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| 23 June 2008 | Sydney | | | Olympic Games outranks cricket and soccer as Aussies’ favourite global sporting event | | | With the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games less than two months away, Visa survey finds Games’ spirit and interest high across Australia | |
The Olympic Games is Australia ’s most popular global sporting event, beating out the Cricket World Cup and the FIFA World Cup, according to a new survey[1] released today. The Rugby World Cup registered in sixth place, behind Formula 1 and the Paralympics.
Visa, a proud worldwide Olympic partner, commissioned the survey to seek the views and levels of interest in the Games of people across Asia Pacific. When asked to rank their level of interest in a variety of global sporting events, 74 percent of Australian respondents said they were very or quite interested in the Olympic Games. The ICC Cricket World Cup ranked second in popularity, with 48 percent of Australians giving it a high ranking and the FIFA World Cup followed with 44 percent.
The Olympic Games far outranked Formula 1 (40 percent of Australians surveyed said they were very or quite interested in the event) and the Paralympics (39 percent). The Games are also more than twice as popular as the Rugby World Cup (36 percent) tournament, which was held in France last year and will be hosted by New Zealand in 2011.
Chris Clark, General Manager, Visa Australia and New Zealand, said: “There’s nothing quite like the Olympic Games to bring out people’s passions for celebrating sport and human achievement. We are seeing that borne out in the high level of interest in the Games across the region, especially in Australia which is traditionally known as a nation of cricket enthusiasts. We can expect a strong level of support and interest in the Games as the event draws closer.”
The high level of interest bodes well for the coming Olympic Games, which traditionally attracts billions of viewers. A record-breaking 3.9 billion watched the Athens 2004 Olympic Games, while 3.6 billion watched the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.[2]
Nearly seven out of 10 Australians (69 percent) said they would be interested in the Olympic Games no matter where it was held. But 16 percent said the host city, Beijing, was a strong pull factor.
The opening and closing ceremonies of the Games are the biggest draw for Australians. Sixty-seven percent of them ranked this as the aspect of most interest to them, while 49 percent were interested in stories about the host city Beijing, 44 percent were interested in national team preparation and medal chances, and 41 percent were interested in Olympic sporting personalities.
Mr Clark said: “Australians love to get behind their sporting heroes, and the Games are the ultimate opportunity for people to show their patriotic spirit. The mix of spectacle, athleticism and emotion makes the Olympic Games a compelling event.”
Most popular global sporting events
Rank
| Event
| % Australians very or quite interested
| 1
| Olympic Games
| 74
| 2
| Cricket World Cup
| 48
| 3
| FIFA World Cup
| 44
| 4
| Formula 1
| 40
| 5
| Paralympics
| 39
| 6
| Rugby World Cup
| 36
| 7
| Youth Olympic Games
| 19
| 8
| Asian Games
| 14
|
Source: Visa/Nielsen survey
Media contact
Judy Shaw
Visa International
ausinfo@visa.com
[1]Between 17 March and 9 April 2008, Nielsen conducted 4,556 online and door-to-door interviews on behalf of Visa with people aged 18 years and above from nine markets ( Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Japan, Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia and India) to measure interest levels in global sporting events, China as a travel destination and, in particular, the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. For each market, quotas were set by key demographic variables to ensure the sample was representative of the general population. [2]International Olympic Committee, en. beijing2008.cn, Global TV viewing of Athens 2004 Olympic Games breaks records, 12 October, 2004. | |
About Visa
Visa operates the world’s largest retail electronic payments network providing processing services and payment product platforms. This includes consumer credit, debit, prepaid and commercial payments, which are offered under the Visa, Visa Electron, Interlink and PLUS brands. Visa enjoys unsurpassed acceptance around the world and Visa/PLUS is one of the world's largest global ATM networks, offering cash access in local currency in more than 170 countries. For more information, visit www.corporate.visa.com. | |
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