Aussie minister loses Olympic bet

Ellis bit the bullet with Sutcliffe sitting alongside her

Australian sports minister Kate Ellis has honoured her Olympic bet with British counterpart Gerry Sutcliffe.

The pair had wagered on their nations' final positions in the Beijing medals table, and Ellis lost out as Team GB won 19 golds to Australia's 14.

She therefore accepted the ultimate humiliation for an Aussie sports fan by donning a Team GB top during a visit to the Paralympic Games in China.

"Kate's a great sport to honour our bet," said Sutcliffe.

"But after all, we did win fair and square, with our fantastic athletes proving just how good our elite sport can be.

"The bet was a bit of light-hearted fun, but I'm thrilled that we had such unprecedented success at the Olympics, putting us in fourth position ahead of great sporting nations like Australia."

Ellis was magnanimous in defeat.

"It's great that there's a healthy rivalry between our two nations and I congratulate Great Britain on their success at the Olympics," she said.

"I'll eat a little humble pie along with the Australian team and we'll work a little harder for our future success."

Sutcliffe added: "We've had a great start at the Paralympics with Great Britain third in the medal table at the moment.

"I'm sure we'll go on to do really well and I wish our athletes every success for the rest of the Games."