The Hon Rod Kemp was Minister for the Arts and Sport from Friday 23 November 2001 to Tuesday 30 January 2007. This site is available for archival purposes only.
Successful Australian Olympic Team
The Minister for the Arts and Sport, Senator Rod Kemp, today congratulated the Australian Olympic team on its record-breaking performance at the Olympic Games in Athens.
'The Australian Olympic team performance-a record 17 gold medals and 49 medals overall-has surpassed Australia's efforts at home just four years ago in Sydney,' Senator Kemp said.
The Minister also paid tribute to the manner in which Australian athletes competed in Athens.
'It's not only the medal count against which we measure our performances in significant international competition, it is also the spirit and manner in which we compete,' Senator Kemp said.
'The international sporting community has always admired Australia's Olympic spirit.
'Again in Athens Australia displayed that unique ability to engage with passion and commitment but in a manner which exemplifies the Australian sporting ethos and complements the spirit of competition upon which the Olympic Games is based.
'Australia has again demonstrated the quality of its national sporting system in finishing fourth on the medal table, despite coming off a home Olympics and having a population significantly smaller than many of its competitors.'
Senator Kemp said that it was widely recognised by sporting officials from other countries in Athens that at the heart of Australia's continued global sporting success lay a unique and well-funded national sports system.
'The Australian Sports Commission implements and administers a well structured system to support and develop our athletes from the grass-roots level, through structured pathways for junior athletes and on to elite performers on the national and international arenas.'
Senator Kemp also congratulated the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) for its contribution to the overall performance of the Australian Olympic team.
'AIS athletes, past and present, accounted for some 65 percent of all medals won by Australians in Athens,' he pointed out.
CANBERRA
30 August 2004
Media contact: Adrian Chippindale, 02 6277 7350 or 0407 208 743