Karen Andrews (McPherson, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Australia has a proud history as a sporting nation. Some of us are active participants in sports and others are more passive participants in sport and prefer to be spectators and enjoy that immensely. Whether you are a football, soccer, netball, athletics or swimming fan, or a supporter of the many other sports in which Australians participate, you cannot help but feel a sense of pride when you see an Australian athlete competing on the world stage. For the two weeks of the Olympic Games, Australians from across the country came together to cheer on their fellow countrymen and women competing in London. Throughout the games our athletes showed courage and humility whilst inspiring many Australians with their outstanding performances.

The road to the Olympic Games is a long one, with each of our athletes having trained for many years and having dedicated their heart and their soul to their passion. To be selected to represent their country at the world's premier sporting event will be for many, irrespective of whether they walked away with a medal or not, an experience they will never forget. Our Olympic team has defended Australia's title as one of the most talented sporting nations, with the team finishing in the top 10 of the medal count. This means that Australia finished 10th out of more than 200 nations, which is a massive achievement in itself.

An enormous amount of stress and pressure is placed upon each of our athletes to perform in what may be one of the most daunting experiences of their lives. Millions of people from all over the world watch them with anticipation to see whether they will win or lose by a fraction of a second. No matter what their individual result was, all of our Olympic athletes are true Olympians, as they have performed to their best and done their friends, family, communities and country proud. I hope that many of them will now be able to have a well-deserved break before moving on to the next chapter of their lives.

I would, however, like to make particular mention of one group of athletes today—those from the Gold Coast. Out of the 35 medals won by Australians at the games, 11 were won by Gold Coast athletes as individuals or as part of a team, which is nearly a third of our total medal count. Of the seven gold medals Australia won at the games, four were won by Gold Coasters. The Gold Coasters who flew the Australian flag at the Olympics include Sally Pearson, Tate Smith, Adam Gibson, Mark Worthington, Ken Wallace, Lyndsie Fogarty, Naomi Flood, Matthew Butturini, Michael Shelley, Ky Hurst, Brendan Casey, Michael Diamond, Leiston Pickett, Brenton Rickard, Chris Wright, Melanie Schlanger, Thomas Fraser-Holmes, Cameron McEvoy, James Roberts, Meagen Nay, Jade Neilson, Sarah Bombell, Jenny-Lyn Anderson, Olia Burtaev, Samantha Stosur, Bernard Tomic, Brad Kahlefeldt, Courtney Atkinson, Emma Moffatt and Jane Moran.

In particular, I would like to acknowledge today three Olympians who have close ties to my electorate of McPherson: Jacob Clear, who was part of the K4 100-metre kayaking team that won gold and who is also a member of the Burleigh Heads Mowbray Park Surf Life Saving Club; Mathew Belcher, who won gold in the 470-class sailing event and who is also a former student of Bond University; and Brittany Broben, who won silver in the 10-metre platform dive and who is a student of Marymount College. Congratulations to each of you for your great performances. I wish you all well in your future endeavours.

I must say that Gold Coast athletes were significant achievers at the Olympic Games and I am so terribly proud of them. Sport is an integral part of life for many of us on the Gold Coast, with a number of community organisations that participate in a variety of sports such as soccer, AFL, rugby, basketball, netball, baseball, track events, martial arts, swimming, diving and rowing—to name just a few. Not only are sports available in the community for both school aged children and adults; many of our schools have dedicated teams that compete at school, regional, state and national levels. There is also the opportunity for any students who excel in track and field and swimming events at sporting community carnivals to compete at various carnivals and beyond.

The Olympics have highlighted how much sporting talent there is within our community and the potential of our future athletes. We need to continue to foster our sporting community locally and nationally whilst helping those future generations of athletes to be the very best that they can. I again wish all of our athletes the very best for the future. I congratulate them on what they have done so far and what I know they will do in the future.

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