Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .

Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 09 Hansard (Tuesday, 17 August 2004) . . Page.. 3710 ..

hearing about Australian athletes in Athens. It is really and truly remarkable. We can be grateful that that mediocrity is not part of the attitude of our athletes. Our athletes are tuned to perform at a high peak and they are people we should be enormously proud of. I am proud to be an Australian and a Canberran. Yes, I do enjoy the Olympics and, yes, I have sat up quite late watching the Olympics over the past few nights.

We Canberrans, as a result of the role being played by Canberrans, should be particularly proud of what is occurring in Athens at the moment. Currently, 473 Australians are competing in these Olympics, spread across the broad range of sports that makes up the day’s Olympic program. However, it is interesting that of those 473, 32 are nominated as being from the ACT—that is, 7 per cent of the entire team. Thirty-two athletes nominate the ACT as home. As Canberrans, we can be enormously proud that 32 of our citizens—7 per cent of the entire team—are competing in Athens on our behalf.

Of course, that 32 does not include a range of athletes that we Canberrans call our own—athletes such as Lauren Jackson, certainly the pre-eminent woman basketballer in the world today. To the extent that we can make comparisons between sports, Lauren Jackson probably deserves the title or claim to being the greatest individual sportsperson in the world today. She dominates her sport in a way that almost no other athlete does. Lauren Jackson is one of the proved sporting stars of the world.

Other Australian athletes include Luke Adams, the race walker, who lives in Canberra, and David Barnes and Tim Cuddihy, both archers, who train at the AIS, as does Amber Bradley, the rower. These are just a few of the Australian Olympic team with very close ties to Canberra. As I say, these Canberrans are certainly doing us proud. Even to date, we have seen the significant impact that Canberrans, as Australians, have had in Athens. The Matildas, the women’s soccer team, has a one-nil record at the moment. It had a fantastic win over Greece. In that team we have a significant Canberra connection through Sacha Wainwright, Rhian Davies and Gill Foster, who all played strongly—three Canberrans in that team.

The Olyroos had a significant victory over Serbia-Montenegro after drawing against Tunisia, and we have a Canberran in that team in Carl Valeri, who plays for Inter Milan in Italy and who played against Tunisia. We saw what I think will prove to be one of the highlights of the Games, the most stirring of events, the golden moment, the women’s road race, won by an Australian, Sara Carrigan, but supported so significantly by a Canberran in Oenone Wood. It was a fantastic event, a credit to sport and a credit to women participating in that event. It was a great example of teamwork, a complete lack of selfishness, with one team member essentially sacrificing the opportunity to win to ensure that her team-mate was first across the line. In the women’s road race we witnessed one of the great inspirational moments in sport, and we Canberrans should have regard to the central role that Canberran Oenone Wood had in that. Another Canberra cyclist, Michael Rogers, is one of the favourites for the men’s time trial.

Long-time Canberra resident—someone else we have come to call a Canberran—Petria Thomas, whom I see regularly around the shops, has already won two gold medals. Once again, that is a great credit to our community. I have already mentioned Lauren Jackson, and I hold Lauren in the greatest esteem. I am a very keen follower of sport and I repeat that I believe Lauren Jackson is the greatest individual sportsperson in the world. I do not think anybody can match her as an individual sportsperson in a particular sport. She

Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .