It's very amusing that Anna, particularly, has bucked this trend considering she was a poster girl for McDonald's in 2008 for her liking of kicking back with a sinful treat once in a while.
What kind of message does that send, eh? That you can enjoy unhealthy products and still be a global champion? Something must be done!
So the University of Sydney (who else?) did that something. They conducted a study to see what other Aussie athletes thought about the likes of Meares earning money from such endorsements.
CONCLUSIONS: Elite athletes are receptive to supporting health promotion through sport and many are not in agreement with the promotion of unhealthy products in sport or by sports people.So, let's get this right. Australian athletes don't like their successful counterparts - because they are the ones gaining the big endorsement contracts - advertising products like McDonald's.
Of course, if the lesser athletes had earned the 'elite' tag before expressing these concerns - not much sign of that in London - they could have refused the endorsement cheques to prove their point, couldn't they?
Anna doesn't give much of a stuff, I reckon. She's won a gold medal and is probably enjoying ice cream and a fizzy drink - or maybe something stronger like British winners - while her failed compatriots are planning their flights home and consoling themselves with their medal-free self-righteousness.
If the result of the unending Australian health obsession is a nation - which used to be nigh impossible for us to beat - becoming a rag-bag array of limp pussies, I'm all for it.
Keep it up Australia! We certainly don't want you going back to those devil-may-care days when you lived a little and beat us hollow.
15 comments:
Chokers.
The Aussies are drowning in flouride, the typical Aussie has been dumbed down with chemicals,they are a new breed of sheep.
It had not occurred to me that Australia's recent poor performance in just about everything might be in any way related to them becoming world leaders in public health quackery. Perhaps there is justice in this world after all.
I am sure that Simon Chapman can produce a "peer reviewed" paper proving that it is nothing to do with him, or better still get some of his government sponsored mates to do it for him. There are plenty of them to choose from down under.
Heh. We should perhaps be lauding Simon Chapman's Brave New World for what it is - a lesson in mediocrity in its purest form. "Follow our lead and you. too. can be a nonentity!"
Poetic justice at its finest!
Nice try, but if there is a link between nanny statism and poor Olympics performance, then wouldn't Team GB be doing really badly as well?
Good point Mark but if we compare investment in Olympic sports relative to spend on public health for both countries...
The aggressive elbowing out by Meares is probably connected to this diet of sugar and cheating.
I still haven't figured out what is unhealthy about Mcdonalds. Any ideas anyone?
There isn't anything unhealthy about McDonalds. Beef, potatoes, bread, and a bit of salad and oil are what you get if you order steak and chips at any restaurant. There are tens of sites which have analysed McDonald's meals. Here for example
http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/foods-from-mcdonalds/6220/2
The athlets seem to be enjoying McDonalds - even the good ones, to whom fractions of a second cost a lot of money. It's mainly snobbery and stupidity.
It seems to me that Australians are being brainwashed into being so risk-averse as regards tobacco that there is a knock-on effect. Risk averseness is catching. That funny game called cricket for example - those hard wooden bats and hard balls - very dangerous; to say nothing of going on the surface of the sea in boats.
another link for you..
https://i.chzbgr.com/completestore/12/8/6/Tlc7ZSATyU6amkPCuwT87w2.jpg
those accurate public health lessons are doing their job!
Here is your friendly resident expat Australian, with some goodness for you blokes and shielas, all the way from downunda.
Immediately after the epic 1979 VFL (That's Australian Rules to you) grand final, the players lined up for smokes, provided and lit for them by their adoring entourage.
But Australians are now paranoid, pussified wimps. My hard-living comrades from University are quite at ease with the prohibition onfags and and their insane prices: "Keeps me off them, they're bad for you".
At the boys' cricket, the fathers hide shamefully behind the lavatories for a puff if they are still smoking - hiding as much from their wives as the chillllllllldun..
They suspend professional Aussie Rules players for drinking fewer than six days before their next game - even match winners at the end of the season.
Try ordering two drinks at once on Qantas and you will be read their 'responsible alcohol service policy'.
It's a penal colony that had its brief time in the sun. Once the generations that fought WWI and WWII had thinned out, that was it, about 1980ish.
There are the outliers like Anna, of course. They will be eliminated in due course.
Not to mention middle class leftie loathing of the commercially successful.
What about bicycles? Even if you ride in a park, they must be worn.
Apparently Alistair Brownlee, winner of the triathlon, eats lots of pies, steak and potatoes. I venture he will be getting through a good few quarter pounders over the next few days.
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