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Clip description
Gold medallist for the men’s 100 metres relay, Jon Drummond, and Lawrence Johnson, silver medallist in the men’s pole vault, express their appreciation of the brand of Aussie humour typified by The Dream to hosts Roy (John Doyle) and HG (Greig Pickhaver).
Curator’s notes
Australians often regard their sense of humour as unique and difficult for ‘foreigners’ to understand, so it is interesting to see in this clip how thoroughly these American athletes embraced it. Particularly since they, along with the New Zealanders, copped the brunt of it during the course of The Dream. Our cousins across ‘the ditch’ are used to being bagged by us and give as good as they get, but genuine appreciation from the Americans was unexpected as can be deduced by the pleased but somewhat sheepish expression on the hosts’ faces.
The Aussie chant of ‘Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Oi, Oi, Oi’ that so delighted Jon Drummond has been around since the 1970s, but during the Olympics it could be heard not only in the sporting venues but all over town, in pubs and restaurants, even on trains and buses. Some may cringe at its vulgar simplicity but the call is immediately identifiable, undeniably infectious and almost impossible to resist. Sadly, it has also been used in incidents at Cronulla (2005) and Manly (2009) to express an aggressive nationalism and xenophobia that is completely at odds with its original intent.
