Priority | Monday, August 25, 2008 |
The olympics are over and Australian's are starting to lick their wounds and looking around for people to blame for perceived poor performance at the Beijing games.
News sources have estimated that it cost AUD 16.7 m for each gold medal won, which seems like a huge amount.
I quite like the Olympics, despite having watched virtually none of it this time, and I am all for people doing more sport and getting everyone involved.
But considering the shortage of funding for basic health and education services in parts of Australia it seems wasteful to be spending so much on a few individuals. How many local pools, sports grounds and other facilities could be built and maintained for that sum of money?
News sources have estimated that it cost AUD 16.7 m for each gold medal won, which seems like a huge amount.
I quite like the Olympics, despite having watched virtually none of it this time, and I am all for people doing more sport and getting everyone involved.
But considering the shortage of funding for basic health and education services in parts of Australia it seems wasteful to be spending so much on a few individuals. How many local pools, sports grounds and other facilities could be built and maintained for that sum of money?
