Kiwi media rub salt in Australian wounds

WELLINGTON (AFP) –

New Zealand’s Eric Murray (L) and Hamish Bond pose on their boat after receiving their gold medal for the men’s pair final of the rowing event during the London 2012 Olympic Games, at Eton Dorney Rowing Centre in Eton, west of London, on August 3. With N.Z. unexpectedly leading Australia in the medal table, Kiwi media are mocking their trans-Tasman rivals’ modest success so far at the Games.

With New Zealand unexpectedly leading Australia in the Olympics medal table, Kiwi media are mocking their trans-Tasman rivals’ modest success so far at the London Games.

New Zealand normally only enjoys consistent sporting success against Australia in rugby union.

But at the end of competition on day nine New Zealand’s three golds put it 14th in the medal table, 10 places above Australia, which had a single gold after its vaunted swimming team failed to fire at the Olympic aquatic centre.

“Great medal haul, and we’re beating Aussies,” ran a headline on Fairfax Media’s stuff.co.nz website above a comment piece.

“Hey Aussies, we want to draw your disordered attention to a little line item on the Olympic Games gold medal table,” the article said.

“We’re talking about the line that seems to have been censored in Australian newspapers. The one that puts New Zealand ahead of Australia, the self-styled world’s greatest sporting nation.”

It urged New Zealanders to “enjoy the moment while it lasts”.

The Herald on Sunday said “Oz’s dark cloud has a silver fern”, referring to New Zealand’s national symbol, declaring: “They (Australia) claim to be green and gold, now they’re just green with envy.”

A cartoon in the New Zealand Herald showed an Olympic official warning there was a chance Australia could miss out on its usual medal, depicting him holding a giant gold gong marked “for insufferable cockiness”.