Editorial: In life, winning is not a dirty word

Let's take a minute to applaud our sporting successes in the Sydney Olympics. They represent the culmination of years of endeavour by dedicated young people and their coaches. Then let's spend the next few moments admitting that there were not enough of them.

Success in that great international gathering was measured by winning, not by merely taking part. It was a celebration of winners and there were some awe-inspiring successes - Australia's new icon Cathy Freeman, American track superstar Marion Jones, swimming stars Pieter van den Hoogenband and Ian Thorpe, and our own rowing superstar Rob Waddell.

Waddell has success written all over him, and that is because he is unashamed of his determination to come first. He is not interested in being applauded because he took part; the accolade he so obviously seeks is that of "winner."

It is the same aura that surrounds the American, Chinese, Russian and Australian teams that top the medals table because they recognise that is why they are in Sydney. Our place on the medal table is justified by mumblings that, on a medals-a-head basis, we have been doing tolerably well. But we cannot get away from the fact that Sydney is our worst performance since Mexico City in 1968.

We may reflect fondly on the days when those who participated in sport were reminded - usually when they failed - that it did not matter whether you won or lost but how you played the game. Sportsmanship must continue to play its part in competition, and it would be a sorry day if the only sporting mantra was "at any cost." Drug cheats are a manifestation of that philosophy and, thankfully, fairness and honesty continues to prevail when the cheats are unmasked.

But it is time to acknowledge that playing the game is not enough. Yes, we should foster the principles of good sportsmanship but that should mean winning without cheating.

Such a concept will, no doubt, bring looks of horror to the faces of those politically correct individuals who think we should shield youngsters from their match scores because of the potential harm losing might inflict. It will also raise the ire of the people who are planning to take the competitive element out of secondary school examinations to the point where mere attendance seems capable of receiving an award.

Running legend John Walker summed it up when he said that our athletes failed because they were happy to go to Sydney to compete rather than to win. It is an attitude all too prevalent in New Zealand, a belief that begins with an education system that has been hijacked by well-meaning but misguided people who think our children should be shielded from some of the most obvious of human characteristics - the desire to challenge and to come out victorious. They are the same people who think it is wrong to push our children beyond their own pre-conceived limits.

Top athletes say full potential is not reached until the pain barrier is breached, until performance passes preconceived limits. Metaphorically, the same can be said of life in general - but this is a lesson New Zealand seems loath to teach.

We can be the real winners of the Sydney Olympics if we use the event as a catalyst for rethinking our attitudes to competing - in whatever sphere we are engaged. Let's start with education and tell our children that winning is not a dirty word, that success is something we should strive for and that losing only makes victory a stronger goal. Let's begin a new programme with our future Olympians by supporting their development and inculcating in them a burning desire to cross the line first or post a winning score.

And let's collectively recognise that winning produces a very nice sensation.. Across the Tasman, Sydney is showing us what it feels like.