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Speaker 1: Already and this is the Daily This is the Daily OS. Oh,

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Speaker 1: now it makes sense.

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Speaker 2: Good morning and welcome to the Daily OS. It's Friday,

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Speaker 2: the fourteenth of June. I'm Sam, I'm Billy. This week

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Speaker 2: millions of Australians have tuned in to watch some of

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Speaker 2: the swimming Australia trials that wrap up in Brisbane tomorrow.

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Speaker 2: We've seen world records broken, inspiring returns to form, and

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Speaker 2: an outpouring of emotion from families in the stands watching

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Speaker 2: their athletes book a spot on the plane to either

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Speaker 2: the Olympics or Paralympics coming up very soon in Paris.

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Speaker 2: We've also seen some moments of sadness, moments where a

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Speaker 2: number of milliseconds might have proven the difference between a

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Speaker 2: spot in the Olympic squad or another four year wait

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Speaker 2: until the next crack. At what most degree is the

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Speaker 2: pinnacle of the sport, moments where a swimmer may have

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Speaker 2: won their final but could have failed to qualify for

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Speaker 2: the Olympic team because of the qualification times set by

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Speaker 2: winning Australia. But there's no denying that what we've seen

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Speaker 2: this week has been an incredible display of Australian talents

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Speaker 2: in the pool and it got us thinking, why is

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Speaker 2: Australia so good swimming. We're going to chat through this

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Speaker 2: in today's d dive I've done for their research. But first, Billy,

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Speaker 2: what is making headlines?

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Speaker 1: The government has announced new measures aimed at preventing international

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Speaker 1: students from switching between visas to legally extend their time

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Speaker 1: in Australia. It called this practice visa hopping, giving the

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Speaker 1: example of someone on a temporary graduate visa re enrolling

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Speaker 1: in UNI to get a student visa to remain in

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Speaker 1: Australia instead of finding a job. From the first of July,

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Speaker 1: people on a visit of visa or temporary graduate visa

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Speaker 1: will not be allowed to apply for a student visa

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Speaker 1: while they're in Australia. Home Affairs Minister Clara O'Neil said

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Speaker 1: the changes are part of a wider migration strategy and

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Speaker 1: to quote close the loopholes in international education.

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Speaker 2: Australia's unemployment rate fell slightly to four percent in May.

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Speaker 2: That's according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The unemployment

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Speaker 2: rate is the percentage of people who were looking for

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Speaker 2: work but couldn't find any. Unemployment in May fell by

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Speaker 2: around nine thousand people, bringing the current number of people

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Speaker 2: unemployed to nearly six hundred thousand ABS. Head of Labor

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Speaker 2: Statistics Beyond Javis said some of the fall in unemployment

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Speaker 2: and rise in employment in May reflects people starting or

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Speaker 2: returning to their jobs.

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Speaker 1: French President Emmanuel Macron has suspended voting reforms in New

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Speaker 1: Caledonia after the proposal sparked deadly riots in the French territory.

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Speaker 1: France's lower House passed a bill last month to allow

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Speaker 1: French residents to vote in local elections if they've lived

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Speaker 1: in New Caledonia for ten years. Some of the island's

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Speaker 1: indigenous Knack people argued the bill would threaten their political influence.

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Speaker 1: Seven people died during violent protests, which prompted a state

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Speaker 1: of emergency in the capital, New Mia. Now, Macron says

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Speaker 1: the voting change quote must be suspended to give full

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Speaker 1: strength to dialogue on the ground.

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Speaker 2: And today's good news. They said how far will she go?

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Speaker 2: And she went far? And Australian has been cast in

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Speaker 2: the lead role of Disney's upcoming live action remake of Moana.

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Speaker 2: Seventeen year old Katherine Lagaya will start alongside Dwayne the

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Speaker 2: Rock Johnson. In the film, Lagaya said she felt honored

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Speaker 2: to have an opportunity to celebrate her Samoan and Pacific

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Speaker 2: Island culture and quote to represent young girls who look

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Speaker 2: like me. Moana is set to be released in twenty twenty.

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Speaker 1: Six and fun fact, her father is Jaylagia, who you

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Speaker 1: might be from High five? Okay, Sam. Big topic of

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Speaker 1: conversation in the office this week just how good Australia

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Speaker 1: is at swimming as is on display during the trials

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Speaker 1: this week.

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Speaker 2: It's phenomenal and I really think it's kind of unlocked

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Speaker 2: another stage of everybody's Paris excitement. Yes, seeing swimming on

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Speaker 2: primetime television, getting home at nights, getting cold in winter,

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Speaker 2: you turn on the telly and you watch some incredible

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Speaker 2: athletes in the pool. It's made us more ecce for

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Speaker 2: Paris than ever, I think.

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Speaker 1: And you mentioned in the intro that we have broken

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Speaker 1: some world records already in these trials. On Wednesday night

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Speaker 1: during the two hundred meter freestyle, we didn't just break

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Speaker 1: the world record once, we broke it twice.

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Speaker 2: In the same race.

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Speaker 1: It was unbelievable watching Arion Titmas and Mollo O'Callahan both

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Speaker 1: beat the world record coming first and second. They were

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Speaker 1: also about half a body length in front of the

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Speaker 1: world record.

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Speaker 2: That it's just so dominant. They're actually training partners, which

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Speaker 2: makes it even more special as well. But it definitely

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Speaker 2: kind of gives you a sense that come Paris the

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Speaker 2: swimming starts on the twenty seventh of July, we're going

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Speaker 2: to be coming home with some medals.

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Speaker 1: I cannot wait, and I can't wait for everyone to

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Speaker 1: become armchair experts as well. But hopefully during this episode

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Speaker 1: we can actually give you some facts so that you

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Speaker 1: can be a little bit more of a qualified armchair expert.

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Speaker 1: So before we look at the sport of swimming in

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Speaker 1: Australia in more depth, coming first, just establish actually how

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Speaker 1: good Australia is out swimming in a global context.

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Speaker 2: Look, we're really good. The US may have more gold

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Speaker 2: medals than US across all swimming events, but when you

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Speaker 2: consider the size of our population compared to THEIRS, we're

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Speaker 2: punching well above our weight. In fact, we're punching well

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Speaker 2: above the weight of most other countries on the planet.

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Speaker 2: So overall Australia has one one gold medal in the

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Speaker 2: pool for every three hundred and eighty four thousand Australians

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Speaker 2: in the US. That's one per one point one million.

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Speaker 2: So we overperform when it gets to know a bit

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Speaker 2: of backstroke.

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Speaker 1: So we're damn good, especially when we consider our population size,

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Speaker 1: which is relatively small. What is our secret source.

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Speaker 2: I've done a lot of thinking about this, and you

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Speaker 2: and I have had this conversation of just why is

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Speaker 2: Australia so good at swimming? And I thought I'd break

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Speaker 2: it down into four main categories. We make Australian swim,

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Speaker 2: we celebrate Australian swimmers, we spend a lot of money,

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Speaker 2: and we have really high standards.

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Speaker 1: Can I just say this is giving university essay when

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Speaker 1: you have your thesis and you're like, I've got my

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Speaker 1: floor arguments to prove it. Well.

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Speaker 2: Normally we explain things that we kind of know the

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Speaker 2: answer and we're helping the audience understand. This is a

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Speaker 2: slightly different topic because I think nobody can kind of

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Speaker 2: exactly quantify what makes us so good. So I've had

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Speaker 2: to kind of do a little bit of reasoning with this,

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Speaker 2: and I'm no expert in sports economics and all that

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Speaker 2: kind of stuff, but I've given it a shot. So

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Speaker 2: let's talk about those first two reasons. We make Australian

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Speaker 2: swim and we celebrate Australian swimmers because I think that

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Speaker 2: really does set the important context and then we can

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Speaker 2: have the discussion about money and standards. So swimming is

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Speaker 2: more than a sport in Australia. It's a really significant

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Speaker 2: part of our national culture. I mean most kids have

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Speaker 2: swimming lessons, they often do it through their school and

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Speaker 2: that also adds a whole social element to it. A

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Speaker 2: report released early last year by Royal Life Saving Australia

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Speaker 2: showed that one point seven million kids were currently in

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Speaker 2: swimming lessons. And Australia has these national benchmarks, So these

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Speaker 2: standards the government sets and they say that every child

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Speaker 2: by the age of twelve should be able to swim

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Speaker 2: fifty meters and that half of Australian children by the

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Speaker 2: age of seventeen should be able to swim four hundred meters.

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Speaker 1: And that's not about finding the next Olympian, is it.

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Speaker 1: That's more about safety exactly. So this is not to

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Speaker 1: find the next Arin Tipmas. This is about preventing drowning deaths.

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Speaker 1: It's a major issue in Australia and we know that

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Speaker 1: teaching kids to swim from an early age helps in

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Speaker 1: preventing drowning deaths for the rest of their life. So

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Speaker 1: by the end of this past summer, drowning deaths of

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Speaker 1: children under thirteen were up thirty percent on the previous year,

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Speaker 1: and that's potentially because of gaps in swimming proficiency caused

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Speaker 1: by missing lessons during the pandemic. So that's kind of

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Speaker 1: strengthening that case for swimming lessons. But undeniably the fact

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Speaker 1: that we all have mandatory swimming lessons, or most of

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Speaker 1: the country as mandatory swimming lessons does contribute to that

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Speaker 1: cultural appreciation of swimming. Point two in my lecture on

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Speaker 1: why swimming? Why were so good at swimming?

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Speaker 2: And if you think about it, I mean we've got

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Speaker 2: swimmers like Dawn Fraser in Thorpe, Grant Hacke at, Libby

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Speaker 2: Trick at lethal Drones, Stephanie Rice, and more recently new

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Speaker 2: heroes like Emma McKee and Arin Tis, Miss Kaylen McEwan

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Speaker 2: and Cam McAvoy. These are all household names and there's

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Speaker 2: definitely a role that these heroes play in inspiring youth participation,

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Speaker 2: inspiring kids to enter competitions, and inspiring them to get

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Speaker 2: up at five am and go and train in the

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Speaker 2: pool in the dark. And that's actually what you really

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Speaker 2: need to build the next generation of excellent sports people.

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Speaker 1: It's all about giving young people something to look up to, right,

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Speaker 1: kind of like how you know we're now seeing incredible

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Speaker 1: footballers in the Matilda's and I'm sure in future generations

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Speaker 1: we're going to have even more incredible footballers because young

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Speaker 1: people really have something to look up to. But hearing

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Speaker 1: you just list of those Australian swimmers, I can't think

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Speaker 1: of another Australian sport where there are so many household.

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Speaker 2: Name totally, I can't think of another Australian sport where

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Speaker 2: so many of them have their own stamps. Yeah, they're

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Speaker 2: always on. I mean, these are real national heroes and yeah,

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Speaker 2: and I also think the media has a role to

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Speaker 2: play in the way that we frame these swimmers. I mean,

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Speaker 2: over the last few Olympic Games, broadcasters have made a

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Speaker 2: disproportionately large investment into its swimming coverage and now it's

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Speaker 2: kind of almost a bit of a chicken and an

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Speaker 2: egg situation. So many of us are watching swimming because

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Speaker 2: Australia is so good at it, and the coverage is

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Speaker 2: so good, which makes more people want to do it,

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Speaker 2: which means we keep getting better. So now it's kind

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Speaker 2: of this self perpetuating cycle.

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Speaker 1: Okay, So we understand that Australians from a young age

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Speaker 1: are really encouraged to take up swimming mostly for safety,

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Speaker 1: and that Australians look up to our swimmers because we

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Speaker 1: have so many incredible ones. But surely those things aren't

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Speaker 1: enough alone to bring home that many gold medals. What

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Speaker 1: else are the reasons?

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Speaker 2: Well, I think we need to go to this third

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Speaker 2: reason and the one that we should probably spend the

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Speaker 2: most time on because it's a little complex, But we

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Speaker 2: spend so much money on winning gold medals in the pool.

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Speaker 2: So I was trying to work out how much does

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Speaker 2: it really cost to win a gold medal in swimming?

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Speaker 2: And I started by looking at where money from swimming

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Speaker 2: comes from, and it seems to me there are kind

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Speaker 2: of three core avenues. So there swimming Australia the peak

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Speaker 2: body for the sport, the Australian Olympic Committee the peak

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Speaker 2: body for the event, and the Australian is Stitute of Sport,

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Speaker 2: which is run by the Australian Sports Commission. And think

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Speaker 2: of that as kind of the government's sports arm Then

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Speaker 2: there's also philanthropy, like last year's three million dollar donation

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Speaker 2: from billionaire Gina Reinhart, which went to swimmers, rowers and volleyballers.

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Speaker 2: But I think that kind of comes in that philanthropy element,

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Speaker 2: more for bonuses for winning medals rather than funding to

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Speaker 2: get people to an elite stage.

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Speaker 1: But it could make swimming more of an attractive sport

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Speaker 1: when you have those bonuses.

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Speaker 2: One hundred percent. Financial incentives play a role, but a

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Speaker 2: lot of this spend really happens at the ground level.

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Speaker 2: So if we start with swimming Australia, I looked at

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Speaker 2: their annual financial report. The last one available publicly was

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Speaker 2: from twenty twenty one twenty two, and keep in mind

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Speaker 2: this was during the pandemic, so competition was limited, travel

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Speaker 2: was limited, and it was the year after the Olympics.

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Speaker 2: They spent about twenty six million dollars in that year.

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Speaker 2: That included eight million on their employees, three and a

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Speaker 2: half million on travel, and over four million on swimmers,

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Speaker 2: coaches and sports science. So that's a really big organization.

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Speaker 2: Then there's the Australian Olympic Committee, which also some of

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Speaker 2: the same athletes and coaches. They also provide medal incentives.

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Speaker 2: Like the billionaires, they're spending about twenty five million a year.

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Speaker 2: And if we compare swimming to a few other sports,

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Speaker 2: Athletics Australia spent in that year twenty four million dollars,

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Speaker 2: so a little bit less, and rowing Australia spent sixteen

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Speaker 2: million dollars, so quite a bit less.

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Speaker 1: But then you also have money from the Australian government

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Speaker 1: right one.

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Speaker 2: Hundred percent, and the federal government and by extension their

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Speaker 2: Australian Sports Commission and the AIS the Australian Institute of

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Speaker 2: Sport which is run by that commission. They spent a

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Speaker 2: lot of money. So in the twenty twenty two to

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Speaker 2: twenty three financial year, the government spent three hundred and

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Speaker 2: thirty two million dollars on sport and recreation. Now that

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Speaker 2: involves a lot of things from grassroots sport in communities

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Speaker 2: all the way up to elite performance. I'm not saying

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Speaker 2: that's just on Olympians, but I think between swimming Australia,

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Speaker 2: the Australian Olympic Committee and the Australian Sports Commission, we

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Speaker 2: spent about one hundred and six million dollars to win

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Speaker 2: fifty two swimming medals in Tokyo. So that's a Paralympics

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Speaker 2: and Olympics and that works out to be about two

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Speaker 2: million dollars a medal. Wow.

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Speaker 1: So your third reason, the TLDR we spend a lot

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Speaker 1: of money on swimming.

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Speaker 2: We spend a lot of money on making sure we

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Speaker 2: win medals.

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Speaker 1: Okay, So let's move to your last reason now. And

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Speaker 1: I think that this is one that has come up

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Speaker 1: a lot for people who are watching the trials this

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Speaker 1: week because Australia swimming actually has much harsher qualifying times

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Speaker 1: than the Olympics does. It's a bit confusing. Can you

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Speaker 1: just take us through this?

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Speaker 2: So this is definitely something the armchair experts have picked

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Speaker 2: up over the last couple of nights. I've noticed in

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Speaker 2: the commentary this week they're talking a lot about this

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Speaker 2: swimming Australia qualifying time bar So there's two ideas here.

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Speaker 2: There's an Olympic qualifying time, but there's also a swimming

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Speaker 2: Australia qualifying time. And the swimming Australia qualifying times are

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Speaker 2: harder than the global qualifying times that most other nations

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Speaker 2: use as their way to work out if one of

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Speaker 2: their athletes are going to be sent to Paris. So

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Speaker 2: the US, for example, if you you are a swimmer

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Speaker 2: and you meet the time that you need to set

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Speaker 2: by the World Organization, you're off to Paris. In Australia,

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Speaker 2: it's a little harder. I'm just going to touch just

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Speaker 2: on the Olympics, not the Paralympics for this example, because

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Speaker 2: I think we're getting a bit long here. But the

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Speaker 2: first thing I learned is that there is a cap

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Speaker 2: on how many swimmers we can send to the Olympics.

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Speaker 2: So we send twenty six men and twenty six women,

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Speaker 2: and with that few spots available, the higher qualifying time

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Speaker 2: is the way that Swimming Australia says that they're narrowing

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Speaker 2: that field. Only the best, the top of the cream

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Speaker 2: on your latte are going to Paris. So there was

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Speaker 2: a statement from Swimming Australia when they release the times.

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Speaker 2: It said the highest standards are necessary for Australia to

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Speaker 2: compete against the world's best and that the qualifying times

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Speaker 2: are part of a high performance strategy that gives athletes

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Speaker 2: the best chance to convert and convert their means winning

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Speaker 2: a medal. The head coach his name's Rowan Taylor. He said,

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Speaker 2: this is a successful formula that we have used for

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Speaker 2: the past ten years. Is it tough, Yes, it is,

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Speaker 2: but it's also an important part of the process to

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Speaker 2: develop athletes that can manage the load and perform when

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Speaker 2: it matters most. And really what he's saying there is

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Speaker 2: we're only going to put you on a plane to

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Speaker 2: Paris if we think you can seriously compete and probably

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Speaker 2: come home with the medal.

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Speaker 1: And where do these qualifying times from Australia swimming actually

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Speaker 1: come from? Do they just make it up?

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Speaker 2: Well, I initially thought they kind of might just trim

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Speaker 2: ten percent of the time or something to make sure

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Speaker 2: that the best are going. But it is based on something.

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Speaker 2: So they looked at the twenty twenty three World Aquatic

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Speaker 2: Swimming Championships in Japan. They looked at who qualified in

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Speaker 2: the eighth position for the final in that race, So

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Speaker 2: think of them as one of the swimmers in neither

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Speaker 2: lane one or laye eight in the final, and that's

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Speaker 2: the time in that category. That was then the swimming

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Speaker 2: Australia time. Now there were some examples where that time

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Speaker 2: was actually slower than the world time. They just picked

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Speaker 2: the faster of the two. I think there's three events

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Speaker 2: where that was the case. So let's all play this

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Speaker 2: out because it's a little confusing. So the Olympic qualifying

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Speaker 2: time for the men's two hundred meter freestyle is one

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Speaker 2: minute forty six seconds and twenty six milliseconds. The swimming

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Speaker 2: Australia time is one minute forty five seconds and ninety

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Speaker 2: seven milliseconds. So that's turn't to the mass on that

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Speaker 2: it's er point nine to two seconds faster.

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Speaker 1: Right, which in swimming is actually quite a bit.

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Speaker 2: It could be the difference between winning gold and not

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Speaker 2: even making the final, and.

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Speaker 1: That can lead to a lot of heartbreak, which we

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Speaker 1: have seen at the trials this week.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, there's been some athletes who have missed out on

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Speaker 2: a spot on the plane to Paris because even though

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Speaker 2: they're qualified by world standards, they haven't qualified by Australian standards.

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Speaker 2: There are some technicalities in the qualification document that say

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Speaker 2: there can be a bit of discretion and there's kind

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Speaker 2: of a couple of gray areas here. You know, if

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Speaker 2: you're going to the Olympics for another event, you can

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Speaker 2: actually qualify for a second or third or fourth event.

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Speaker 2: A little easier, and that goes to that total number

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Speaker 2: of people in the team. But on the whole, this

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Speaker 2: is the pain of elite sport. It's not unusual. Some

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Speaker 2: other countries also have these weirder qualifying times. But I

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Speaker 2: guess for a swimming Australia they've kind of decided it's

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Speaker 2: not really worth sending someone to the game if they

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Speaker 2: don't think they're up for the challenge. But I was

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Speaker 2: reading I got really into swimming media in the last

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Speaker 2: couple of days. I was reading some of the coverage

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Speaker 2: of this policy in swimming publications and blogs. I just

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Speaker 2: want to read you one comment from a reader on

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Speaker 2: an article. It just caught my eye. The reader said,

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Speaker 2: I can understand the reasoning behind not sending every person.

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Speaker 2: There are times where you get a veteran with a

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Speaker 2: mediocre time and no chance of a medal or relay potential,

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Speaker 2: who essentially just becomes a passenger. However, it's throwing out

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Speaker 2: the baby with the bathwater. International experience is invaluable for

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Speaker 2: up and comers. The negatives of this system far outweigh

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Speaker 2: the positives. I thought that was a really interesting perspective.

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Speaker 1: Very strong. I'm sure swimming Australia disagrees, but interesting.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean it's about them trying to maintain that

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Speaker 2: balance between giving you big game experience of the biggest

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Speaker 2: sporting stage in the world and making sure we send

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Speaker 2: only the best.

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Speaker 1: Such an interesting explainer and definitely answered a lot of

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Speaker 1: questions that we've been talking.

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Speaker 2: About in the office this week in the pool.

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Speaker 1: And if you enjoyed this sports explainer, We do actually

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Speaker 1: have a.

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Speaker 2: Sport newsletter we do My Baby, which.

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Speaker 1: a link to that in the show notes. Thank you

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Speaker 1: so much for listening to this episode of The Daily os.

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Speaker 1: We will be back again on Monday.

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Speaker 2: My name is Lily Maddon and I'm a proud Adunda

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Speaker 2: Bungelung Calcuttin woman from Gadighl Country.

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