Who Is the 'Ugly American' Olympian Swimmer Australians Hate
Australia vs. the USA has been a hot topic at the 2024 Summer Games.
In recent NBC Olympic coverage, a commentator described the "longstanding rivalry" between Australia and the U.S. as "one of the biggest storylines to watch this summer in Paris."
But how did this epic feud begin? Look to none other than American athlete Gary Hall Jr.
Leading up to the 2000 Sydney Olympics, Gary Hall Jr. already had two gold and silver medals for swimming and was ready to score even more. But his confident statement in a CNN article at the time predicting the US swim team would "smash" the Australian team "like guitars" did not go over smoothly with the Australian media.
In Australia, the local media deemed Gary Hall Jr. the "Ugly American," as he describes it, and portrayed him as the villian face of the U.S. team. It made for an epic media rivalry, and when Australia ultimately won gold in the 4×100 for the first time ever against Hall Jr., the Australian athletes famously played air guitars to celebrate.
In a recent interview with Cronkite News, Hall Jr. talked about how damaging that coverage ultimately was for his career.
"It was used to tee up this incredible rivalry - a big showdown on the first night with the 4×100 freestyle relay that has been voted Australia's top Olympic moment," he told Cronkite News.
Hall Jr. also told the outlet that he's "never been able to get over" the coverage of that CNN article, saying in full context, his quote actually praised the Australian team as a serious "contender" and said: "I like Australians. The country is beautiful, and the people are admirable."
Being called ugly would be a hit to anyone's self-esteem, but for Hall, it went even deeper. It interfered with sponsorships, his home life, and how others saw him as an athlete.
"I took a hit," Hall told Cronkite News. "Corporate sponsors dislike that 'Ugly American' as much as Australians do."
Despite a long athletic career, spanning 16 years, Hall says he went 10 years without any swimming-related sponsors - all after the "Ugly American" coverage. The famous feud between the U.S. and Australia even seemed to overshadow the fact Hall Jr. broke major ground by being the "first person with Type 1 diabetes to compete and medal in the Olympic Games" in 2000.
Even though he did get some "weird sponsors," including the Grateful Dead, Hall Jr. says he was most likely robbed of millions. Funnily enough, in the recent NBC Olympics Coverage, it seems the U.S. team has largely forgotten about the intensity of this rivalry, while Australians haven't.
"It's just so much sweeter beating Americans, "Australian Olympic swimmer Cate Campbell said of competing against the US in a clip. "The US have this cowbell they ring out 'USA USA' and I've never wanted to punch someone more."
Current U.S. Olympic swimmer Lily King responded to the clip saying: "It's just funny to me it gets on their nerves that much."
