Sounds very much like a tempest of drinking vessel origin. I think there was some pre-Games banter in which the Brit's minister for sport asserted that GB would get more medals than Australia, and a bet was made, but on the whole it seems to be a media-generated orgy. And massively overplayed by BBC.
The Ashes rivalry is one thing (calling England 'The Old Enemy'), and you can sort of understand the glee of beating the mother country (especially as, in many ways, Australia still has a big inferiority complex), but it makes slightly less sense when reversed.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2008-08-24 11:16 pm (UTC)The Ashes rivalry is one thing (calling England 'The Old Enemy'), and you can sort of understand the glee of beating the mother country (especially as, in many ways, Australia still has a big inferiority complex), but it makes slightly less sense when reversed.