Ahiahi mārie, welcome to The Spinoff Daily. Today on The Spinoff: TVNZ’s 11-strong Olympics reporting team drops to just one for the Paralympics, Raygun and the anatomy of an Olympic internet sensation and an excerpt from one of the most anticipated books of the year. But first: What’s harder – training for the Olympics or surviving in Auckland on $307 a week?
Madeleine Chapman: “For two weeks we’ve watched some of New Zealand’s best athletes compete on the biggest sporting stage for one of three medals. And every single one of those athletes (with perhaps one or two exceptions) will have received consistent government benefit, in the form of High Performance Sport NZ funding and grants. The very nature of our Olympic sports is beneficiary. And in the (sports) benefit Olympics we do pretty well. The hundreds of millions of dollars that we invest in various expensive sports like rowing, cycling and yachting result in a few shiny medals and bragging rights every four years if we’re lucky. There’s an element of working for the benefit in this scheme, and athletes must meet their targets lest they have their benefits cut. Though most won’t ever win an Olympic medal, it’s still considered a worthy investment. It allows some people to live their lives doing what they love despite what they love not being a viable job without government funding. But the fun benefit Olympics are over, and now it’s time for the real benefit Olympics. The one where the ultimate prize is a little less shiny and a lot more demoralising.”
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 Coming soon: Takeout Kids season two Coming-of-age documentary series Takeout Kids returns next week for season two, centred on the lives of five young people growing up between the classroom, home and their parents’ shops. Episode one premieres Tuesday August 20 on The Spinoff. Made with the support of NZ On Air.
TVNZ’s 11-strong Olympics reporting team drops to just one for the Paralympics Anatomy of an Olympic internet sensation: Raygun’s fall and rise and fall and rise and… How a conservation-at-all-costs mindset obscures our neighbourhoods’ stories Dolphin Princess: an excerpt from Whaea Blue by Talia Marshall The cost of being: An Otago uni student who’s been saving and investing since school
This is our place: Max Duder and Laura Oh
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Welcome to the benefit Olympics
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