Is the Olympics struggling for relevance?

The 2000 Olympics captivated Australia however since nearest, society hobby within the Video games seems to have waned.

The Paris Video games shall be held in July and Brisbane will host in 2032. However will Australians also be thinking about nearest?

Host of the Sports activities Ambassador Podcast and professorial fellow on the College of Canberra Tracey Holmes says the 2000 video games used to be a top level for Australia.

“We had great sport, great athletes, all the conditions were perfect. And it was definitely one of those lifetime highs. I haven’t met anyone that hasn’t said the same thing. It was an absolute high point that you’d find very difficult to repeat,” Holmes, a former sports activities journalist, mentioned.

is estimated to be the most-watched broadcast of all presen in Australia.

Cathy Freeman underneath the Olympic flame on the Sydney 2000 opening rite Supply: AAP / Dave Hunt

Virtually 9 million society, akin to part of Australia’s nearest family, tuned in for this hour.

David Rowe is an emeritus educator of cultural analysis at Western Sydney College.

He used to be in Paris not too long ago and says Olympic pleasure hadn’t reached town but.

“I have to say there wasn’t a great vibe in Paris, this was in late March. The vibe hadn’t picked up, the excitement hadn’t started but I think based on experience, it will become a lot of fun,” he mentioned.

“If you can put up with the surveillance, the crowds and policing, the costs and all that.”

Again in Australia, Holmes says there’s a dimension of things that affect Australians’ hobby within the video games.

“It depends where the Olympics are being held, it depends on things like whether there’s a global COVID pandemic or not, it depends on the state of the economy, it depends on the time zone where the games are so if they’re in a favourable time zone Australians tend to tune in and really support our athletes.”

Historian with the Nationwide Library of Australia Man Hansen says lump occasions have turn into much less remarkable as choices for leisure have expanded.

“It most probably doesn’t have quite the same penetration back when we had mass media of radio and television and newspapers, which pretty much dominated what people knew.

“However now with the way in which society pursue their very own pursuits thru social media and on the internet, implies that you’ll once in a while keep away from one of the crucial fat issues but when the rest has decrease thru, the Olympics has decrease thru and specifically if the Australian crew is doing smartly, nearest I believe society will turn into very preoccupied.”

Plush toys of the Paris Video games mascot Olympic Phryge. Source: AAP / PA

Holmes says organisers are trying to tap into that fractured audience.

“Conventional media doesn’t get the similar audiences because it as soon as did, however now in Paris 2024 there shall be greater than a part a thousand million social media posts. And when you simply coated all of the ones up and spent one 2d taking a look at every of them, you’d be taking a look at the ones till the Olympic Video games of 2040.”

Rowe says there’s a concerted effort to get younger people interested in the games, as the Olympic audience is ageing.

“There’s this concept of bringing in pristine sports activities — breakdancing is on in Paris. So there’s an effort to draw the more youthful target audience which isn’t as reflexively unbalanced concerning the Olympics as a possibly early hour.”

It’s less than a decade until the Olympics are in Australia again.

Deputy director of the Griffith Institute for Tourism Professor Leonie Lockstone-Binney says that, from the get-go, there’s been less competition and excitement around the Brisbane games.

“Relating to Sydney, you recognize, it used to be an overly aggressive bid at that presen, while in Brisbane successfully, it used to be nice-looking a lot a one-horse race against the tip, they usually had been the one efficient bidder.”

An old castle with blue signs out the front

Pleasure concerning the Olympic Video games is but to completely achieve Paris but, a up to date customer says. Source: AAP / Adam Davy / PA

An estimated $6.6 billion was spent on the Sydney Games.

Homebush, in the city’s west, was transformed from an industrial area to a sports and entertainment precinct capable of hosting hundreds of thousands of people.

Professor Lockstone-Binney says the approach to the Brisbane Olympics will be different — what the International Olympic Committee is calling the ‘new norm’.

“It’s a part of what they’re calling the pristine norm, they usually recognise keeping the video games may be very dear. Incessantly a quantity of the infrastructure that’s been advanced for earlier and occasion video games has changed into successfully white elephants and hasn’t been successfully utilised by way of the crowd next the video games.”

The initial plan for the 2032 Olympics was to revitalise one of Brisbane’s biggest sporting venues, the Brisbane Cricket Ground, known as the Gabba.

But after a change of leaders that plan was abandoned, and Premier Steven Miles announced a review into the infrastructure for the games, which suggested a new stadium be built.

Lockstone-Binney says the government had other plans and proposed there would be substantial redevelopment of two existing venues.

As to why Brisbane might want to host the Olympics, Hansen says it could offer the city global publicity.

“Each Melbourne and Sydney are very chief Australian towns across the world. And I believe the Olympics has performed a fat section in that. I believe Brisbane desires a few of that motion as smartly.”

Holmes says the consistency of the Olympics is a testament to the event’s durability.

“That is one thing that began in 1896. And in 2024, it’s nonetheless there. They usually’ve now had, I believe, 10 towns bidding for the 2036 Olympic Video games.

“Even though people criticise it a lot, it must be doing something right.”

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