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ABC News
5 hours ago
- Politics
- ABC News
Australian competitors in controversial 1980 Moscow Olympics to be recognised
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will today formally acknowledge 121 athletes who defied government opposition to compete under a neutral flag at the 1980 Moscow Olympics. The athletes were among over 5,000 competitors from 80 countries who participated in the Games. According to the International Olympic Committee between 45 and 50 nations boycotted the Games in protest of the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. The Australians who chose to go faced a financial and public backlash amid then-prime minister Malcolm Fraser's call to join the boycott. They returned with nine medals — two gold, two silver and five bronze — but there were no parades, no fanfare and no official recognition. The prime minister and opposition leader will today recognise the 1980 Australian Olympic Team and acknowledge other athletes pressured into not going. Michelle Ford was 18 when she competed in Moscow, winning gold in the 800-metre freestyle and bronze in the 200-metre butterfly. She said the government put on a negative media campaign to stop the athletes from going. "All the athletes that decided not to go were given a pat on the back, a thank you letter from the government, and a financial reward for not going," Ms Ford said. "We were being treated as traitors. We were given death threats. We were nearly banished from this country. "At the 800-metre freestyle, at lunch time, I open my fan mail … and I get a letter saying that if I stand on those blocks to represent I would be un-Australian and I'd be a traitor. That really touched me." Rob de Castella AO MBE, then a 23-year-old marathon runner who finished 10th in Moscow, said the athletes were met with more attacks upon their return. "I remember one prominent radio journalist down in Melbourne calling us traitors and saying how we were competing while the Russians were killing Afghan babies," said the four-time Olympian and former director of the Australian Institute of Sport. "Horrible, disgraceful, despicable comments targeting young, talented Australians." Around 50 Moscow Olympians and their families are in Canberra today for this recognition which Mr de Castella called "an important statement". "It is an important acknowledgement that the prime minister and the government, and Australia, is making to acknowledge the mistakes of the past," he said. Pam Westendorf, who represented Australia in rowing, said the gesture may come too late for some, with many traumatised by the vilification for competing. "Part of the reason I'm going up to is to see some of those people that I haven't seen for such a long time, and I suppose to talk about those times," Ms Westendorf said. Australian Olympic Committee president Ian Chesterman said the athletes who could not join the Australian contingent are also part of the team. "My thoughts also go to those athletes who qualified and were selected but did not attend the Games, many due to decisions made by national sporting organisations under the pressure of the day," he said. "The devastation those athletes experienced is real, and for many it remains so today. "So we acknowledge them as selected team members and victims of the political environment of that time."
Perth Now
18-07-2025
- Sport
- Perth Now
'When Amy was Amy': 20 years on from cycling tragedy
What Warren McDonald saw that day is unimaginable, so over time he has learned to shift his mind's eye back a bit. Then he was the Australian Institute of Sport women's road cycling head coach. McDonald prefers to recall heady days in Italy, overseeing former Olympic rower Amy Gillett as she showcased her formidable "engine". It was July 2005, the year after compatriot Sara Carrigan had won the Athens Olympics road race, and the world was their oyster. Gillett had won bronze at the national time trial championships that year and was a key member of the AIS squad. They were Generation Next for Australian women's road cycling. This is where McDonald will try to settle his mind on Friday - 20 years to the day since a teenage German driver lost control of her car on a country road and everything changed forever. "I look back on the couple of days before the accident, when I was motor-pacing Amy. She was flying," McDonald tells AAP. "She was obviously targeting this race, and just seeing her smile and grimace at the same time. It just hits home that she didn't come home - that really affects her family and friends. "But for me, I try to look at those couple of days before, when Amy was Amy, and training really, really well." Gillett and her AIS teammates - Katie Brown, Lorian Graham, Kate Nichols, Alexis Rhodes and Louise Yaxley - were on a training ride the day before the Thuringen Rundfahrt, a major women's road race. The car drove head-first into their bunch. Gillett died at the scene, Yaxley and Rhodes spent days in induced comas. All of Gillett's teammates suffered serious injuries. McDonald, driving a team support car, was not far behind them. He was the first to be confronted with the trauma of what had happened. This is Australian cycling's 9/11, or the death of Princess Di. Everyone involved in the sport on July 18, 2005 - and a fair few non-cycling people - can tell you exactly where they were and what they were doing when they heard the news. Two decades later, while time has healed some wounds, the grief and the sadness and the "what-if" remain profound. As always, it is complicated and people have dealt with it differently. Gillett's teammates had long recoveries that fundamentally affected their cycling careers, to varying degrees. For example, Rhodes won bronze at the 2008 time trial nationals. Graham narrowly missed selection for the 2008 Olympics. But all their lives pivoted on that day. Compatriot Kate Bates, then 23, was in the midst of a cycling career that featured the Olympics and a world track title. She now is managing director of the Amy Gillett Foundation, formed in the wake of the accident, which advocates for road safety and aims to improve the often-vexed relationship between cyclists and motorists. Bates speaks of the "butterfly effect" of what happened 20 years ago. "It wasn't about us, but there's no denying the life-changing impact it had on all of us," she said of Australian women's road cycling. "On reflection, as you get older, it means more." Bates wants the foundation to reflect what Gillett wanted in her sporting career. "She was very ambitious, very courageous, very bold - that's what the foundation should be ... never give up," Bates said. "It's more important than it ever has been. As of May 31, it was Australia's deadliest 12 months on the road since 2010. "There are some things that have changed, but certainly not enough has changed." Asked about the foundation's purpose, Bates is blunt: zero cyclist deaths on Australian roads. A new online campaign will be launched next week to mark the anniversary and aiming to improve attitudes and behaviours, titled simply "It Starts With Me". A couple of years after the accident, a top rider privately admitted she was quitting the sport before time. She no longer felt safe enough on her bike. It is an age-old maxim in the sport that there are two sorts of cyclists - those who have crashed, and those who are about to. But this was fundamentally different. Two decades later, Australian cycling has celebrated Grace Brown's Olympic gold medal and Sarah Gigante's two stage wins in the Giro d'Italia. But safety remains a massive issue in the sport. McDonald and his wife Sian are the parents of two teenage boys, Fionn and Dash. In the midst of a phone interview that is often fraught, there is a ray of light when McDonald is asked about how the accident changed him. "The life of a uni student - he just got out of bed (in the afternoon). How's that? He goes back to uni next week," McDonald said of Fionn and bursts out laughing. Once Dash has finished school, McDonald and Sian will go to the accident site. It will be his first time there since that terrible day. To know the McDonalds, witness the dignity of Gillett's parents Denis and Mary and her husband Simon, be awed by Rhodes' toughness on a bike and come to know Graham's impish sense of humour, the last 20 years bring an awful reminder. Terrible things sometimes happen to great people. Mary has written a heart-rending letter to her daughter to mark the anniversary, published on the foundation website. "Please keep riding those rainbows - there are many of us looking out for you," Mary says.
The Advertiser
18-07-2025
- Sport
- The Advertiser
'When Amy was Amy': 20 years on from cycling tragedy
What Warren McDonald saw that day is unimaginable, so over time he has learned to shift his mind's eye back a bit. Then he was the Australian Institute of Sport women's road cycling head coach. McDonald prefers to recall heady days in Italy, overseeing former Olympic rower Amy Gillett as she showcased her formidable "engine". It was July 2005, the year after compatriot Sara Carrigan had won the Athens Olympics road race, and the world was their oyster. Gillett had won bronze at the national time trial championships that year and was a key member of the AIS squad. They were Generation Next for Australian women's road cycling. This is where McDonald will try to settle his mind on Friday - 20 years to the day since a teenage German driver lost control of her car on a country road and everything changed forever. "I look back on the couple of days before the accident, when I was motor-pacing Amy. She was flying," McDonald tells AAP. "She was obviously targeting this race, and just seeing her smile and grimace at the same time. It just hits home that she didn't come home - that really affects her family and friends. "But for me, I try to look at those couple of days before, when Amy was Amy, and training really, really well." Gillett and her AIS teammates - Katie Brown, Lorian Graham, Kate Nichols, Alexis Rhodes and Louise Yaxley - were on a training ride the day before the Thuringen Rundfahrt, a major women's road race. The car drove head-first into their bunch. Gillett died at the scene, Yaxley and Rhodes spent days in induced comas. All of Gillett's teammates suffered serious injuries. McDonald, driving a team support car, was not far behind them. He was the first to be confronted with the trauma of what had happened. This is Australian cycling's 9/11, or the death of Princess Di. Everyone involved in the sport on July 18, 2005 - and a fair few non-cycling people - can tell you exactly where they were and what they were doing when they heard the news. Two decades later, while time has healed some wounds, the grief and the sadness and the "what-if" remain profound. As always, it is complicated and people have dealt with it differently. Gillett's teammates had long recoveries that fundamentally affected their cycling careers, to varying degrees. For example, Rhodes won bronze at the 2008 time trial nationals. Graham narrowly missed selection for the 2008 Olympics. But all their lives pivoted on that day. Compatriot Kate Bates, then 23, was in the midst of a cycling career that featured the Olympics and a world track title. She now is managing director of the Amy Gillett Foundation, formed in the wake of the accident, which advocates for road safety and aims to improve the often-vexed relationship between cyclists and motorists. Bates speaks of the "butterfly effect" of what happened 20 years ago. "It wasn't about us, but there's no denying the life-changing impact it had on all of us," she said of Australian women's road cycling. "On reflection, as you get older, it means more." Bates wants the foundation to reflect what Gillett wanted in her sporting career. "She was very ambitious, very courageous, very bold - that's what the foundation should be ... never give up," Bates said. "It's more important than it ever has been. As of May 31, it was Australia's deadliest 12 months on the road since 2010. "There are some things that have changed, but certainly not enough has changed." Asked about the foundation's purpose, Bates is blunt: zero cyclist deaths on Australian roads. A new online campaign will be launched next week to mark the anniversary and aiming to improve attitudes and behaviours, titled simply "It Starts With Me". A couple of years after the accident, a top rider privately admitted she was quitting the sport before time. She no longer felt safe enough on her bike. It is an age-old maxim in the sport that there are two sorts of cyclists - those who have crashed, and those who are about to. But this was fundamentally different. Two decades later, Australian cycling has celebrated Grace Brown's Olympic gold medal and Sarah Gigante's two stage wins in the Giro d'Italia. But safety remains a massive issue in the sport. McDonald and his wife Sian are the parents of two teenage boys, Fionn and Dash. In the midst of a phone interview that is often fraught, there is a ray of light when McDonald is asked about how the accident changed him. "The life of a uni student - he just got out of bed (in the afternoon). How's that? He goes back to uni next week," McDonald said of Fionn and bursts out laughing. Once Dash has finished school, McDonald and Sian will go to the accident site. It will be his first time there since that terrible day. To know the McDonalds, witness the dignity of Gillett's parents Denis and Mary and her husband Simon, be awed by Rhodes' toughness on a bike and come to know Graham's impish sense of humour, the last 20 years bring an awful reminder. Terrible things sometimes happen to great people. Mary has written a heart-rending letter to her daughter to mark the anniversary, published on the foundation website. "Please keep riding those rainbows - there are many of us looking out for you," Mary says. What Warren McDonald saw that day is unimaginable, so over time he has learned to shift his mind's eye back a bit. Then he was the Australian Institute of Sport women's road cycling head coach. McDonald prefers to recall heady days in Italy, overseeing former Olympic rower Amy Gillett as she showcased her formidable "engine". It was July 2005, the year after compatriot Sara Carrigan had won the Athens Olympics road race, and the world was their oyster. Gillett had won bronze at the national time trial championships that year and was a key member of the AIS squad. They were Generation Next for Australian women's road cycling. This is where McDonald will try to settle his mind on Friday - 20 years to the day since a teenage German driver lost control of her car on a country road and everything changed forever. "I look back on the couple of days before the accident, when I was motor-pacing Amy. She was flying," McDonald tells AAP. "She was obviously targeting this race, and just seeing her smile and grimace at the same time. It just hits home that she didn't come home - that really affects her family and friends. "But for me, I try to look at those couple of days before, when Amy was Amy, and training really, really well." Gillett and her AIS teammates - Katie Brown, Lorian Graham, Kate Nichols, Alexis Rhodes and Louise Yaxley - were on a training ride the day before the Thuringen Rundfahrt, a major women's road race. The car drove head-first into their bunch. Gillett died at the scene, Yaxley and Rhodes spent days in induced comas. All of Gillett's teammates suffered serious injuries. McDonald, driving a team support car, was not far behind them. He was the first to be confronted with the trauma of what had happened. This is Australian cycling's 9/11, or the death of Princess Di. Everyone involved in the sport on July 18, 2005 - and a fair few non-cycling people - can tell you exactly where they were and what they were doing when they heard the news. Two decades later, while time has healed some wounds, the grief and the sadness and the "what-if" remain profound. As always, it is complicated and people have dealt with it differently. Gillett's teammates had long recoveries that fundamentally affected their cycling careers, to varying degrees. For example, Rhodes won bronze at the 2008 time trial nationals. Graham narrowly missed selection for the 2008 Olympics. But all their lives pivoted on that day. Compatriot Kate Bates, then 23, was in the midst of a cycling career that featured the Olympics and a world track title. She now is managing director of the Amy Gillett Foundation, formed in the wake of the accident, which advocates for road safety and aims to improve the often-vexed relationship between cyclists and motorists. Bates speaks of the "butterfly effect" of what happened 20 years ago. "It wasn't about us, but there's no denying the life-changing impact it had on all of us," she said of Australian women's road cycling. "On reflection, as you get older, it means more." Bates wants the foundation to reflect what Gillett wanted in her sporting career. "She was very ambitious, very courageous, very bold - that's what the foundation should be ... never give up," Bates said. "It's more important than it ever has been. As of May 31, it was Australia's deadliest 12 months on the road since 2010. "There are some things that have changed, but certainly not enough has changed." Asked about the foundation's purpose, Bates is blunt: zero cyclist deaths on Australian roads. A new online campaign will be launched next week to mark the anniversary and aiming to improve attitudes and behaviours, titled simply "It Starts With Me". A couple of years after the accident, a top rider privately admitted she was quitting the sport before time. She no longer felt safe enough on her bike. It is an age-old maxim in the sport that there are two sorts of cyclists - those who have crashed, and those who are about to. But this was fundamentally different. Two decades later, Australian cycling has celebrated Grace Brown's Olympic gold medal and Sarah Gigante's two stage wins in the Giro d'Italia. But safety remains a massive issue in the sport. McDonald and his wife Sian are the parents of two teenage boys, Fionn and Dash. In the midst of a phone interview that is often fraught, there is a ray of light when McDonald is asked about how the accident changed him. "The life of a uni student - he just got out of bed (in the afternoon). How's that? He goes back to uni next week," McDonald said of Fionn and bursts out laughing. Once Dash has finished school, McDonald and Sian will go to the accident site. It will be his first time there since that terrible day. To know the McDonalds, witness the dignity of Gillett's parents Denis and Mary and her husband Simon, be awed by Rhodes' toughness on a bike and come to know Graham's impish sense of humour, the last 20 years bring an awful reminder. Terrible things sometimes happen to great people. Mary has written a heart-rending letter to her daughter to mark the anniversary, published on the foundation website. "Please keep riding those rainbows - there are many of us looking out for you," Mary says. What Warren McDonald saw that day is unimaginable, so over time he has learned to shift his mind's eye back a bit. Then he was the Australian Institute of Sport women's road cycling head coach. McDonald prefers to recall heady days in Italy, overseeing former Olympic rower Amy Gillett as she showcased her formidable "engine". It was July 2005, the year after compatriot Sara Carrigan had won the Athens Olympics road race, and the world was their oyster. Gillett had won bronze at the national time trial championships that year and was a key member of the AIS squad. They were Generation Next for Australian women's road cycling. This is where McDonald will try to settle his mind on Friday - 20 years to the day since a teenage German driver lost control of her car on a country road and everything changed forever. "I look back on the couple of days before the accident, when I was motor-pacing Amy. She was flying," McDonald tells AAP. "She was obviously targeting this race, and just seeing her smile and grimace at the same time. It just hits home that she didn't come home - that really affects her family and friends. "But for me, I try to look at those couple of days before, when Amy was Amy, and training really, really well." Gillett and her AIS teammates - Katie Brown, Lorian Graham, Kate Nichols, Alexis Rhodes and Louise Yaxley - were on a training ride the day before the Thuringen Rundfahrt, a major women's road race. The car drove head-first into their bunch. Gillett died at the scene, Yaxley and Rhodes spent days in induced comas. All of Gillett's teammates suffered serious injuries. McDonald, driving a team support car, was not far behind them. He was the first to be confronted with the trauma of what had happened. This is Australian cycling's 9/11, or the death of Princess Di. Everyone involved in the sport on July 18, 2005 - and a fair few non-cycling people - can tell you exactly where they were and what they were doing when they heard the news. Two decades later, while time has healed some wounds, the grief and the sadness and the "what-if" remain profound. As always, it is complicated and people have dealt with it differently. Gillett's teammates had long recoveries that fundamentally affected their cycling careers, to varying degrees. For example, Rhodes won bronze at the 2008 time trial nationals. Graham narrowly missed selection for the 2008 Olympics. But all their lives pivoted on that day. Compatriot Kate Bates, then 23, was in the midst of a cycling career that featured the Olympics and a world track title. She now is managing director of the Amy Gillett Foundation, formed in the wake of the accident, which advocates for road safety and aims to improve the often-vexed relationship between cyclists and motorists. Bates speaks of the "butterfly effect" of what happened 20 years ago. "It wasn't about us, but there's no denying the life-changing impact it had on all of us," she said of Australian women's road cycling. "On reflection, as you get older, it means more." Bates wants the foundation to reflect what Gillett wanted in her sporting career. "She was very ambitious, very courageous, very bold - that's what the foundation should be ... never give up," Bates said. "It's more important than it ever has been. As of May 31, it was Australia's deadliest 12 months on the road since 2010. "There are some things that have changed, but certainly not enough has changed." Asked about the foundation's purpose, Bates is blunt: zero cyclist deaths on Australian roads. A new online campaign will be launched next week to mark the anniversary and aiming to improve attitudes and behaviours, titled simply "It Starts With Me". A couple of years after the accident, a top rider privately admitted she was quitting the sport before time. She no longer felt safe enough on her bike. It is an age-old maxim in the sport that there are two sorts of cyclists - those who have crashed, and those who are about to. But this was fundamentally different. Two decades later, Australian cycling has celebrated Grace Brown's Olympic gold medal and Sarah Gigante's two stage wins in the Giro d'Italia. But safety remains a massive issue in the sport. McDonald and his wife Sian are the parents of two teenage boys, Fionn and Dash. In the midst of a phone interview that is often fraught, there is a ray of light when McDonald is asked about how the accident changed him. "The life of a uni student - he just got out of bed (in the afternoon). How's that? He goes back to uni next week," McDonald said of Fionn and bursts out laughing. Once Dash has finished school, McDonald and Sian will go to the accident site. It will be his first time there since that terrible day. To know the McDonalds, witness the dignity of Gillett's parents Denis and Mary and her husband Simon, be awed by Rhodes' toughness on a bike and come to know Graham's impish sense of humour, the last 20 years bring an awful reminder. Terrible things sometimes happen to great people. Mary has written a heart-rending letter to her daughter to mark the anniversary, published on the foundation website. "Please keep riding those rainbows - there are many of us looking out for you," Mary says.
News.com.au
05-07-2025
- Entertainment
- News.com.au
Goth basketballer wears full face of makeup for games
She's the black sheep of the game and she knows it. With a full face of make-up every time she takes to the basketball court, Goth athlete Caitlin Cunningham makes no apologies for being the standout. In fact, she relishes in the spotlight and hopes she is a role model for other aspiring athletes – or anyone too afraid to be their authentic selves. 'I've always had heavy eye shadow and a very black goth aesthetic every single game I've played in my life, that's just me, some people get it, some don't,' Cunningham told 'I've always just messed around with makeup. Then last season I did a bit of a crow, extended the eye lines out. I always thought it would be cool to have full clown makeup, but I guess this is the next level down. I have quietly extended it,' she said. How does she keep her artwork intact for the full two hours of play? 'I guess I'm lucky I have never been much of a sweater,' she said. Cunningham said being the odd one out wasn't always easy. 'I was definitely the black sheep of the sport. Basketball in Australia is very political. I was always the odd one out, misunderstood, the one the coaches didn't get. 'I wouldn't be selected, wouldn't be a favourite. It got to the point where I stopped playing WNBL for a while.' Drafted to the Canberra Capitals at 19 after three years at the Australian Institute of Sport, Cunningham moved to Adelaide then Dandenong in Victoria, gradually became 'sick and tired' of people not believing in her. 'I thought 'f**k this' and started going out and hanging out with music friends and friends in fashion, other creative people and I just stepped away from the game, I was 25,' she said. Once the pandemic hit, and imports couldn't enter the country, Cunningham had several coaches asking her to reconsider her retirement. She took a contract on the Gold Coast and is now signed to Rockhampton in central Queensland. 'My style of game? I'm quite tall and skinny and these days a lot of players are heavy and strong girls,' Cunningham said. 'I'm like a little rat that runs and jumps, my game is pure athleticism. 'I don't have the physical brute but I am very tricky, agile and I can shoot.' Cunningham has the balance just right – living in Melbourne where she is continuing her music career and is soon to release her first song, personal training clients and working with youth at the YMCA, then flies to Rockhampton for matches and training. 'I'm really lucky I am doing it all, following all my dreams,' she said. 'I want people to know they should follow their dreams, do what they love, be their authentic self,' she said. As her online fan base increases exponentially, Cunningham takes her job as a role model extremely seriously. 'I have so many fans and people reaching out to me as a player, but also as a musician and as a person,' she said. 'I'm a queer Goth and if I had that person on the internet to look up to when I was young I would have felt so seen. 'It's empowerment, that's what life is about, having people that inspire you to be you, and live the best life you can, that's priceless.'
West Australian
12-06-2025
- Sport
- West Australian
Broome boxer Baden Trunfio earns Aussie call-up for international showdown
Broome boxer Baden Trunfio is heading to Germany after earning a coveted spot on Australia's national team for the International Brandenburg Cup in July. Representing Broome Boxing Club and now the nation, Trunfio will take on top youth boxers from around the world in a six-day tournament that promises fierce competition and global exposure. Before the bell rings in Germany, the 17-year-old heavyweight will train at the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra, followed by a pre-competition camp in Frankfurt. It's a rare opportunity to prepare alongside the country's best, under elite coaches in world-class facilities. 'This is a huge honour,' Trunfio said. 'I've put in the work, and now I get to represent both Broome and Australia. I couldn't be more excited.' His call-up is the latest milestone in a career that has seen him rise through the national boxing ranks with speed and power. In 2024 alone, he claimed gold at the Australian Club Championships, silver at the Golden Gloves, and was named the rising sports star of the year by the Shire of Broome. His 2025 campaign has been equally impressive, kicking off with a TKO win in Adelaide and another victory over an elite open-class opponent in Fremantle. These performances earned him selection for the WA Futures Squad, paving the way to national honours. Broome Boxing Club celebrated the news with pride, calling the selection a 'remarkable opportunity', and praising Trunfio's humility, discipline, and relentless work ethic. 'We are incredibly proud of Baden's achievement and can't wait to see him compete on the world stage,' the club said in a statement. With gloves on, Trunfio has Broome in his corner, including sponsors Broomecrete, Kelly Air Conditioning & Refrigeration, McKeno Blocks & Pavers, Parallel Electrical Service, Broome Builders, and Buckleys Earthmoving and Paving.
