Op Ed- Olympics Legacy Alive for Australia

Our first visit to Australia since the Sydney Olympics finds the legacy of the Games is alive and growing.

While other Olympic host cities have left discarded venues from the Games to rust, Sydney Olympic Park leads the way as an example of how that doesn't have to happen.

Far from a forgotten corner of Sydney's west, the park had thousands of visitors on the day we stopped by, even as the temperature soared to 108 degrees. In truth, some of the throng was lined up for relief from the heat at the Sydney Aquatic Centre. An indoor water park was included in the original design, along with the pool and diving well used for the Games. The venue was under construction even as the city bid for the 2000 Olympics in 1993. It has been open to the public on a daily basis since the mid-90s -- legacy even before the cauldron was lit.

Other venues from the Games include the former Sydney Superdome, now Acer Arena, Sydney's top indoor hall for concerts and sport. The downsized Olympic Stadium has been re-named ANZ Stadium. It now holds 80,000 seats and is home ground for National Rugby League teams as well as major soccer matches.

A 30-year master plan for the massive park aims to reduce the $25 million or so needed each year to maintain the legacy. A man with an interest in keeping that legacy -- ex-Olympics minister and Sydney 2000 chief Michael Knight -- now chairs the public body that runs the facility.

The park and its venues have helped make possible another notable legacy from the Games. This week, youngsters from 30 nations took part in the fifth Australian Youth Olympic Festival since 2001. A direct outgrowth of the Sydney Olympics, the AYOF has become an important rung on the ladder to elite performance. Australian Olympic Committee President John Coates says that some 70 members of the Australian team in Beijing were alums of the youth festival.

And it's not just a proving ground for baby Boxing Kangaroos. Watching gymnasts take their turns on the mat in Sydney this week, British Olympic Association chairman Colin Moynihan said he expects some of these under-14s from China, Great Britain and Australia will be in London in three years to compete for gold. He believes many athletes need two Olympic Games under their belt before winning a medal; the experience of competing in Sydney this week will put some of these youngsters on track for the podium in London, says the BOA chief. For many of these youngsters, the Australian festival will be their first event where they are tested for drugs.

The festival pays off for Australia's relations with other NOCs. Coates says he thinks "no other NOC" enjoys such a close relationship with the Chinese, which sent close to 400 athletes and officials to Sydney for the youth festival.

The 2009 AYOF also has drawn attention from Singapore, which sent two dozen observers in preparation for the first IOC-sponsored Youth Olympic Games, set for 2010. It should be said that the success of the Australian festival as well as the European Youth Olympic Festival helped lead the IOC to move ahead with its version to debut in Singapore.

And perhaps hoping to boost their standing as competitors in the race for the 2016 Olympics, Tokyo and Rio de Janeiro both sent two delegates to watch the action.

But while foreigners may be closely watching the festival, the event is still a tough sell for Aussie spectators - even with free admission. Just a few hundred fans turned out for gymnastics, with room at swimming and athletics for thousands more. Australian media interest has also been low-key, with cricket and the Australian Open dominating the sports horizon right now. There's been no special TV coverage, not even a peep out of new Olympic rights holder Nine Network. But the competition is also not the greatest for TV either -- a fact of life that some observers say may spell doom for the Singapore YOG next year.

Cost of the Australian festival cannot be ignored. It takes about $25 million to stage the event, the money coming from the AOC treasury. To ease the strain, the festival will run on a four-year schedule from now on, with 2013 set to be the next. Coates says the advent of the IOC's Youth Olympics also made it necessary to cut the pace of the Australian festival.

Money may be the only dark side for Coates and the AOC right now. He's battling for more support from the federal government to pay for preparation for the London Olympics. He says Australia will slip further in the medals table if the money doesn't come through; in Beijing, Australia dropped from fourth to sixth. But in tough economic times, the money just may not be there.

Coates could at least take satisfaction knowing that his rivals around the world are feeling the same pains. And that Australia may be unmatched by any other country for making the most of an Olympic legacy.

Written by Ed Hula

Op Ed is a weekly column of opinion and ideas from Around the Rings. Comments, as well as guest columns are welcomed: comment@aroundtherings.com