Hot air surrounds Olympic flame

by Tony Lejo

April 23, 2008

FROM the beleaguered Olympic flame relay to steroid trafficking, from distorted body images to swimmers behaving badly, a prominent sports psychologist counsels against drawing too many conclusions about the effects of the Olympic Games.

The ABC reported earlier this week that customs officials noted a rise in illegal steroid imports. The officials claimed steroid use among jocks may be influenced by “image culture as much as the Olympic culture” as the event draws nearer. 

 “These are certainly interesting aspects and worthy of study,” said sports psychologist Gavin Freeman, “but it may be drawing a pretty long bow to make such claims without significant evidence.

“People can’t even definitively tell you the worth of advertising for promoters who pay big bucks to get their names attached to events, so I’d be reluctant to make claims about things such as steroid abuse or body image.”

Mr Freeman also claimed Olympic swimmer Nick Darcy’s ongoing assault case would not have gained such notoriety had it not been for the games.

“It would have been reported for perhaps one day in the paper and then the media would’ve forgotten about it,” he said.

Mr Freeman claimed that Australian sportspeople who feature in the media on a regular basis have a far greater chance as acting as role models to spectators.

“You can’t open the daily paper without reading about the trouble some stupid footballer has gotten himself into,” he said, “but then look at netballer Liz Ellis, who is a great role model for young women.”

Mr Freeman was a senior psychologist at the Australian Institute of Sport until 2006, and now works as an independent sports psychologist.

“Every four years we have this wonderful event and there’s this two week spike in interest towards these Olympic events which aren’t ones that people follow in their everyday life,” he said. “The athletes are not household names”