AN Olympic Games – there’s no event in world sport steeped in more history, prestige or buzz than the gathering of the best athletes on the planet every four years.
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So what can our hopes for gold expect?
Many of the athletes and coaches that hail from this region are heading to Rio for their first Olympic Games, with the exact make-up of the Australian team finalised when the first Rugby Sevens team was selected on Thursday.
Orange-born, Cumnock-raised John Porch and Narromine’s Pat McCutcheon were the last two athletes with ties to the region to secure a ticket to Rio – it’s obviously their first Olympics.
The sevens pair will be joined by fellow first-time Olympians, Hockeyroos Edwina Bone (Orange) and Mariah Williams (Parkes), Matildas Ellie Carpenter (Cowra) and Tameka Butt (Orange) and marathon man Scott Westcott (Parkes). While runner Ben St Lawrence (Bathurst) will compete in Rio after first running at the London 2012 games.
There’s also Paralympic legend Kurt Fearnley, with the Carcoar product bucking the rookie trend to embark on his fifth Games in South America.
Aside from Fearnley, most of the central west’s Olympians are heading to Rio oblivious to the atmosphere they’re about to absorb.
Athens gold medalist Suzy Balogh knows the feeling.
In 2004, the Orange resident flew to Greece as the No.20 ranked women’s double trap shooter in the world, but after a remarkable competition came away with a gold medal.
She coped best with the strong, gusting winds that buffeted the Markopoulo range, sending the orange clay pigeons leaping and diving in unpredictable directions.
She led the field after the first 75 targets, then missed only three of the last 25 to win gold with 88 points - ahead of Spain’s Maria Quintanal (84) and the Korean Lee Bo Na (83).
It’s an unbelievably proud moment to represent your country.
- 2004 Athens gold medalist Suzy Balogh
“It’s an unbelievably proud moment to represent your country,” Balogh said.
Eight years later she returned to Olympic competition at the London 2012 Games, finishing sixth in the women’s trap.
And while the central west’s representation at Rio is at the beginning of their journey, Fearnley is at the end of his.
The three-time Paralympic gold medalist knows Rio will be his last tilt at gold – a fact the champion wheelchair racer will be using as motivation to win.
"I don't have the opportunity to wait another four years," Fearnley, 34, said.
"If I can't draw motivation out of that, I'd be struggling."
Coaches Ben Bishop and Stephen Davies, both Hockeyroos assistants are from Parkes, are also headed to Rio while Joe Donnelly, from Orange, will mentor the Vietnamese Rowing team.
