Money - and gold !

One thing the Bejing Olympics has clearly illustrated is the relation between money spent and the results achieved.

The days of athletes reaching the top of their profession by sheer ability have long gone. These days the tally of medals won bears a direct relationship to the amount their country spends on training and the facilities needed to produce winners.

China is a classical case to illustrate this point.

In previous years China was a non event when it came to sport. Sport did not rate highly on the Communist party's list of priorities.

All that changed when China was awarded the 08 Olympics. The Communist leaders decided that China would showcase itself to the world and therefore an amazing thirty billion dollars was spent on building the venue, organising the entertainment - and virtually rebuilding the city.

To complement that expenditure it was necessary to ensure that China became an instant front runner in winning medals - and from a standing start huge amounts were spent on providing training right across the sporting spectrum.

Chinese athletes not only appeared in non traditional sports, but they were trained to a calibre that amazed competitors.

China is not the only country to spend big amounts on sport. The Americans have long been dominant at past Olympics - and this time the Poms diced their reputation as perpetual losers and threw money at sport.

Australia has been heading in the right direction with the Canberra based Institute of Sport - but it is clear that money and sport will exist in tandem in the years ahead.

If we want to remain in the winners circle it will be necessary for the government to continue to support our athletes !