Australia seeks sporting ties with China

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HAMISH ROBERTSON: With the roar of the crowd in Athens still a recent memory, China’s preparations for its Olympics in Beijing in 2008 are already well under way.

And it seems that other nations are eager to grab a share of success in four years’ time, and want China’s help.

As John Taylor reports, Australia, the fourth medal place team, is among a number of countries trying to establish closer athletic ties with China in the name of Olympic glory.

JOHN TAYLOR: In the world of sport, officials are always looking to the next competition. The next Olympics always loom large. Now that the Athens Games are over, attention has turned to China’s capital, Beijing, which in 2008 provides the Olympic stage.

The Chinese national team had its best ever performance at Athens this year, coming second in the national gold medal count with 32 among its 63 medals.

Britain, on the other hand, was lacklustre – Just nine gold amongst 30 medals.

But Britain is now looking east for a boost at Beijing.

It’s signed a memorandum of understanding with China which provides for closer cooperation, and could involve the exchange of coaches and experts prior to the Beijing Games.

Many nations are rushing to sign similar agreements, even Australia.

This week the Australian Olympic Committee signed it’s own cooperation agreement, which allows for athletic exchanges, participation in bilateral and multilateral competitions, and the exchange of training expertise.

Olympic 1500 metre swimming champion Grant Hackett was present in Beijing for the signing, and gives it his backing.

GRANT HACKETT: I certainly think it’s a good move.

I mean, you’re talking about the country that finished second on the medal and we finished fourth, so it’s definitely an advantage to us. And I think a lot of the sports that we perhaps aren’t as talented as the Chinese, we’re certainly going to learn a lot and move forward and, you know, take our gold medal count and our overall medal tally to a higher level in doing something like this.

So I think it’s a very positive move from the AOC, and the fact that, you know, China’s just got so much to offer and that the Games are here over the next four years, it gives us an opportunity to come here, to train here, to get familiar with the culture and the environment, which is very, very important, because it’s obviously a very different place from Australia.

JOHN TAYLOR: Is it less important for athletes like yourselves in a sport like swimming, where you’re a champion and Australia is a far more dominant swimming nation than China?

GRANT HACKETT: Yeah, it certainly is.

I mean, it’s… you know, for swimming I don’t think there’s going to be too many Chinese swimmers coming over and train with me. They might, you know, at some stages. But I mean, for us we’re very, very dominant obviously in swimming, and I don’t think there’ll be any problems there.

But at the same time still there are certain things that we can learn off the Chinese, even in that area, and you know, we’ve seen how much in gymnastics or… and particularly diving, that we’ve moved forward, and that was learning from the Chinese, because they’ve just been so dominant in that sport over the last, you know, few decades.

JOHN TAYLOR: For China, the Olympics transcend sport. A good showing at any time, let alone in Beijing, is a political statement. It shows the nation’s emergence over the last 25 years, and its desire to become a great world power.

That was probably one reason behind the nation’s chequered doping history in the 1990s, when it had a reputation as one of the world’s worst drug cheating nations. But in recent years the country has cracked down, and its Athens performance was untarnished.

Grant Hackett believes it will be a pleasure to compete in China at the next Olympics, in part because the doping days have past.

GRANT HACKETT: Yeah, well I like to think so.

You know, you might call me a little bit naïve. But after seeing what we have today, going through the drug laboratory and the fact that no Chinese swimmer has tested positive in recent years and, you know, we have to give them the benefit of the doubt, they’re moving forward, they’re trying to do everything they can to eradicate cheats, not only from China but all over the world.

And you know, there’s always going to be cheaters in every sport, regardless of what country they’re from, and I think it’s a little bit harsh to always think that it’s going to be the Chinese. Just ’cause of the fact that they’ve had a little bit of a reputation in the past doesn’t mean that that’s the current situation.

HAMISH ROBERTSON: Australian Olympic champion Grant Hackett speaking to John Taylor in Beijing.