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Fri, 19/02/2010 - 12:36
Why Aussies don't like Winter Olympics
Ten reasons why Aussies don’t like the winter Olympics
1. Too hot!
No, I don’t mean American glamour girl Lindsey Vonn, but the climate. Most of Australia is hot the whole year round so there is no natural incentive to participate in a winter sport. The few Olympians that do start for Australia often are imported from places like Siberia or Finland.
2. They cannot win
Aussies like their sport but only if they win and particularly after a hard fight. If Australians don’t win they lose interest very quickly. Even if they win easily (like the cricket this summer as they crushed Pakistan and West Indies) they lose interest as the poor TV ratings for the cricket reveal.
3. If they win it is a coincident
Steven Bradbury became famous in 2002 for winning the first Gold medal for Australia in short track speed skating ....only after all the other competitors had crashed into the ice rink wall. Steven became a instant hero for some but many Aussies were also embarrassed to win a medal this way. He won gold in the Olympics and is a true champ, as someone said recently on sports radio, but for many Aussies he is not in the same league as Gold winners in the summer Olympics.
4. Betting is not big dollars
Betting is a great passion for Australians and punters like to put money on just about everything but the winter Olympics. Neil Evans from Centrebed revealed that for the popularity in betting terms some wintersports are right up there with stamp collecting and kite flying. Meanwhile optimistic punters are thinking that Australia can win three or more medals.
5. Kids play cricket in summer
As the northern hemisphere suffers from winter it is summer in Australia. Tradition says that kids play cricket or surf in summer. Imagine moving form summer to winter just to practice a sport. It would cause a climate shock to any true blue Aussie.
6. There are hardly any facilities
My neighbour plays ice hockey and he has to travel an hour to get to the only ice rink in Melbourne. A national competition would hold a handful of serious teams. Even if you would want to start playing icehockey, there would be insufficient ice to accommodate teams.
7. No need to take esky
A great Australian tradition is to take an `Esky` (cool box) filled with beer and lunch to a sports match. As temperatures are below freezing during most winter sport happenings, so the need for an esky becomes rather little and any event without an esky just would not be real sports.
8. Surfing not the same as snow boarding
Although Aussies like surfing and water skiing, they prefer to do it on fluid water instead of frozen.
9. Cold Beer
Austrlians like their beer cold. They never drink warm alcohol like `Vin chaud` or Gluh wein.
The thought about warm wine makes most Aussies long for an esky.
10. Too boring!
Someone described watching the Winter Olympics just as exciting as `watching rain fall`. This comes from a country that loves to watch a sport that can last five days (cricket) or Netball where tall girls stand beneath a basket and tip a ball into it.
Kanga Market
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