ABC LATELINE Transcript 01/09/1999 Hollow Rings The campaigning journalist John Pilger says Aborigines are denied sporting opportunities enjoyed by non-indigenous Australians. If true, it's hardly a great advertisement for next year's Sydney Olympics. And today in Sydney Mark Spitz, the American swimmer, accused the IOC of failing to properly enforce its anti-drugs policy. How tarnished has sport become? Friendship, solidarity and fair play are supposed to be the elements of the much vaunted "Olympic spirit". And with the Sydney games only 12 months away, it's an image our sporting bodies and politicians have been keen to promote. But selling a positive image of the Olympics has never been tougher. Just today, one of the greatest sporting heroes of all time -- American swimmer Mark Spitz, revisited the drugs issue. Touring the athletes village at Homebush he questioned the will of the Olympic authorities to keep the Sydney games clean. Meantime a documentary screened on British television has challenged Australia's boast that it's a nation which believes in "fair play" and "the level playing field". It paints a grim picture of the conditions under which indigenous Australians are living and argues they don't enjoy equal opportunities to shine in the sporting arena. What's happened to the traditional sporting values? Does sport offer fair access to all? And is the sporting arena the place to campaign and redress broader social ills? http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/stories/s48833.htm Discussion: Tony Jones talks with Doris Corbett, a sports sociologist from Howard University in Washington; Professor Colin Tatz, the author of "Obstacle Race" a history of Aborigines in sport and Michael Porra, general manager of leading sports management firm IMG Sydney. [Requires RealAudio] © 1999 Australian Broadcasting Corporation ------------------------------------------------------- RecOzNet2 has a page @ http://www.green.net.au/recoznet2 and is archived at http://www.mail-archive.com/ To unsubscribe from this list, mail [EMAIL PROTECTED], and in the body of the message, include the words: unsubscribe announce or click here mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20announce This posting is provided to the individual members of this group without permission from the copyright owner for purposes of criticism, comment, scholarship and research under the "fair use" provisions of the Federal copyright laws and it may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner, except for "fair use." RecOzNet2 is archived for members @ http://www.mail-archive.com/
