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46 found
Vancouver 2010 - Sega - Official Game . . read more
How Lisa Simpson got ahead at the Olympics . . read more
Rio awaits IOC decision on Sevens . . read more
The Olympic rings bloodied by conflict- by Simon Moore . . read more
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.
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Salute is a film by Matt Norman, nephew of Australian 1968 Mexico City Olympics 200m Silver Medalist Peter Norman who was involved in one of the most powerful moments in Olympic history when Tommie Smith and John Carlos gave a Black Power Salute.  . . read more
Wondering who's got an edge in the next game or Olympic event? Here's a hint: watch out for the contender in red.  . . read more
Watch them laugh, watch them drool, watch them fall into the pool - that's called diving... A politically incorrect song from Stephen Lynch. . . read more
World record cardstacker Bryan Berg has recreated the Bejing Olympic Village using 140,000 playing cards.  . . read more

Joanne from current affairs video blog Rocketboom interviews Cheryl Furjanic, producer and director of Sync or Swim, a documentary about the U.S. Synchronized Swimming Team's journey to the Olympic Games.

 . . read more
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At a recent lecture given by long time subversive artists Gilbert and George, there was a fantastic point made which highlighted the absurdity of institutionalised religion and the anomalous status it's given in today's society.

They said something along the lines of....

"Imagine if a biscuit company was able to sell itself the way the church does. The biscuit company would probably be able to do a lot better if it was able to offer eternal life (in addition to biscuits) as a reward for your money"

Now the idea also works in reverse.

Imagine if there was a company that didn't pay tax, had little or no oversight from the state legal system, was found to be fingering children- had tried to hide it- their leader and the leader's brother were both implicated and they still refused to open themselves up to public scrutiny.

You probably wouldn't buy their biscuits would you.

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4 mar

The HomepageDAILY community likes to co-create both content and process. What are you thinking right now about what we do and how we do it? Tell us about the news, videos and stories and anything else you see on HPD. What you like, what you don't like, what you'd like to see in future. Recommend a website, video or article; send us pix, new stories - share it with us and by so doing you are giving us permission to share it with the world.

Leave Feedback here

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Why has homepage started running so many nameless 100 word eds? Names are good for intellectual continuity, honesty and non-hypocrisy. - Terry McGee

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Re: Bale de Rua

We thought the Bale de Rua was aweful. Choreography was terrible - set design, music and costumes were lacklustre. The dancers however were very athletic and graceful. - Jules

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Re: In Praise of Mediocrity

I just wonder who decides if what ever you chose to do in life, is mediocre or not. Sounds like with standards like yours, this article with its poor structure and soap box appeal may also be considered by many as, in-fact, mediocre. - Khedra

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Re: The Assassins of Langley

Yes, Mr. Neville. Odious, heinous assassins sold body and soul to Luciferian entities who pull the strings (the last of them, I want to believe) from the shadows. Philip Aggeee and John Stockwell portrayed them quite well. They are NOT heroes, nor are the gangbangers of East Los Angeles who spray grafitti in Iraq, where they most certainly train for urban warfare on our streets. Good riddance to them all!

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Re: Hairy Legs: A Study of Female Art, Feminism and Femininity

 Looking forward to more of her articles. Hope she does plenty of Art Theory at SCA. Barbara Kruger and Judy Chicago are certainly powerful artists and it would be interesting to see what they are doing now.

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A hero's welcome for the famous Iraqi shoe thrower

Terrorist! Please do your research first before writing such dangerous things, we was insulting Bush by throwing the shoe as he was disgraced with him, not trying to topple the largest super power in the world by throwing a shoe. I cant believe you have put those words up. Ashamed

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Re: How to Report the News

Having worked as a TV news reporter I found Charlie's piece very amusing - some of us have long believed reporting like this is a rubbish way to do things! But even if a journalist wants to tell stories in a more authentic and engaging way, the constraints of the so-called "house style" in many news organisations make it difficult to achieve. What's needed is a massive culture shift and a complete re-think of what we understand quality broadcast news reporting is. And guess what? That's exactly what's happening, though you'd never believe it from what we're still mostly seeing on TV. Anyway, the new digital technologies, and shake up of "old school/old mainstream" journalism means new platforms and styles of "news" storytelling can now emerge. Let's hope fresh and appropriate ways of funding appear too, so we can kill off this dreadful formulaic reporting and delivery, and clear the way for more natural and interesting ways to treat stories and content.

Much love, Ian Aspin.
www.twitter.com/ianaspin

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Re: Pushing 60 With Pot

You're pushing 60, well I'm pushing 70 and still having to scrounge around for my pot. It's tragic that when I first came to Australia it was $30 an ounce, and now I have to pay nearly $350 - Peter

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Re: Textbook publishers dream of the tablet

Why can't this just be a program for PC and Windows? Why do they have to make us buy more hardware that's just going to disappoint? - Tyler J. Wilson

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Re: Killing Indian Students: Australia's Favourite New Sport!- by Sean Maguire

How about the indian guy who slashed his wife's throat, is still australia to blame for?..may be , for accenpting them to move over!I am an immigrant myself but I love this country, there is no perfect place on Earth but australia is one of the best! - Michael

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This entire fiasco is an incredible over reaction. Australia is an easy target. Why? because we are honest, transperant and we talk about our failings. Is there aggression and iolence in Australia? Sure, like any country. But we face it head on and we work to eliminate it. What about the stories of the 100’s of thousands of Indian workers who are treated as slaves in the middle east and nobody says anything? What about the fact that India still has entrenched pedophilia in terms of child brides? What about the crushing poverty embraced by more than 60% of the Indian people while this nation runs around building nuclear warheads? A storm in a teacup, an over reaction, and a diversion from some the really bad issues facing India. What is really happening here is that students are being unnecessarily frightened. meaning they will miss out on what could be the opportunity of their lifetime. - Daryl
 
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I couldn't agree with Sean Maguire's article more on the recent Indian attacks. For all those who like the pretend the attacks are merely based on coincidence, try to imagine how we would react if the boot were on the other foot and an uncharacteristic number of Australia's had been murdered in India. Would you push for a travel ban? Would you be scared for your children in a seemingly hostile environment so many miles away?  - Kara Jensen-Mackinnon

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