“If I was an Aussie I would start viewing American media! Their myopic medals table (unlike the rest of the world) is based on overall medals won…” Our medals table is actually not, LIKE the rest of the world, based on overall medals.
http://au.sports.yahoo.com/olympics/medal-tally

A, Sydney, Australia

Australian success at most things is generally not all that is seems. Anyone who looks below the surface will see. Whether it be targeting minority sports (rugby, cricket), sports where corruption/cheating/drug taking is rife (cricket, cycling, swimming) or fielding foreigners.

Chris F, Maidenhead, England

It took you long enough to learn set up your Cricket Academy, staffing it with Aussies. Funded your Olympic sports and staffed with Aussies. In the End, we still say thank you. Thank you for keeping that cold and wet country, and sending us South. Nothing worse than a gloating Pom.

Michael Russell, Yuzhno-Sakhalin, Russia

I wonder if, when Aust beat NZ at cricket, the Australians say - well we only won because we have a much larger population. Of course they don't. BTW, there are more Aust athletes in China than UK athletes. Their sour grapes has been a national disgrace, and one that they will never live down.

Raymond , Somerset,

i don't see what difference it makes, if your country has a good athlete than they should be able to compete in the olympics. I'm glad that we're doing well in the olympics, but i always stick up for Australia & usa too. There's always going to be rivalry because it's about competition.

Rachael, london, England

Australia has traditional rivalry and antagonism with England, not Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland or "Britain", so much of this debate is a bit confused.

Many of us down here actually support Scottish or Welsh althletes and teams when they play anyone but Australia!

Luke, Melbourne,

I agree with the Aussie posters that articles like this make us look ingracious in victory. But although we are as triumphant as any winners, when we lose we tend to look inward rather than spouting daft comments about stealing secrets. Noone lilkes losing, but noone likes a bad loser either.

RF, London, UK

The GB performance makes all us Brits Down Under very happy. The Aussies love a bit of competition, and the Aussie / GB sports rivalry though is mostly in good humour
More importantly, we're ahead of the Germans :) ha ha

Mart, Sydney, Australia

Why does everyone seems to lose their sense of humour when it comes to a bit of banter about sporting escapades?

Phil, Singapore,

Trust the English needing to rely on the Scots to get them over the line.
Why can England enter the World Cup, Comm Games etc, yet they unite with the rest of Great Britain for the Olympics ?
Scotland, Wales & Nth Ireland should go alone as then the Poms would whinge as they wouldn't win anything.

Steve, Adelaide, AUSTRALIA

Sport - For Poms it's about participation, for Aussies it's about winning.

Chris Claridge, Singapore,

Population of Australia: 20.6 million. Gold medals per million people: 0.53
Population of UK: 60.9 million. Gold medals per million people: 0.26
In other words, Australia is producing medals at twice the rate of the UK.
The standard medals table is a parody, esp with ref to China and the USA

ACS, Bristol, UK

Living here in OZ I can tell you that the Aussies are not good losers, can't take criticism, and have no sense of humour when they lose! (remember Phil Tuffnel having a laugh and Ricky Pontings pouting face, after the British wion the Ashes in 2005.)

Di, PERTH, AUSTRALIA

Allan of Melbourne would like to see where the members of team GB come from!
Most of the Oz team are foreign born!!!!!!
They even claim Russell Crow as their own and he is from New Zealand

Di, PERTH, AUSTRALIA

As an Australian living in London, I think it is good for team GB to be doing well. Most British Londoners I know don't even want the Olympics in 2012, perhaps (hopefully) this will change things and get them cheering in 2012.

Steve, London,

maybe we could introduce a £10 immigration fee for Aussies to move to GB

Mike, Sole Street, England

The aussies may dislike it, and even some scots seem to have a problem with it (by the way Hoy is a sporting God) but I am proud that England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are under the British flag. We should all be enjoying the fantastic achievements of the team under the Union Flag.

gavin, melbourne , australia

Ironic that Australia is a country of fat, sedentary couch potatoes, just like Britain is. Perhaps the Aussies would not begrudge us our fleeting fame if they had to live in Britain. We have little enough left to be proud of here...

Ben Garside, Loughborough, UK

It's not England.

Chris Hoy is Scottish. Nicole Cooke is Welsh.

John Peters, Swansea,

The most friendly, enjoyable rivalry I've ever seen between fans is when Aus play Eng at rugby. Lots of ribbing & "wait till next time"'s, followed by "lets all go for a beer". I hope that's what's really happening in the Olympics. Shame on the papers for trying to make it into something else.

Mark, Zurich, Switzerland

Oh dear Anthony of Brisbane you really are struggling to come to terms with the Brits success aren't you ' Let's see how team GB goes in 2016/2020.' I guess you're applying for the motivational coach role. On yer bike mate !

Jeremy, Sydney,

Well done England.

Just like when you beat us in the Ashes, we celebrate with you and for you.

Brendan, Warrnambool, Australia

I think most Aussies are more interested in the personal storeis of their athletes like ana Mears. As the English are more interested in the stories of their athletes. England 3rd, Australia 5th.

Sounds like both countries are doing pretty well TBO.

good luck England.

Bert Newton, Townsville, Australia

Well done, GB. As an Aussie, I'm happy to see GB doing well at the Olympics. The Olympics Games is a great way to bring a multicultural country together and build national pride, as it has done for Australia for so many years. I think GB is now achieving at a level that it always should have.

brenton Forster, Melbourne, Australia

Great Britain !! The sum is greater than the parts.

That Welsh girl on her bike.
That English girl in the swimming pool.
That Scots lad on his bike.

All winners. My winners.

Rich A, Nottingham, Great Britain

As a POM living in Melbourne I have seen first hand the build up of over-confidence in the press. Even though the AOC has channelled millions themselves into the sport they deride the U.K for doing similar and then have the cheek to call them 'Lucky'. Small man syndrome on the world stage perhaps?

Jim, melbourne, Australia

It's fine, get one over us this time, it'll give us all the motivation we need to upstage you at your own show in 2012! You don't often beat us twice in a row. But seriously, this is just a friendly rivalry between two countries whose bonds were formed in blood. Both countries shouldn't forget that.

Jim, Perth, Australia

The reality is that most Australians couldn't care less about medal tallys or that "team GB" is ahead of us. We realised that this Australian team was not as strong as recent teams - funding levels tend not to increase at the same rate following home games. Let's see how team GB goes in 2016/2020.

Anthony, Brisbane, Australia

Congrats to the british athletes, they must have worked really hard for their success though, please don't do what you did when you won the ashes & rugby world cup - over-celebrating by bestowing knighthoods on just about the entire team & having ticker tape parades. True winners just get on with it

Melanie, Sydney, Australia

If I was an Aussie I would start viewing American media! Their myopic medals table (unlike the rest of the world) is based on overall medals won. Unsurprising considering they are getting thumped in gold medals won by the Chinese but lead in overall medals.

Mike, Kuala Lumpur,

So by the moaning Australian's standards, China, which has roughly 22 times as many people as Britain, should have 22 times as many medals, 352?
Not taking into account that by his standards we should already have far more, pushing what China should have still higher.

Lorenzo, Salisbury, GREAT Britain

Den Wills

Track cycling has been in every single Olympics since they started in 1896 so how can you possibly say that cycling is not an Olympic sport?

Richard, Welwyn Garden City, UK

Allan from Melbourne; nobody is claiming this as an England victory. Its a GB effort. But if you feel the Act of Union is the only reason we're winning, well then you need a better argument my friend.

M. Gibbons, Edinburgh, UK

As an Englishman with a family history stretching back hundreds of years I am proud of what Team GB has done - and so we should with a population of over 60m! Australia has 20m and does very well and very well at most things such as, cricket and rugby. We are the same people - well, for now we are.

James, London,

its good for britain and australia to have this rivalry, its like brothers growing up together permenantly competing. the ashes and our meetings in rugbyu and rugbyl are some of the most anticipated sporting events in the world.
you know we love each other really!

will, grimsby, uk

As a pom living in Aus these king of articles are nothing sort of embarrassing. Aussies love to win esp against the poms but my experience is they are by and large gracious in victory.
Brits would do well to learn how to be gracious in. It might endear us a little more to the rest of the world

Olly G, Melbourne, Australia

Well Billy Brand of good ol' Humble, TX - don't think you'll find much west african domination of cycling, swimming or rowing !

Paul Wallis, Swansea, Wales

who cares - the football season has started!

David, Kenton, England

shane warne, david campese, dame edna, john howard, john eales, ricky ponting, merv hughes, ned kelly, bouncer the dog, mrs. mangle, kylie and jason, ian thorpe, don bradman, the flying doctors....HAVE SOME OF THAT!!!

Rob , london, uk

So much for the Olympics acting as a force to bring people together!

And just I as I was thinking everyone seemed so happy just to be there...

Jennifer Stanton, Reading, England

Struth Mate...

I wouldn't be suprised if your mob, end up calling em...

"The Great Pom~a~lympics".

Dad & Dave, Snake Gully, Australia

A possible answer is the mass immigration of Africans to Brittian in recent years. The west African strain which made up the majority of slaves sent to the West Indies appears to be highly advantaged in the sprints. Distance events are dominated by people from the Kenyan highlands region.

William G Brand, Humble, TX

In South Africa with our own special brand of sporting problems we take great pleasure in anyone stuffing Australia. Go GB!

John van Tonder, Bloem, SA

Great Britan is doing well, NOT England. I would love to see the breakdown of the medals between the teams that make up Great Britain. At least our little country is doing it on their own.
Go Aussies

Allan, Melbourne, Australia

Call me what you like: I did not want Britain to do so well. I am not excited or 'proud'. Why should I be?
Velodrome cycling and sailing aren't exactly Olympic sports, are they?

Den Wills, Portsmouth, UK

At least Australians are as gracious in defeat as they are in victory.

tim murray, London,

I gotta say, I think the reason for the so-called rivalry is because we are so alike...
We are both island nations with small populations, an air of swaggish cockiness and an inherent ability to 'overacheive' in sport.
More to the point, am I the only one who wonders why China is doing so well???

Glenda, Wanstead, England

people should understand that the mutual insults between these two great nations is more traditional than anything else, and not to be taken too seriously! Its a sport all of its own!! I should know - British/Australian nationality - I still manage to be in one of the countries at the wrong time!

L Gillatt, Cheltenham , UK

Interesting to read these comments - the Aussies overwhelmingly being magnanimous in defeat and almost all the Brits sneering and jeering in victory! For a more complete understanding of the rivalry between the two countries, this article should be read with the above in mind. It's a 2-way street.

jimmy, Beijing, China

We have always over achieved at the Olympic Games, and I find it intriguing that you Brits are getting your jollies off about being ahead of us. We always try and beat the Yanks !
For a country with a population of 21 million, I think we do very well. Don't write us off yet - see ya in London 2012 !

Mary Tovey, Melbourne, AUSTRALIA

Oh for God's sake ! Why do the Media all play up this "supposed rivalry" ?? As a dinki-di Aussie I am very proud of the performance of our country compared against the sporting superpowers. But equally I am pleased for the UK - good on em !!! I am sure they are over the moon - roll on 2012 !

Rod, Frankfurt, Germany

Let's not count our chickens.

Australia will win its traditional gold medals for whingeing and arrogance, so it could still be close.

Rob, London,

Congratulations to the Brits for an outstanding performance. You certainly have good reason to be proud and can look forward to even better in 2012. Enjoy your well earned success...and yes I am an Aussie through and through.

John, Perth, Australia

The reality is that with three times Australia's population, Great Britain are still trailing Australia (per capita).

Larry, London, United Kingdom

...Britain wasn't doing too badly for a country with "few swimming pools and not very much soap".

Coming from the mouth of the president of the Australian Olympic Committee, you'd have to say that was pretty offensive. And please don't tell me that's Australlian humour at work.

RJA, Nottingham, Great Britain

When they lost in the Rugby World Cup they were a graceless bunch of bad losers too. They aren't really very nice.
Suck it up ill mannered Aussies, there's worse to come - Britain is still winning, Australia is still whining.

Riley, Kiev, Ukraine

Games arent finished.YAWN

Eric Reynolds, Glasgow, Scotland

Isn't it the Aussies who call us whinging Poms?

Well there's only thing that whinges more than us- the Aussies when they get a hiding. Every excuse in the book gets hauled out.

They've set the bench mark for years and now we've caught up. Watch it we'll get you in the Rugby League and Cricket!

Gareth Shepherd, Leeds, UK

Can I ask, what is the point of this article?
Yes, there is healthy competition between both countries, but if we, in one of our most highly exposed pieces of media, rub it in their face, then we are actually no better than the 'whining aussies'.

Edward Reid, Cardiff,

This is certainly not the attitude of all Australians and I think any negative comments made by Australian papers and officials about the British success make the majority of us cringe. Well done GB, keep up the good work!

Sarah Brinckman, Hobart, Australia

Such sour grapes reflects badly on Australia. They're meant to be a nation of sportsmen, and that means giving due credit to the winners.

The fact that the jibes are being led by John Coates, president of the Australian Olympic Committee is particularly unimpressive. What an example to set!

Simon , London, UK

Australia is taking this too hard. Considering the population compared with other nations they have alot to be proud of.

Remember its GB your playing with not England whom you normal beat at any sport. If it was England you would actually be winning!

James, ABERDEEN, UK

Whinge whinge whinge whinge whinge!! If only they could award medals for that the medal race might have proved to be closer! Can't think of many funnier sounds than that of the Aussies coughing and spluttering their way through the hefty slice of humble pie they have been dished up with! Brilliant!!

Adam, Manchester,

Its no surprise that the Aussies have reacted to this so badly. They are brought up to deride the Brits- its ingrained much like the scots the welsh and the irish against the English. Today i feel proud to be British and it feels fantastic

AP, Midlands,