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As good as it gets No end in sight for Aussie sports success
BRISBANE, Australia -- It doesn't get any better than this for Australian sports' fans. Success in sports tends to be cyclical, but judging by current trends, Australia has well and truly arrived as a sporting superpower. How's this for a memorable few days:
Sports are an obsession here and the over-stimulated Aussie fans now take for granted that their otherwise rather obscure country with a population less than 20 million knows how to win. The decisive Tri-Nations Rugby match before 92,000 fans at Sydney's Olympic Stadium was a perfect illustration of the kind of good fortune that comes with a good cycle.
It was the farewell match of long time Australian captain John Eales, but the Wallabies were outplayed by the All Blacks and trailed 26-22 in the dying stages. It seemed like a lost cause until Australian No. 8 Toutai Kefu scored an improbable last minute try to set up a 29-26 victory. The truth is that the Wallabies really had no right to win the match after such an indifferent performance yet found a way to get the result against the unlucky Blacks to win the Southern Hemisphere championship for the second straight year. Watching the game on television, coincidentally, with a group of New Zealanders, I felt almost apologetic after Australia inflicted another heart-breaking defeat on its Trans-Tasman neighbor. At the Goodwill Games, it's been a similar tale of abundance. As expected, the Aussies are winning events like triathlon and surf lifesaving, but they are also picking up surprising medals in weightlifting and other less-familiar sports. They're even undaunted by the fact that their dominance of swimming has come against depleted U.S. and European squads. The headline in Brisbane's sports-packed Sunday Mail reads: "The Time We Whupped the Yanks." Columnist Mike Colman writes: "Given that competitive swimming is all about mental toughness, psyching out one's opponent and turning even the slightest psychological edge into a major advantage, the Goodwill Games has hardly been meaningless for our swimmers. "You only had to see the warm-up period -- or as I like to think of it, the up-yours period -- before Monday night's showdown between the Australian and U-S men to see how seriously the Aussies are taking this event." To be honest, fans here wouldn't care much if the Americans sent over a team of disabled geriatrics just as long as the names of the local swimmers ended up on top on the electronic scoreboard. Australians like beating Americans even more than they like getting the better of New Zealanders and the British. Their Midas-touch will be put to the ultimate test later this year. Australia's football team, the Socceroos, will attempt to qualify for their first World Cup finals in 28 years via a two-legged playoff with the fifth-placed team from the South American group. Even with all their all-conquering triumphs to date, most of Aussie sports stars remain refreshingly down to earth. Less than four hours after flying home from the English cricket tour, what was fast bowler Brett Lee doing? Sleeping? Taking part in a ticker-tape victory parade? Doing media interviews or consulting his agent? Negotiating a new contract? None of the above. The man with the movie star looks, who's been described as the fastest bowler in the world, was at a menswear store in central Sydney -- back at his day job as a salesman. Sure, these Aussies are good. But, mate, life goes on. Australian-born Jason Dasey is co-host of World Sport, the international sports show that airs live on CNN/Sports Illustrated and CNN International.
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