Olympic success is cyclical. No team or nation can win everything all the time. While the nature of the cycle varies depending on investment, structures, talent, good fortune and innumerable other factors, success on the grandest sporting stage tends to naturally ebb and flow (with the exception, perhaps, of the American women’s basketball team – who have won successive gold medals since 1996, although even they were pushed by France on Sunday).
All of which means Australia’s golden performance in Paris, the nation’s best ever Olympics, raises intriguing questions about the near-term future of the team. Is this the pinnacle, with (relative) disappointment at coming Games inevitable? Or is this the new benchmark for a nation punching well above its weight?
