Lives in Cricket No 12 - Ric Charlesworth

States president] Reagan. We were elated when the Australian Olympic Committee made the correct but controversial decision to attend the Moscow Games, despite governmental opposition. But very soon the Australian Hockey Association decided to ‘toe the government line’, breaking its promise to the players. In some sports – especially those like swimming, in which the athletes, nominally in a team, competed as individuals – different decisions were made about whether to attend or boycott the Games. But the men’s and women’s hockey teams had no option but to accept the decision of their governing bodies. For Ric, the government ‘line’ was not ‘a decision of principle, it was steeped in manipulation and was politically biased. To me it was more of the “all the way with LBJ” philosophy that had embroiled Australia in the Vietnam War.’ He believed a Labor government would have been much less aggressive in influencing individual sports with what amounted to bribery even if it agreed with the broad Western position. The Waterside Workers, for instance, ensured the water polo team could compete by providing financial assistance to Western Australian team members. 23 After the disappointment of being denied Olympic participation by a political decision, Ric was to have the satisfaction of competing in two more Olympics in the 1980s. Ironically, he did so while a member of parliament and in a sporting environment beginning to be transformed by the way a prime minister he despised – Malcolm Fraser – had implemented a blueprint for reform drawn up even before the Australian failures at the Montreal Games. * * * * * Although Australia never matched its 1956 Melbourne Olympics tally of thirteen gold medals, eight silver and twelve bronze, the celebration of individual performances made it easy to overlook slow decline through four succeeding Olympics: eight gold medals 1976-1981 49 23 Ibid ., pp 42-43.