By: Katie Bradford-Crozier | Wednesday, August 08, 2012 9:20 AM

Hey Aussies! You can have Russell Crowe, the GC and even pavlovas, but don't take our gold medals. And certainly don't call us 'Aus Zealand'!

Australians are much more similar to Americans when it comes to egos, particularly in the sporting arena, they are loud, brash and think they deserve to be at the top of the world. We are the shrinking violets in comparison. But put us higher than the Aussies on any table, and we'll scream it loudly from balconies, or more likely pubs, around the world.

And these days it is also Twitter that goes crazy. It didn't take long on Friday night as we won two golds and shot to number 10 on the Olympic medal charts for the jokes to come that Australia will soon be claiming it is an Australasian victory. That is exactly what followed, in the form of a lighthearted column about the strength of Oceania, and then the notable addition of 'Aus Zealand' to the medal charts in Aussie newspapers. 

I was living in Melbourne during the Beijing Olympics, and as a Kiwi, it was frankly depressing. Not only did we never get to hear our national anthem, it was near impossible to even see a race Kiwis were competing in on TV because of the wall to wall coverage of events involving Australia. And of course I had to live with the gloating faces of the Aussies as they brought in gold after gold and their swimmers became superstars - and tabloid fodder.

This time round, our neighbours are so distraught about their abysmal failure in the pool they've launched an inquiry into it. Tens of millions of dollars were spent by Swimming Australia and just one gold achieved. Ironically the Aussies went into the games pledging to beat the British who so far have 18 golds to Australia's two - and now have to settle for second best, trying to beat their little cousins.

At least we know we are friends when it really matters though. The Australian government announcing it'll make a significant contribution to help us build an ANZAC memorial at the new National War Memorial Park. Over the next few years, as we head to that 2015 anniversary of Gallipoli, our friendship will go from strength to strength - and commemorating our time together in the trenches is far more important than quibbling over our respective places on a sporting medal chart.

Photo: PhotoSport