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Olympic Sports Popular As Tokyo Olympics Approach

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Sport Australia have released the latest AusPlay report showing 18.3 million Australian adults participated in a sport and 10.4 million in an Olympic sport.

Discussing the results, Sport Australia acting CEO, Rob Dalton, said: “Just over 7 million Australians participate in athletics, swimming or cycling each year, making them the most popular Olympic sports.”

The AusPlay results revealed out of the Olympic sports, men preferred athletics while women preferred swimming, while the most popular Olympic team sports were soccer and basketball.

The results indicated 1.8 million adults volunteered in Olympic sports across Australia, and found  around four in five disabled adults participated in some form of sport or physical activity at least once a year.

Looking at the statistics relating to children, the AusPlay study showed more than 3.5 million children participated in an organised sport or physical activity outside of school hours, with 2.9 million playing an Olympic sport.

The most popular Olympic sport amongst children was swimming with 32% of boys participating and 35% of girls participating.

Sport Australia said sport participation is expected to rise as the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games approach.

On the report, Minister of Sport, Richard Colbeck, said: “The report shows that Australians love participating in Olympic sports.”

“[Australians] feel a lot of pride and are inspired by our Olympic, Paralympic and Commonwealth Games athletes further highlighting that sport really is an essential part of Australian life,” he said.

Sport Australia also said it hopes the report bolsters their bid for the 2032 Olympics and Paralympics to be hosted in Brisbane.

If successful it would be the first time since 2000 Australia have hosted an Olympics or Paralympics.

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