The Holy Grails of Australian Sport.

G'day Tragics,

I don't know about you, but I'm still coming down from the excitement of Cadel Evans' stunning, gutsy, courageous and awe-inspiring victory in the Tour de France.  It has to be one of the greatest moments in Australian sport.  You have to admire Cadel's unwavering determination following a string of disappointments to ultimately achieve his lifelong goal.

To finally see an Aussie on top of the podium in Paris is amazing and without a doubt has crossed off one of the holy grails of Australian Sport.  This leaves us with the burning question:  What's next?

Here are some of the things that I think are almost impossible dreams for us Sports Tragics:

An Australian winning the US Masters at Augusta.

It's part of Australian golfing folklore, Greg Norman going so close on numerous occasions.  Horrible luck and a gigantic choke cost the Shark from claiming golf's Everest.  We all thought he would do it eventually, but his time has been and gone.  Allenby, Appleby, Scott, Ogilvy and co. have shown promise for years, but never produced when it mattered.

This year we looked like we had it in the bag with young gun, Jason Day playing out of his skin, Adam Scott getting his broomstick putter humming and Geoff Ogilvy back to his best.  With all three playing at a level Sunday hackers could only dream about, a tinny South African was pulling putts out of his backside to ruin it for everyone.

I've got no doubt that the Masters mountain will be scaled in my life-time and I think Jason Day will be the man to do it.  Australian golf is too strong to not take this title, it's surely just a matter of when.

An Australian World Heavyweight Boxing Champion

"Aussie" Joe Bugner, the Hungarian born, British Australian boxer was a legend and a gutsy competitor.  He went the distance with Muhammed Ali and Joe Frazier.  Joe captured one of the minor world titles, but never went all the way.  He retired and came back more times than John Farnham, but never really challenged for the WBC, WBO, IBF or WBA titles.

Samoan born Jimmy Thunder also captured a couple of minor belts and was an outstanding competitor, but never scaled the great heights of world domination. 

Australia has produced some great champions over the years in all divisions, but the elusive major heavyweight titles have always been out of reach.  With no-one on the horizon, it could be a while yet before we produce a legitimate "contender".

World Cup Soccer 

Since the beginning of Australia, we had an urge to perform on the world soccer stage.  We tried and tried and tried again, but didn't have the depth to qualify for the Cup.  As our multi-cultural identity matured and established itself, our soccer talent stocks have gradually soared.

Finally in 2007 John Aloisi buried the penalty that told the planet "we have arrived".  We were going to the World Cup!  In Germany our boys played their hearts out, cruelly being robbed in the round of 16 by a bullshit penalty (still burns).

The road to South Africa was easier, but a disastrous first game against the Germans put us behind the 8-ball.  By the end of the tournament we salvaged our pride and continued to shine.  Consistent top 20 rankings show we're on the rise.

Qualification was now not good enough for our hyper competitive nation.  We want to win the bloody thing!  Soccer popularity has since peaked and troughed.  Its development remains a roller coaster, but also a work in progress.  With a men's and women's national league we can be proud of, we are continuing to gradually head in the right direction.

I can't see us winning the trophy in my life time, but we saw what Cadel did this week...there's hope.

A special mention in this post must go to indigenous athlete, Patrick Johnson.  He became the first Australian to break 10sec for the 100m sprint.  This was a huge achievement for Johnson, but unfortunately his form faded and he was unable to qualify for the following Olympic 100m.  It has not been achieved since by an Aussie and remains a great moment.

Cadel's performance this week serves as a potent reminder that Australian's can achieve big on the world stage.  With the work ethic and support, we are capable of scaling heights we never dreamed of.

I'm not going to go out and buy a Malvern Star, but Cadel has inspired me to try that little bit harder at my passions.  I won't be conquering the world anytime soon, but he's made me want to strive to get the best out of myself.  I'm sure other Australian's have felt that hunger...even if it only lasts a day....Tragic.