from knackered downunder, our correspondent on Oz

Australia’s thrashing of England in the just-ended Ashes cricket series has prompted a lot of soul-searching. But an explanation for Australian dominance in sports, whether at the Olympics or test matches, may be quite simple – Australians don’t sleep in.

Just compare opening times for swimming pools in Sydney with those in London.

Sydney’s pools open from 5 a.m. at the earliest — Monday through Friday — and close as late as 9:30 a.m. And they open on time.

At 5:05 a.m., squads of Ian Thorpe hopefuls will beat the water as they rack up their lap count and prepare for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. In the other lanes, by 5:30, many working Sydnersiders will be well on the way to completing their pre-work routines.

Meanwhile, 17,000 kilometers away, most Londoners who want an “early” swim have to wait until 6:30 during weekdays and 8 a.m. on weekends. Pools in Sydney open as early as 7 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday.

In London, another problem is making sure you turn up at the right time. There can be a host of categories, “general swim,” “adults only,” “women only,” children’s classes,” and now even “men only.”

So, a trip to the pool in London has to be well co-ordinated and researched. Swimmers need to ensure their times and their pool’s times fit. If not, you and your daughter could be sidelined as only your husband and son gain admittance. Alternatively, you and your partner might end up inside with the kids still outside.

By contrast, in Sydney, swimmers can normally go in any time as an individual, or with their partners or families. In other words, most people safely assume that if their local pool is open, then they can swim in it.

And while Sydney’s pools host a wide variety of activities — children’s classes, women’s water aerobics, teenage classes — they always make lanes available for laps. Lanes are labeled “slow,” “medium,” “fast” and “leisure.” And the water is not heated up specifically for children’s groups.

As in everything else, those who turn up early dominate. However, final words go back to cricket. Here, the longer-term outlook for Australia may not be that rosy.

Some time ago, sporting authorities worried that Aussie mums were showing less and less interest in spending entire Saturdays with their sons at cricket ovals. If Ricky Ponting ever shows any worry about the future of Australian cricket, you will know why.

When it came to sports, many mums want their children to join less time-demanding activities. But who can blame them?

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