Australian Triathletes: Why Are They
So Good? (cont.)
While I was in Australia, Greg Welch had a twenty-minute
segment on Sunday evening’s news program 60 Minutes.
The popularity cycle is simple. Large audience interest
breeds television coverage. Television coverage breeds more
interest; especially for aspiring triathletes who want to
someday be on television.
2. Popular Sports in Australia - There are two major team
sports in Australia. Rugby, which is a mixture of soccer
and football, but without pads; and cricket, where a match
lasts between one day and five days. This is strictly a
biased opinion, but cricket is the most boring sport in
the World. So, if you want to keep your teeth and if you
want to get your heart rate above 60 while participating
in a sport, then you compete in one of three other sports:
swim, bike, run or a combination of them. Swimmers, cyclists,
runners and Ironmen (competitions blending swim, run and
paddleboard) are regularly seen on television commercials
promoting products such as cereals, sunglasses and cars.
The general public recognizes these athletes the way Americans
recognize football, baseball and basketball players. Australians,
like Europeans, get enthusiastic about individual accomplishments
in sport. They enjoy watching and talking about how far
athletes can push their bodies. At a restaurant in Sydney,
I overheard two older gentlemen with well-endowed bellies
from too much beer discussing who they thought was a better
triathlete, Beven or Welch. In my excitement of hearing
this conversation, I offered to buy them a beer.
3. Excellent Training Facilities - Over the years, the
Australian government has done an excellent job of promoting
health and fitness. Currently, they are spending millions
of dollars in a stop smoking campaign. (Do you think tobacco
lobbyist groups would allow our government to do this?)
They give the average Australian an opportunity to be fit.
If you want to go for a swim, a pool is not far away.
There are public swimming pools in every city. Even towns
of only 10,000 people have a pool. In addition, most of
these town’s pools are 50 meters in length. When in
Melbourne, I was only a fifteen-minute drive from six pools
- four 50-meter pools and two 25-meter pools.
Velodromes are also available in the major cities. Again,
in Melbourne, I was a thirty-minute drive from four Velodrome
parks. These structures provide an excellent area for interval
training without having to worry about traffic. In general,
traffic isn’t much of a problem in the big cities such
as Melbourne and Sydney. These “large” cities
have populations of approximately two million people, so
you can quickly get to the outskirts where there is less
traffic. Aside from these cities, Australia is one big bike
path with little automobile traffic.
4. Coaching - Most professionals have a personal coach
or multiple coaches, one for each individual sport. The
coach typically lives in the same community, not half way
across the country, so he is able to personally motivate
the athlete in workouts and give advice on technique. Often,
the coach has other top athletes he trains who may be triathletes
or individuals from a single discipline. The value of training
with other people is great for motivation. Just like masters
swim programs, there are group workouts where athletes get
together once a week and pay a running or cycling coach
a nominal fee of $2-3 for his services. The coach gives
a workout, motivates, offers technical advice on form and
gives stretching and strengthening drills. In the United
States, many of the professionals train with no coaching
advice and train alone.
5. Triathlon Clubs - Clubs are very prevalent in Australia.
They play an integral part for developed and developing
athletes. Clubs range in size from 20 to 300 members. They
have presidents, treasurers, secretaries etc., which organize
triathlons not only for the members, but any triathlete.
Many clubs, through putting on races and receiving sponsorships,
carry a positive cash flow balance. This enables them to
subsidize the payment to coaches training their members.
For example, the Balmoral Triathlon Club in Sydney meets
once a week with an experienced running coach. The running
coach receives $100 from the Club for each session, no matter
how many people show up. Any triathlete who shows pays two
dollars for the session. The coach receives money for his
services, the athletes get excellent coaching for a nominal
fee and the Club has done its job of supporting the athletes.
6. Climate - Aside from the mountain ranges, it doesn’t
snow. There may be cold days in the Southern part of the
continent, but it is never cold enough to snow. In a nutshell,
the whole continent is one big San Diego. People can train
year round in all three sports without having to wear three
layers of clothes. The country participates in warm weather
sports year round.
7. Competing with the World - Aside from swimming, triathlon
is the only other sport in which Australians excel at the
international level. Success breeds pride in a country and
recognition. Young people see positive role models such
as the Bevens, Welchs, Jones and Carneys in the paper and
on the television. They see how successful these athletes
are on the international level and many of them aspire to
be like these athletes. American children dream the same
way about being a basketball or football player.
8. The Future - Australian triathletes will only become
stronger in the sport of triathlon. The groundwork has been
laid in the youth and the media attention is present and
growing. As prize money increases in the sport, there will
be even more of a reason for people to take up the sport.
Another important factor in the equation of Australian
dominance involves the number 2000, the Olympics. Australia
is hosting the Olympics in the year 2000. The Australian
Institute of Sport (AIS) recognizes that Australia has an
excellent opportunity of receiving a medal or medals in
triathlon. The AIS is spending hundreds of thousands of
dollars into triathlon during the next five years so that
no stone may go unturned in assuring the greatest possibility
of an Olympic gold medal.
Government support, positive role models, international
success, media recognition, triathlon awareness in the youth,
support with clubs, excellent coaching, facilities and climate.
The ingredients are all in Australia. They are and will
be a powerful country to compete against. However, Americans
are not the type to sit back and say we give up. I wrote
this article while I was on my bike.
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