Now it is no secret that I am an Australian who loves Ireland - so along come the Olympic Games and what do I do - who do I barrack for - well that is easy - in swimming I will follow the Aussie's and in Equestrian I will follow the Irish - but no that doesn't work because I would dearly have loved to have seen the Aussie's get their 4th gold medal but then I have got to know some of the Irish team and they are just such fun and have wonderful horses and are so available to the media and so maybe I should barrack for them - and what about the gymnastics, who shall I follow in that and the choices go on and on....................so you see the dilemma!

But then the Olympics started and one by one the various sports were hit with "dramas" right from day one when the two Greek athletes wouldn't turn up for their random drug testing and it just went on from there - and to be honest I haven't been glued to my television as I have for previous Olympics and it started me wondering.......am I the only one wondering, "what are the Olympics really all about in 2004 and am I suffering Olympic Fatique?"

Having been fortunate enough to be in Sydney for the 2000 Olympics I have felt first hand the buzz and excitement of the Games and because I was there in the country of the Games I didn't bother to watch much TV coverage - I was at the Equestrian events daily and loving it - I even sat almost quietly throughout the whole of the dressage, which is quite an achievement for one passionate about showjumping - and I enjoyed the dressage - loved watching the Kur and I have many memories of wonderful horses I saw there.

The showjumping was magic - to have the best horses in the world right in our little patch of the world, where we rarely, if ever, get to see the best of the best in real life on Aussie turf was really incredible and gave many Aussie's an opportunity they would never have as travel is not something which is as available to them as it is to those in the northern hemisphere for many reasons.

Greece - the Olympics returned to their birthplace but have they "run their race" - the stands are empty for sports which are usually sell outs! Is it all a bit too commercial - has the cost got out of hand for the country hosting the Olympics to such an extent that the average Greek business now sees it as their right to "fleece the visitors" to make up for the huge cost to their government?

We are hearing stories of relatives of athletes living in tent villages because the cost of hotels at even the cheapest end of the market is outrageous - the cost of food has sky rocketed during the Games - everything is starting to feel a little too commercialised and the "ideals of the Olympic Games" seem to have disappeared.

I am an avid reader of forums throughout the world and the theme seems to be the same - forumites want to know "why is it all about winning - what happened to the spirit of competition" - but for the competitors it is ALL about winning - we live in an era when a silver medal is referred to as "he failed in his bid to win gold and ONLY came home with the silver".

The Olympic Games are now BIG MONEY - the more golds a swimmer wins the bigger his sponsorship dollars will be - the better their wins the more chance the basketballer has of being signed to the "big money American team" and so on.

And what does all this mean for the Equestrian sports - not much really as far as I can see - a Gold medal is a nice trophy to hang in the medal cabinet but it is not a licence to print money as it is in so many other sports - unless of course the medal horses are stallions in which case the service fees will sky rocket and he will be the "flavour until his first crop of foals turn 5 and haven't performed to expectation!"

The sport of eventing has changed dramatically as a result of the number of deaths of horses and riders over the past 6 years and with this change the sport seems to have lost its "thrill" as well and now comes down to dressage and showjumping, which are already sports in their own right so what is the future of Eventing?!

Then in Greece the unthinkable happens - medals are awarded and taken away and awarded and taken away and by the time they are finally decided upon after many protests are lodged the competitors have already left the Games and are back home trying to eke out a living back at the every day shows and everyone is feeling let down - it is a no win situation, where Bettina Hoy will be feeling dreadful about what happened on a personal level and also for her team who had their Gold taken off them as well as losing the Individual Gold herself - Leslie Law and the French Team did not have the buzz of standing on the podium to receive their medals while their Anthem played but they will go in the history boks as the winners - but the photos will present the Germans as the winners - and there is no way to repair the damage done.

In the lead up to the showjumping people were excited to see certain horses they have watched progress and impress at International level only to find they are not permitted to compete because the horse failed a drug test - many countries have had incredible fights regarding their team selection or their officials and the politics go on and on.

I am not privvy to the politics of the dressage but no doubt they go on there too - and then there is the idea of allowing countries who have not "reached the benchmark of excellence" to compete anyway when other countries withdraw for whatever reasons and so we are not really seeing the "cream of the cream" are we? Then the judging itself is under constant criticism - I hear comments like "Anky didn't deserve the mark she got because she made so many errors - the Judges are frightened to mark her down" and this then sours the results a rider of Anky's calibre achieves!

So what is the answer? I don't know to be honest but I do wonder if perhaps people are more interested in the World Championships for their particular sports - I know I am looking forward to covering the WEG in Aachen in 2006 and yet I had no interest in accreditation for Greece - am I the only one I wonder? I know many of our colleagues didn't bother going preferring to take get their information by phone from the competitors they wish to talk to and yet Olympic accreditation is usually sought after by the world wide media.

I suppose we will know the answer in 2006 - either the stands will be full or they won't - and if I was a betting person I would say the stands will be full - the event will be extraordinary and even though there won't be any mainstream news coverage in Australia it will be widely reported on and photographed by the many internet magazines fighting for the ratings - jumpingaround.com will be there looking for our share of the ratings in reward for bringing you exciting and interestng coverage of the event - see you all in Aachen!