olympic record looks today, after years of multi-million dollar spending on the Institute of Sport, compared in population-related terms with the days when Australia was punching well above its weight with the likes of Shirley Strickland, Betty Cuthbert, Shane Gould and John Landy.

I humbly admit, Lord, that the days of shamateurism were a blot on our national escutcheon, and that athletes in the high profit (sorry, high profile) spectator sports have every right to gain financially from their prowess. Good luck to them.

With Olympic gold medals now so often doubling as entrée cards to sponsorship wealth, however I cannot help fondly remembering the days when our champions climbed their performance mountains just because they were there; when the media did not slaver over their every sore toe, every unguarded remark and every amorous adventure, true or merely rumoured; and when national pride did not cross the borderline into jingoistic preoccupation with medal counts.

In expiation of all my sins, Lord, I promise that I will well and truly cheer Grant Hackett if he gets his hands on the holy grail of three golds in the 1500m.

I seek your blessing, though, on all the Olympic competitors, whether in the big spectator sports or not.

May they reap the real rewards of doing their best in the true Olympic tradition.

And Another Thing
At time of writing, I am preparing myself, not to watch Peking making a spectacle of itself, but to see Rainee Skinner and her accomplices do the same thing on a slightly smaller stage.

Rainee’s show Dangerous Curves headlines the Back to Nambour weekend, and as an old Nambourean, I have been unable to resist the temptation to see the town and some of Nambour High’s fairly prominent alumni sent up.

You’ll be lucky to get a seat tonight, but I do believe there could be some left for today’s 2pm session. To check, ring 5475 7777.
rich.29@bigpond.net.au