- by Denis Doherty
- The Guardian
- Issue #2187
ATHLETICS
The Australia Athletics world is excited about a crop of young athletes who are setting records that haven’t been seen for generations. The general understanding and history of sprinting in the Olympics is that the events are dominated by US, Caribbean and lately Botswana in both men’s and women’s events. In middle and longer distance running such as 800m, 1,500m, and the 5,000m events the winners tend to be North Africans.
Gout Gout
Gout Gout is only 18 and he is running faster than Ussain Bolt at the same age. He just won the 200 metre sprint at the national championships held in Sydney over the period 9 April to 12 April. He ran an amazing 19.67 seconds for the 200m, Usain Bolt’s time at the same age was 19.93 seconds. He ran a great time at the age championship at Brisbane for 100m under 20’s at 10.19 seconds and he won the final at 10.21 secs. Gout Gout and his advisors are saying he can run faster as he becomes more mature. He appears to have a good team around him, and we hope that his development continues in maturing to a stand out athlete.
We know that Gout Gout’s background is African and this must be a great annoyance to the ‘March for Australia’ people.
Lachlan Kennedy
Lachlan Kennedy has been something of a nemesis for Gout Gout and has beaten him on some occasions and recently at the Australian Championships Lachlan won the 100m final at a time of 9.96 secs won the men’s 100m title. He became the first person to break the 10-second barrier on Australian soil. Gout Gout did not run the 100m and Lachlan did not run the 200m but the conclusion we can draw is that Australia has some very credible sprinters for the upcoming Olympics.
MIDDLE- AND LONG-DISTANCE RUNNING
Jess Hull
A name that we should all remember is the diminutive Jess Hull in women’s middle- and long-distance events. Jess has had significant results in overseas events being either second or third in finals against significant opponents. She announced that she would attempt the task of winning the 800m, 1,500m and 5,000m titles in the Australian titles. Jess started her quest in 1,500m race and in the last lap moved to the front of the pack as the finishing line loomed. However the fairy tale ended as she was accidentally tripped from behind just metres from the finish. Jess however competed again in the 5,000m and won that event.
Cameron Myers
19-year old Cameron won the two national championships over the 1,500 and 5,000m events. In the 1,500 event ‘One analyst assessed it as the fastest 1,500 run outside a major championship, without pacers this century anywhere. In the 5,000m event he shaved 20 seconds off his personal best.
FOOTBALL AFL AND ARL
Last year saw the winners in both AFL and ARL being Brisbane teams, while the season is only a few weeks old the leaders in both codes are Sydney based. In the ARL the Panthers are leading however the often ‘wooden spooners’ of the competition the Wests Tigers were leading until their first loss of the season by one point to the Broncos. In other football news, the Sydney Swans are leading after a poor season last year.
GAMBLING REFORMS
After many years of campaigning and even the advocacy of Peta Murphy the much loved and now deceased former ALP Federal MP, the Albanese government has made some changes to gambling laws regarding sport. Several ARL Clubs will have to take the names of gambling companies off their jerseys and gambling ads will not be banned as Peta Murphy wanted, but ‘capped.’ Our children will still be conditioned to see sports gambling as natural, but not as intensely. Radio broadcasts promoting a punt will be banned during school pick-up and drop-off after a scathing review into gambling harm in Australia. The curse of gambling in sport is still with us and these reforms are just window dressing.
LIV GOLF – SPORTS WASHING
An unintended consequence of the Israel/US war on Iran is it has greatly impacted Saudi Arabia’s and other Gulf States’ ability to fund sporting competitions and practice ‘sports washing,’ which happens when countries with a poor human rights record seek to gain attention for sport rather than their lack of justice or fairness. The most prominent of these is the LIV Golf Competition funded by Saudi Arabia which appears to be on its last legs. Star players were attracted to this competition by huge salaries. Australian golfer Cam Smith was paid $140 million to switch to LIV. Cam Smith’s rating has gone from world no 2 to beyond world no 100. Another Australian who put his name to this competition was Greg Norman as the front man. There is little sympathy for the demise of this competition or for the players who accepted ‘blood money.’
