Key Points
Bullet point summary by AI
- Mike Grella's recent comment calling Australia a 'layup' for the US has reignited the long-standing sports rivalry between the two nations.
- The rivalry spans multiple sports, from swimming and basketball to tennis and now sprinting, with notable moments dating back to the 1950s.
- The upcoming 2028 Olympics will feature a highly anticipated showdown between Australian sprinter Gout Gout and American star Noah Lyles.
In the history of the American-Australian sports rivalry, there’s nothing quite like the inflammatory metaphor.
On December 5, CBS analyst Mike Grella called Australia a “layup” draw for the United States in the World Cup, which has apparently become the motivating force behind the Socceroos ever since. But this is not the first time an American has publicly dropped a disparaging metaphor and invoked the flames of Australian wrath: Gary Hall, a swimmer in the 2000 Olympics, said that “biased says we will smash them like guitars.” When Australian Ian Thorpe chased down Hall and won the 4x100 meter relay, the Australians air-guitared all the way home. Thus ensued the ongoing Australian-American swimming rivalry.
The Australia-America rivalry goes back decades
But the rivalry goes much deeper, and is arguably at its most intense since the 1950s. Australia and the United States throw down on the soccer (they both call it that) field on Friday at 3 p.m. ET, and Grella’s layup comment is just the latest in a string of all-in-good-fun sports beef between Australia and the United States. And it goes way beyond the pitch and the pool.
In 1996, there was a rather obscure incident between Shane Hall, a 6-foot Australian point guard playing the United States in an exhibition game before the Olympics, and Charles Barkley, a bigger-than-6-foot forward who apparently almost fought Hall. Barkley said after: “I told him that if I don’t take that off Americans I’m definitely not going to take it off foreigners.” So there’s, uh, that.
The Davis Cup was the height of the USA-Australia rivalry
But the height of the USA-Australia rivalry came in the 1950s and 1960s, when Australian tennis usurped the dominant Americans after Australian coach Harry Hopman brought team after team to 15 Davis Cup titles in 18 years. While mostly an afterthought these days, the Davis Cup was the tournament back when tennis was a profoundly international sport — Hopman’s players would also dominate singles tournaments over the once-ubiquitous Americans. And while Hopman’s era declined with the dawn of professionalism, and the United States saw new dominance in the eras of John McEnroe, Pete Sampras and eventually Serena Williams.
Today, we have yet another field of battle: sprinting. The hype train for Australian teenager Gout Gout is going through the roof, but American Gold Medalist Noah Lyles pumped the brakes on Gout’s ascension by setting a world record and beating the Australian in the 150m sprint. The two are good friends, but sometimes you best friends are your truest rivals. Needless to say, the 2028 Olympics are going to be Gout Gout vs. Noah Lyles: The Reckoning, and everyone will be seated.
It’s curious that the two nations would but heads so often in sports when they agree on so much else; they speak the same language, both think England is overrated and even call the sport soccer. But the real issue? Australians drive on the left side of the road. And that is truly unforgivable.
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