TRANSCRIPT
“And the winner is .... Sydney!! (cheering fades)
If you were in Sydney in the year 2000, you would have felt the Olympic spirit all around.
Host of the Sports Ambassador Podcast and Professorial Fellow at the University of Canberra, Tracey Holmes, says it was a high point for Australia.
“We had great sport, great athletes, all the conditions were perfect. And it was definitely one of those lifetime highs. I haven't met anyone that hasn't said the same thing. It was an absolute high point that you'd find very difficult to repeat.”
Cathy Freeman's gold medal race is estimated to be the most-watched broadcast of all time in Australia.
Almost nine million people, close to half of Australia's population, tuned in for this moment as called by the ABC.
“And Graham is just in front of Freeman, she's going to have to work. Graham, Merry, Freeman. Freeman gets to the front. Freeman leads by a metre. Graham holding on but Freeman is too good. The crowd roaring, Freeman wins gold. Cathy's the winner, Australia the winner. Cathy Freeman is an national hero.”
The Olympics happen every four years - they're coming up this year in Paris.
But interest in the event seems to be waning.
David Rowe is an Emeritus Professor of Cultural Research at Western Sydney University.
During his recent trip to Paris, he says that excitement hadn't reached the city yet.
“And I have to say there wasn't a great vibe in Paris, this was in late March. The vibe hadn't picked up, the excitement hadn't started but I think based on experience, it will become a lot of fun. If you can put up with the surveillance, the crowds and policing, the costs and all that.”
Back in Australia, Ms Holmes says there's a range of factors that influence Australians' interest in the games.
“It depends where the Olympics are being held, it depends on things like whether there's a global COVID pandemic or not, it depends on the state of the economy, it depends on the time zone where the games are so if they're in a favorable time zone Australians tend to tune in and really support our athletes.”
Historian with the National Library of Australia, Dr Guy Hansen, says mass events have become less important as options for entertainment have expanded.
“It most probably doesn't have quite the same penetration back when we had mass media of radio and television and newspapers, which pretty much dominated what people knew. But now with the way people pursue their own interests through social media and on the web, means that you can sometimes avoid some of the big things but if anything has cut through, the Olympics has cut through and particularly if the Australian team is doing well, then I think people will become very engaged.”
Ms Holmes says organisers are trying to tap into that fractured audience.
“So traditional media doesn't get the same audiences as it once did, but now in Paris 2024 there will be more than In a half a billion social media posts. And if you just lined all of those up and spent one second looking at each of them, you'd be looking at those until the Olympic Games of 2040.”
Professor Rowe says there's a concerted effort to get younger people interested in the games.
“The Olympic audience is ageing somewhat, that younger folks aren't as into it. So there's this idea of bringing in new sports. Breakdancing is on in Paris. So there is an attempt to attract the younger audience which isn't as reflexively crazy about the Olympics as a perhaps early generation.”
It's less than a decade until the Olympics are in Australia again.
Deputy Director of the Griffith Institute for Tourism, Professor Leonie Lockstone-Binney, says from the get-go there's been less competition and excitement around the Brisbane games.
“In terms of Sydney, you know, it was a very competitive bid at that time, whereas in Brisbane effectively, it was pretty much a one-horse race towards the end, and they were the only effective bidder.”
The legacy of the 2000 Olympics in Sydney can be seen all around the city.
An estimated $6.6 billion was spent on the games.
Homebush, in the city's west, was transformed from an industrial complex to a sports and entertainment precinct capable of hosting hundreds of thousands of people.
Professor Lockstone-Binney says the approach to the Brisbane Olympics will be different, what the International Olympic Committee is calling the 'new norm'.
“It's part of what they're calling the new norm, and they recognise holding the games is very expensive. Often a lot of the infrastructure that's been developed for previous and past games has turned into effectively white elephants and hasn't been effectively utilised by the community after the games.”
The initial plan for the 2032 Olympics was to revitalise one of Brisbane's biggest sporting venues, the Gabba ((the Brisbane Cricket Ground)).
But after a change of premier that plan was abandoned, and Premier Steven Miles announced a review into the infrastructure for the games, which suggested a new stadium be built.
Professor Lockstone-Binney says the government had other plans.
“On the same day that the report was publicly released, the premier came out to suggest that those key findings or that key finding wouldn't be supported by the government and they proposed in fact that there would be substantial redevelopment of two existing venues instead.”
Ms Holmes says there was a slump in excitement after the Sydney Olympics were announced, but excitement grew as the games grew close.
“The usual routine set in, as happens with every Olympic Games, there's that moment of euphoria and you think how fantastic the world is coming to our place, and we're going to showcase all the great athletes that we have. And then you go into this slump, you know, as all of the sort of the technical, the political, the financial, all of the other aspects, kick into gear. And it's feels like, six, seven years in the lead up to 2032. It's going to be like 12 years of negativity, crisis mode, you know, everything's bigger and more dramatic than it actually is. And then, you know, then that nation starts rolling into town ahead of the games happening.”
The legacy of the 2000 Olympics is still evident in Sydney.
If you go to a major concert or sporting event, chances are you're in a venue that was built or renovated for the event.
For Brisbane, the impact won't be the same - so why would Brisbane want to host the Olympics?
Dr Hansen says it could offer the city global publicity.
“It's a huge undertaking, and it's a huge financial burden for the states or cities who take it on. I think with both the Melbourne and Sydney Olympics you could argue they really had lasting impact both in terms of the people in the cities really enjoying them, but also putting those cities on the map. Both Melbourne and Sydney are very well known Australian cities internationally. And I think the Olympics is has played a big part in that I think Brisbane wants some of that action as well.”
Ms Holmes says the consistency of the Olympics is a testament to the event's durability.
“This is something that started in 1896. And in 2024, it's still there. And they've now had, I think, 10 cities bidding for the 2036 Olympic Games. You know, countries have come and gone in that time. We've had two world wars, we've had many other wars, we've had global pandemics, we've had famines, we've had all sorts of natural disasters, and the Olympics is still there. So even though people criticise it a lot, it must be doing something right.”
