Sport

Aussies love their sport, they love any sport. They have a very competitive spirit when it comes to sport and of course they do excel in this area. The Sydney Olympics where staged with an almost Swiss precision and it seemed that the entire nation was experiencing one huge, collective orgasm while the games were on.

However there is a darker side to this obsession. Australians are very bad losers. While the winners are feted, the losers tend to be shunned, talked of in hushed tones like the black sheep of the family. To be honest, if you are a sporting winner then Aussies will overlook any deficiencies or shortcomings you may have. You could be a baby eater or even worse you could be the putrid, drug addled Ben Cousins and they will still forgive you as long as you can score those goals.

Why such an emphasis on sport? Well to be honest Australians haven't put their stamp on the world in any other areas. This is after all quite a young democracy and it hasn't given the world any artists, composers or writers of International repute. OK, so there was Dame Nellie Melba and Dame Joan Sutherland, but these are not exactly household names among the general public. I think early on Australians realised the limits of their culture creatively and decided that with all that space around them sport would be a much better option.