So the Olympics are over. This means more sleep for us all,
but what are we now going to watch?—same old, same old, I suppose—Coronation
Street, yawn. Even more than usual, the Kiwis have excelled, with its equal best-ever
medal haul, ending up 16th on the medal table. If we adjust this to
population, we came in 4th. While there were ups and downs with a
couple of athletes not living up to expectations, most excelled.
In the news today is the headline “Olympic Heroes Face Cash
Freeze.” Currently high performance sport receives $60m a year and this will be
frozen for the next two years. At one level this is highly understandable as
times are tough and the NZ government is flatlining most of its budget. Indeed
some would say, $60m is far too much anyway. From a Christian social justice
point of view, one can certainly argue that there is far more need out there
than for high performance sport. It all makes perfect sense at one level.
On the other hand, I am not so sure. The Olympics and other
high performance sport have a huge positive effect on Kiwis. It brings a great “feel
good” factor as watch NZers excel on the international stage. We all feel a
part of it as “we” win medals. In an expensive world, this is largely due to
the money provided to help our athletes excel. Sport is a vital part of the
NZers identity and sense of well-being, and money spent here, while seemingly
disproportionate, reinforces our morale greatly. If we go to the next Olympics
and do poorly, what will this decision then look like?
More importantly, we have massive health problems among
young people, including obesity as they sit around on social media etc. Our NZ
athletes are brilliant role models for young NZers many of whom are encouraged to
get into sport as a result of watching their heroes. This activity inoculates
against many of the health problems Kiws are facing. A focus on high level
sport gets many out of the traps of alcohol and drugs. It reduces obesity. It becomes
cheaper in the long term to spend the money on sport inspiring a fresh
generation of active Kiwis than to spend it on the many health related health
problems later. Even old guys like me try a little harder on the rowing machine
after watching Mahe Drysdale and the others. This is all good staving off heart
disease and more. We also see in our top athletes the most wonderful examples
of good citizenship, sportsmanship and character. We see what it means to give
it one’s all for a common goal.
While understandable, I am not sure this decision is the
best for the country and may come back and bite us on the bottom. What do you
think?
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