Australia falls short of Olympic target
Monday, 25 August 2008
BEIJING, Aug 24 : The Australian team fell short of their fourth finish at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games with a sixth placing in the gold medal tally in Beijing.
With a relatively disappointing performance in swimming and a sharp drop in cycling, the Aussies failed to achieve their goal of a third consecutive top-five finish on the medal table in Beijing.
Sending a strong delegation of 434 athletes to Beijing, Australia snatched a total of 46 medals, including 14 golds, while traditional powerhouse Germany and a rising Britain surpassed them to take the fifth and the fourth respectively.
After staging the 1956 Melboune Olympics, host Australia peaked in the Sydney Games in 2000 by winning 58 medals, including 16 golds, to finish fourth in the medal tally. Four years later, the Aussies repeated their fourth placing in Athens, thanks to the country's highest ever gold tally of 17.
The Australian cyclists won an unprecedented six golds, two silvers and two bronze medals four years ago but failed to clinch any title in Beijing, as their dominant British peers claimed seven out of 10 gold medals in the velodrome and added one more from the road event.
Anna Meares' silver in the women's sprint was Australian cycling' s only podium finish in Beijing, but the 24-year-old and even the whole Oceanian nation were proud of this medal.
As a gold medallist in Athens, Meares crashed in a World Cup event in January and broke her neck badly. But the two time world champion refused to give up her cycling career and fought her way back to qualify for the Beijing Games.
What's more, the decline of the Australian cycling seemed only temporary as their junior team topped the medal table with seven golds, five silvers and three bronzes at the Junior World Championships this July in Cape Town, South Africa.
"Those athletes were judged not ready for this Olympics but we are in a good position going into 2012," said the Australian Olympic Committee boss John Coates, according to the Australian media.
With a relatively disappointing performance in swimming and a sharp drop in cycling, the Aussies failed to achieve their goal of a third consecutive top-five finish on the medal table in Beijing.
Sending a strong delegation of 434 athletes to Beijing, Australia snatched a total of 46 medals, including 14 golds, while traditional powerhouse Germany and a rising Britain surpassed them to take the fifth and the fourth respectively.
After staging the 1956 Melboune Olympics, host Australia peaked in the Sydney Games in 2000 by winning 58 medals, including 16 golds, to finish fourth in the medal tally. Four years later, the Aussies repeated their fourth placing in Athens, thanks to the country's highest ever gold tally of 17.
The Australian cyclists won an unprecedented six golds, two silvers and two bronze medals four years ago but failed to clinch any title in Beijing, as their dominant British peers claimed seven out of 10 gold medals in the velodrome and added one more from the road event.
Anna Meares' silver in the women's sprint was Australian cycling' s only podium finish in Beijing, but the 24-year-old and even the whole Oceanian nation were proud of this medal.
As a gold medallist in Athens, Meares crashed in a World Cup event in January and broke her neck badly. But the two time world champion refused to give up her cycling career and fought her way back to qualify for the Beijing Games.
What's more, the decline of the Australian cycling seemed only temporary as their junior team topped the medal table with seven golds, five silvers and three bronzes at the Junior World Championships this July in Cape Town, South Africa.
"Those athletes were judged not ready for this Olympics but we are in a good position going into 2012," said the Australian Olympic Committee boss John Coates, according to the Australian media.