As the Australian media’s green and gold
whitewash charges confidently over the finish line, it’s
worth taking a brief peek over the fence for a random sample of what our
non-Australian friends have been saying about the Friendly Games:

  • The Hindustan Times is running big with
    news that
    Indian shooter Samresh Jung has been named the Best Athlete of the Games. Jung
    won five gold, one silver and one bronze, a feat Indian Chef de Mission H. J.
    Dora accurately described as “a rare honour” but which The Australian sourly
    reports as a “failure”.

  • The Scotsman is awash with pride at Scotland’s
    record haul of medals.
    Aiming for 15 medals, the Scots amazed themselves by taking home 29. “The
    success of Scotland has been one of the stories of the Games,” writes Richard Moore.
    “Only in Australia has the story been virtually ignored. Six words sum up the
    Australian media’s coverage: ‘Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Oi, Oi, Oi.’”

  • “Anyone glued to the television coverage
    from Melbourne will have been reminded there is much more to New Zealand sport
    than rugby, league, netball and cricket,” writes Tony Smith in Fairfax NZ’s
    Stuff website. He’s
    writing about Kiwi Nick Willis’ win in the 1500m race yesterday, but most
    Australian media reported the race as the fall of Craig Mottram.

  • Pacific magazine is reporting the
    extraordinary story of the Cook Islander weightlifter who lifted a personal
    best to beat his own father. 17-year-old Sam Pera Jnr lifted a total of 293kg
    to edge out his father, Cook Islands sporting legend Sam Pera, into ninth place at what is likely to be
    the elder’s last major competition. “Mum said she’d prefer me to win,” Pera Jnr
    said.

  • Finally, our US
    friends appear a little confused:While The New York Times seems to have ignored the Games completely, The Washington Post has been taking stories
    from the wires, including this one about Asafa Powell’s lazy 100m win, but is running them under the banner “Turin
    2006”. You can’t win ‘em all.

Peter Fray

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