One of the problems of a child’s birthday party is that the occasion is so eagerly awaited for so long that by the time the balloons have been tied to the front gate the child is in such a state of excitement that he is incapable of enjoying it: and of behaving even remotely like himself.
There has been jelly on the ceiling in Sydney - and tears before bedtime as well.
The first sadness was the first event, which was supposed to be a laydown for Australia’s trio of triathletes. The script had them wining the first gold, silver and bronze medals of the Games after swimming in Sydney Harbour, biking round the prettier part of town and running to a finish at the Opera House.
The photo-opportunity was all there, but Australia was left with silver and a rueful expression. And while the Thorpedo was doing his stuff with great glory in the pool, there was deep gloom the other side of town at the football stadiums.
The Matildas - the women’s team (you can’t be an Australian athlete or a team without a daft nickname) - did awfully well but were held to a draw by Sweden. The men’s team - they’re called the Olyroos, I’m afraid - suffered a terrible and terminal defeat, going down 3-2 to the reigning Olympic champions, Nigeria.
The insistence on bad nicknames can be seen as a measure of the exaggerated expectations with which Australia has gone into the Games.
The men's defeat, after an opening game loss to Italy, put them out of the competition, making their final match against Honduras irrelevant. The Australian players at the final whistle lay on the ground and wept. It was strong stuff. Raul Blanco, Australia’s coach, took full responsibility and apologised to the the nation: "The job has not been done." It was an unflinchingly honest performance.
And terribly sad for the players who lost only because of two terrible defensive errors. One from Hayden Foxe cost them the only goal of the match against Italy, another from Simon Colosimo the result against Nigeria.
His header back to the goalkeeper fell short, and in wriggled Victor Igali to score. The traumatised player was substituted ten minutes later. Failure had unmanned him.
They had done so well, too, coming back into the match after conceding two delightful goals. The second, a chip from a very difficult angle from Julius Aghahowa was so good it almost overshadowed his celebration: half-a-dozen back-flips that might have scored well at the gymnastics venue.
Australia were level with two goals in two minutes before half-time, a deflected free-kick from Foxe and a nice goal from Kacey Wehrman very nicely set up by Mark Viduka. Memo to Leeds fans: Viduka is staying in town for the Honduras game. Shouldn’t he go back now as a gesture towards Leeds? "Leeds have never made a good gesture to us," Blanco said.
Australia had been expecting a miracle on the hour every day: the reality of sport is somewhat different. All countries get gloomy about sport, and feel they they, uniquely, are slipping behind in the sporting arms race.
Not so, or not necessarily. In every event there are rather more competitors than there are medals.
The answer is not to castigate the losers, but to celebrate the winners. Olympic winners come but rarely, and never as a matter of course. Besides, it is not becoming - memo to the United States - for a host to become too triumphalist. A little bit of defeat is a salutary thing for the host nation.
But it is not so easy for the poor people who have to do the losing. I have seldom seen such despair on a football pitch, and I’ve seen a few penalty shoot-outs in my time. It seems the Olympic spirits exaggerates even the exaggerated emotions of the sporting life.
Alas, poor Olyroos. Wild expectations are a hard thing to put on any athlete and particularly when you put them on yourself.
Simon Barnes
The Times
