Neighbours from hell

Mark Todd (right) got the first Kiwi medal

By Paul Cohen, Sydney

The Olympics have not been easy for New Zealand who have almost become lost in the giant shadow of their neighbours from across the Tasman.

The rivalry between the Kiwis and the Aussies is every bit as intense as it is when England and Scotland take to the same field.

But whereas their rugby players compete on a level field, the Olympics is proving a bit one-sided to say the least.

And if Australia's flow of medals was not hard enough to swallow, the New Zealanders are taking quite a lot of stick for their wholesale lack of them.

Big zero

For seven days the Kiwi medal tally numbered a big zero and how they were made to suffer.

Australian newspapers helpfully pointed out to their readers that the 226-strong New Zealand team were still tying with Equatorial Guinea in the medal table and there was relentless mickey-taking on Channel 7's nightly show, The Dream, hosted by the cuttingly dry-witted comedians Roy Slaven and H G Nelson.

Aussie fans have had plenty to shout about

The duck was finally broken by three-day event veteran Mark Todd who won a bronze for his beleaguered nation .

His wife Caroline said afterwards: "It has been the week from hell and he pulled it out for us."

She was actually referring to the six New Zealand team horses which broke down during the competition at the Equestrian centre but she could have been speaking about the experience of the whole nation.

Gordon Irving, the spokesman for Team NZ, said the criticism had been unfair but no more than he was expecting.

"We are traditional late starters and it was all a bit early for everyone to start talking about medals," he said.

"But at the end of the day it is only a bit of good-natured cross-Tasman humour. We can take it and give it back.

Sheep jokes

"They tend to come up with a lot of sheep jokes and we do the convict gags. We've heard it all before but it's all friendly rivalry and what you can't deny is that Australia are fantastic at sport and we can never compete with them at an Olympics."

The good news for New Zealand is that indeed they are starting to have success late in the day with Rob Waddell winning gold in the single sculls and mistral sailboarder Barbara Kendall also reached the podium over the weekend.

It is unlikely to stop the jokes just yet though.