One thing you've gotta say about the Australians. When it comes to losing to us Brits, they are really bad losers!
See here, and also here.
Come on, guys, it's the Olympic Games.
JPR (ex-Moore College and friend of Australia)
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Oh, but it is delightful to hear their response, isn't it?
ReplyDelete(Although admittedly also rather pathetic to witness British giddiness at having a little sporting success to celebrate!)
Matthew Mason
Tunbridge Wells
Hi Matthew
ReplyDeleteWhen my wife, talking to her mother on the mobile on the way to church on Sunday, told me that GB was third in the medal tables, I told her not to be so ridiculous and that there were at least seven or eight countries above us, including Ruritania (or somewhere like that). That was after she herself had said to me earlier in the week that our problem was we were basically, "Cr*p at everything."
Whatever the final outcome, I am so pleased we were both wrong! Good to see those athletes competing and celebrating.
Yes, sorry - I didn't mean we shouldn't celebrate, nor to imply that the athletes have been giddy - I'm pretty sure their celebrations would have been a patch on mine if I'd been there! It is great to see - I've been enjoying it. And I'd much rather we be third than 23rd in the table.
ReplyDeleteBut, as with our Ashes win, and with the merest hint of success in the tennis, we (the media, whatever) do seem to overreact, as if somehow the world is at our collective sporting feet. Maybe it's just my stuffy English desire that everything be done slowly, calmly, and with a minimum of fuss!
But it is mostly sports we sit down for (cycling, rowing, railing) or things we do on holiday (swimming).
ReplyDeleteMust say though Aussies are better loosers than they are winners!!
Darren Moore
Tranmere
Darren,
ReplyDeleteIs it also true we do well at things which need the sort of kit only adult money can buy, whereas the Aussies are good at things we do as kids: bat and ball, running, jumping, kick-abouts?
;-)
It comes from lack of practice... at losing.
ReplyDeletestill got lousy weather ...
ReplyDelete& like Americans focus on sports most people don't care about - like cricket.
ReplyDeleteI must admit this success is very un-British where the whole ethic is don't practice or try too hard! Aussie success in the bat & ball games is because they practice.
I thought the 1st few days of the Olympics were hysterical. When GB get a silver or bronze they are as excited as the person with gold, where as other countries look disapointed. I was nice to see the GB rowers who didn't get gold looking disapointed for once.
Darren Moore
Tranmere
Darren
ReplyDeleteWe must never forget what Flanders and Swann wrote about foreign (ie non-English) sports competitors and supporters:
"And all the world over,
Each nation's the same,
They've simply no notion
Of 'playing the game'.
They argue with umpires,
They cheer when they've won,
And they practice beforehand,
Which ruins the fun."
For the (brilliant) rest, see here.
And since when were Australians in a position to suggest that everyone who calls themselves British ought to have been born in Britain?
Based on our local TV news, you could assume - quite reasonably of course - that there's a separate league table entry for Yorkshire.
ReplyDeleteShaun Clarkson
East Yorks
Based on our local TV news, you could assume - quite reasonably of course - that there's a separate league table entry for Yorkshire.
ReplyDeleteShaun Clarkson
East Yorks
Same applies to Liverpool! Very good at swimming here... it rains so much.
ReplyDeleteAussies aren't good with balls they can't pick up either. They all watch the commonwealth games, but not the world cup and whinge because they are in have to play the 6th place from South American pointing out Brazil are there... and so is Guyana!
Darren Moore
Tranmere
Just watched the women's taekwondo and we was robbed I tell ya.... that was definitely a head shot our gurl scored... jesh!
ReplyDeleteSteve Hearn
Langdon Hills
Steve
ReplyDeleteJustice (almost) done on the tae kwondo, though Stevenson was obviously put off regarding the gold! (It was an incredible kick, too. Wouldn't have liked to have received that.)
As an Australian in the UK I would like to say:
ReplyDelete1) Fair play to the British. You won more medals than we did.
2) The "Australians in the UK" interviewed by the BBC (mostly a few 20-something expats on working holiday visas in London) don't represent me. There are certainly no sour grapes on my part. Credit where credit's due.
3) Given that GB and Australia are developed nations, then on comparative population Great Britain should be winning about three times as many medals as Australia. The fact is that the medal count was very close which means either that Australia is still punching above its weight or GB below its weight (or both). The Gold medal count was GB 19 to AUS 14 and overall GB 47 to AUS 46.
4) Olympic success is partly cyclical. Australia's recent success was built first on the fiasco of 1976 and secondly on being the host nation in 2000. In the lead up to hosting the 2000 Games Australia started to concentrate on becoming a serious player and we saw the fruit of that in 1996, 2000 and 2004. 2008 marks the end of that cycle and it's only natural that there was a slight decline in Australia's performance. I suspect Great Britain has now entered a similar cycle and I wouldn't be surprised if GB does well in 2012 and 2016 before seeing a decline in performance.
Prior to the Sydney Olympics in 2000 Australia significantly improved its performance in 1996 (7th position, up from 10th in 1992) and then again in 2000 where it punched well above its weight coming 4th in the medal count behind the "big three" of the US, Russia and China and ahead of Germany -- an astonishing feat given Australia's population. This performance was repeated in 2004 (4th place again behind the "big three"). I suspect that with London hosting the Games in 2012 Great Britain's fortunes in the cycle 2008-2012-2016 will follow a similar course to Australia's 12 years earlier.
5) Of course Olympic success comes at a price and while I enjoy the fruits of my nation's Olympic success, I think there are much better things on which to be spending public money than elite athletes.
6) We're still better at cricket :-)