ABSTRACT
Australia’s relationship with Britain at the Olympic Games in the twentieth century ranged from deference to friendly antagonism. This relationship had a marked impact on how Australia engaged with the Games in general. Three sets of circumstances give us a key insight into the interaction between imperialism and Australia’s engagement with the Olympic Movement: debates about the nature of the Australian team, Australia’s engagement with the Empire Games and Australia’s response to the development of ‘state amateurism’. These are not discrete issues, and together they illuminate a key tension between dominant British approaches to amateurism and more modern approaches to sport. Australia also attempted to assert its centrality to the Empire through these issues.
