Australia–United States sports rivalries

The Australia–United States sporting rivalry is one which spreads across multiple sports due to similar sporting cultures within the two countries.

Australia–United States relations

Australia	United States

Basketball

Due to an explosion of basketball popularity in Australia in the 1980s, a rivalry between the Australians and Americans formed in the ensuing decades. In 1996, Australia was set to compete against the US Dream Team II in the lead up to the 1996 Summer Olympics and NBA star Charles Barkley boldly claimed before the match that "We are the best country in the world. We’re the best at basketball. We have got to kill them all." During the game, Australian guard Shane Heal hit a remarkable 8-from-13 from three-point range and when lining up for one of his shots in the third quarter, Charles Barkley arrived late and aggressively undercut Heal sending him sprawling to the floor in front of the Australian bench. Undaunted by the height and weight differential, Heal, who opponent stood six inches shorter than Barkley, chased the American star back down the court, letting fly with a volley of verbal barbs and bumped chests with Barkley.

In August 2019, Australia defeated the United States 98–94 for the first time. In recent years, Australia has seen many more players getting drafted into the NBA who have committed to playing for the national team, which has raised the standard of the international play and has resulted in more competitive performances against the United States.

Surfing

Australia and the United States are the two most successful nations in the history of professional surfing and four of the biggest rivalries in surfing history formed in the early 21st century involving Americans Kelly Slater and Andy Irons as well as Australians Mick Fanning and Joel Parkinson.

Swimming

Australian Ian Thorpe famously chased down American Gary Hall Jr. in the final leg of the 4 x 100 metre freestyle relay at 2000 Summer Olympics.

The United States and Australia are the two most successful nations in Olympic swimming history and often share the podium with one another at each international meet. An intense rivalry has developed as a result and swimmers from both nations have acknowledged the opposing country as their biggest rival.

Leading into the 2000 Summer Olympics held in Sydney, Australia, American sprint swimmer Gary Hall Jr. commented on the upcoming 4 x 100 metre freestyle relay event and confidently stated that the US team would "smash them (Australia) like guitars." The US had never been beaten in the near 40-year history of the event and Hall faced a 17-year-old Ian Thorpe in the last leg of the relay. Hall had the better start and came up a body length ahead of Thorpe before clocking a 0.23 second lead at the turn. Thorpe then fought back in the final lap and both swimmers were even with 15 metres to go in front of a raucous Australian crowd. Thorpe would finish first by a hand-length and the Australian swimmers would celebrate the win by playing air guitar on the pool deck.

The rivalry reached its most intense level in the lead up to the 2024 Summer Olympics when Australian Cate Campbell stated on a national broadcast that "It is just so much sweeter beating America. There were a couple of nights, particularly the first night of competition, where we did not have to hear ‘Star-Spangled Banner’ ring out through the stadium, and I cannot tell you how happy that made me." She also mentioned that "the U.S. have this infernal cowbell they ring. And as someone leaves to go to the competition pool, they ring out, ‘USA, USA,’ and I have never wanted to punch someone more." These statements infuriated the US team with Lilly King stating "Is it going to be worse if they beat us than somebody else? Yeah." Former American swimmer Michael Phelps was also asked to comment on the statements made by the Australian and was visibly deturbed by the comments responding that if he was on the team he'd "watch [Campbell’s comments] every single day to give me that little extra."

Australia has not finished ahead of the US in the Olympic swimming medal tally since the 1956 Summer Olympics.

Tennis

The United States and Australian Davis Cup are the two most successful nations in Davis Cup history with 32 and 28 titles respectively. The two nations first played each other in the World Group final of the 1905 competition with the United States claiming a clean sweep 5–0 victory. The Australian team claimed their first victory over the US team two years later and went on to defeat Great Britain to claim its first ever Davis Cup title.

The decades that followed were dominated by the Australian and United States teams and the two nations developed an intense rivalry with one another during a 36-year stretch between 1937 and 1973 in which one of the two nations claimed the Davis Cup title, including 16 straight year in which they played each other in the final. As of the completion of their 2017 meeting, the ledger stands at 26–21 in favour of the US. Outside of Davis Cup, countrymen of the two nations have competed in many Grand Slam finals with the most recent meeting occurring at the 2001 US Open Men's Final when a 20-year-old Australian Lleyton Hewitt caused a major upset against American 13-time Grand Slam champion Pete Sampras 7–6^(7–4), 6–1, 6–1 to capture the 2001 US Open Championship.

See also

• List of sports rivalries
• Australia–England sports rivalries
• Canada–United States sports rivalries