Are Aussies sore losers?

[chickencoop]

Saw this article today and am not sure if it's serious or just slightly tongue in cheek as it sounds pretty desperate.

But then I saw this and chatting to a friend in Australia on Skype she said that it's widely believed there that the reason GB did so well was due to being coached by Australians. See here for more, and that though the London games were great it was not a patch on Sydney 2000. I can't even remember a thing from Sydney, even though I remember stuff from Barcelona, Seoul and even LA

So genuine question really, as this seems quite surprising to me. I thought Australians were generally a very sporting bunch. Or are these two news outlets the equivalent of our Daily Fail?

I'm not sure about generalisating on this, I mean there'll be all sorts its a big place,
but humble is not a word I'ld use to describe any Aussies I know
think I know a dud bunch, but the ones I know tend towards monologues about how awsome them/their experiences/their country is

The cycling coach, Dave Brailsford is from Derby. The track cycling team did amazing.

'Or are these two news outlets the equivalent of our Daily Fail?'

The Daily Mail is incomparable, unique throughout the world. That is why I buy it and no other paper.

The Aussies are very good sports. I think it is fair to say that for a small population, they do punch above their weight in sport.

I think they are stories that I can imagine being run in the UK, from a Brit perspective, so I don't think they're that surprising, tbh.

My feeling is that being Good At Sport is part of the Aussie national identity. And these Olympics did not go so well for them, that is undeniable. And they were trounced by the Poms, and by little NZ, so that will really hurt. But it reminds me of a few Olympics back, where someone Aussie said of the brits' success 'they're only good at sitting down sports' (ie rowing/equestrian stuff). Made me laugh then, and makes me laugh now. I'm British.

It's because sport is the Aussie religion.

And just think - they call us "whinging poms"

Goodness knows how they reacted to the fact that until the last moment they were being beaten in gold medals by Yorkshire (ended up 7-6 in Aussie's favour thank goodness) or we could have expected mass suicide.

Well there was a large editorial piece by an Aussie journalist in the Times on Monday I think saying much as it pained him to say the London Games were superior

They did a similar thing for Beijing, saying that per head of population they had won more gold medals than any other nation. Not sure we should take it too seriously.
I do remember though that from their TV coverage there was only one nation taking part, and it wasn't ours!

Ahh please let's not start Aussie bashing, it just confirms their opinion of us. You can't generalise about these things, you know that.

I'm married to an Aussie. I do have a go at him at times about them calling us whinging poms because he does complain a lot - about all the same kind of things that Brits living in Aus comlain about. Ultimately it can be hard being an expat.

They do have a point about the coaches - not just Aussie coaches but the judo coach is Japanese etc etc. But we had an entire generation where we did poorly at sports and of course we have therefore had to bring in outside help because we did not have great sportsmen progressing to the coaching roles. Still - do we criticise the Australian medicare system because they poach our doctors and nurses?

In fairness, we have a population 3 x the Australian population with a similar comparitive of GDP. If you look at investment in sports by our respective governments then the amount of investment made per medal achieved at the Olympics then the Aussies actually did just fine at the olympics and got a better return on investment than the UK did.

Also the Sydney Herald was very complimentary about the 2012 games saying that it gave Sydney a run for its money in terms of "best ever" games. The Australian said that we were as good and in many respects we did better - which was pretty sporting of them. I think Australia is having a bit of a crisis about bringing on their sports people just as we did last generation and are floundering doing all the crap things we did (taking the competitiveness out of sports days etc etc ) but these things are cyclical and they will be back on top, sooner than we would like (she says crying at todays cricket).

*Sorry - probably not judo but one of the martial arts (not my area of interest).

ALL Aussies are sore losers? What a lovely comment.

Listening to the radio during the Olympics, the general consensus was we just weren't putting 'our best foot forward' so to speak. The only athlete I felt was a sore loser was [so exhausted, can't remember name] she got a silver medal then carried on about how she was so addicted to social media she wasn't concentrating so it wasn't her fault...Instead of being thrilled she won a silver medal. A couple of days after this whingey interview, she posted on Twitter 'can I can 10,000 fans before the race tomorrow?' So was not impressed with her attitude, entitled much?!

Either way, I'm proud of our athletes and all the athletes from around the world who showed wonderful sportsmanship and truly deserved their medals...Regardless of who their coach was or what country they were from. :)

I was cheering team GB a lot, you guys worked your bums off and deserved everything you got!

I don't think the Aussies are sore losers. I do think that they put huge importance on sport as one of their key cultural aspects so it hurts when they are not as successful as they think they should be. (Hey, we were lousy at Atlanta as a I recall with one gold medal, so we can't talk). I think sports success goes in cycles (excuse pun) and different countries will be up and down at different points. It could well be, as Ian Thorpe warned, that GB may fall down the rankings as Australia has done since Sydney if we get complacent or take success for granted: or indeed lose our coaches. What country wouldn't snap up Dave Brailsford for example?

I do think though that what touches a nerve with us is the way Aussies keep hold of this whinging poms stereotype. You don't get to have as successful a history as GB has or do as well as we have done for a little island, by being a nation of whingers. Maybe it is that we export our natural whingers to Australia because they couldn't make it here? . Just in the way that many of the Olympic hating whingers left London during the games, leaving the city to be a much more pleasant and enthusiastic place .

I love Australia - have lived and worked there quite a lot in the past - so good luck to them - they will bounce back. In any cases 7 golds is not bad when you look at the fact that their population is a third of ours.

Nah, the Aussies aren't sore losers, much like the Brits aren't smug and annoying winners.

In my experience, there are two aspects. The press here in Australia, ludicrously cast the Olympics as a contest against an old rival!! Sorry dear, no-one's looking at you, I thought. It's as if the Ashes was being re-played. Hard to see how anyone can lose the Olympics, but there you go.

However the Age ran a front sports edition cover which trumpeted the achievements of Team GB. Never before seen such open praise.

On a non-Olympic matter. In the last Test cricket, where England handed Australia a handsome thrashing, it was buried deep in the sports pages of all papers, and no-one at my work mentioned it. They never never never do when Australia loses. DH reports the same at his work. It's an aspect of Australian character which I find a bit sad.

Don't judge Australians by our media (and we won't judge Brits on yours). There was a big hype before the Olympics about how well we were going to do which turned out not to be true. So then there was a big hype about what a disaster it all was. Most people I know have not lost sleep over it and will all say that London and Team GB did a great job.
I think some of our younger swimmers got caught up with being celebrities and getting sponsorship deals before they actually had much to deliver.

well pro sport is about winning for aLL NATIONALTIES

Of course the Australian olympics were better in sydney - for Australians as they did well and won to a home crowd. In London they did very poorly in the pool and so did UK. I guess in 12 years time we may look back and say London was better, as we did so well at a home games.

I doubt the 7 out of 10 golds in the veladrome were due to Australian coaches.

The Aussies may or may not be sore losers but South African Pistorius seems to be...

What a disgusting comment MrJudgeyPants. I reported your bigoted 'joke' post and hope MNHQ take it as seriously as any other 'no offence intended' joke.

Convicts were often sent here for minor crimes and totally brutalised. How is that funny??

I am not imputing anything from this - it's just an anecdote really, but I had the misfortune to be sitting behind a bumptious, bitter Aussie in the Olympic Stadium. He was complaining to his compatriots at the cheering for team GB and started parodying it. He also moaned about having to stand for the National Anthem again when Mo Farrah was being awarded a medal. What a wanker!

Am sure he doesn't represent most Aussies, but I had to get that off my chest. His loud bellyaching really took the lustre off my evening!

hmc:

As an Aussie, he sounds like a complete douchecanoe!!!

What is it about sports that brings out the absolute WORST in EVERYONE?! :(

I agree, the jingoism on all sides can get a bit much can't it....

Ohh yep. You should see my mum during footy season! I hide under the bed.

But seriously, as much as there is an amazing side to the Olympics, there is a very, very, ugly side that brings out bigotry/racism from all countries and people you never expected.