10 Times Australia Shocked The Sporting World

From ice skating to cycling, and from soccer to tennis. We came, we shocked, we conquered.

1. Australia taking The Netherlands to the limit in the 2014 FIFA World Cup

Australia did lose this game, but they did not go down without a fight. The underdog Socceroos took the Dutch to the limit with the Netherlands narrowly defeating the Aussies 3-2. What made this victory such an upset for the Dutch is that they just came off a victory against Spain, the previous holder of the World Cup with a 5-1 score. With this gigantic win against Spain, the Aussies were the definite underdogs. During the match they took the Dutch to the limit, with a goal from Tim Cahill which has been called the greatest goal in FIFA World Cup History.

2. The underarm bowling incident of 1981

Australia were narrowly ahead of New Zealand during their one day international match in 1981. To prevent New Zealand from any chance of scoring the six they needed to tie, the Australian captain, Greg Chappell instructed his bowler, Trevor Chappell to deliver the last ball underarm, along the ground resulting in Australia defeating New Zealand, royally pissing off New Zealand, adding fuel to the already intense Australian vs New Zealand rivalry, and damaging Australia's reputation in the cricketing world for years to come.

3. The Wallabies destroying Namibia 142-0 during the 2003 Rugby World Cup

Why did this shock the world? Because Australia basically embarrassed the hell out of the small African country on the world stage. Not only did they beat Namivia, but they kicked them while they were down defeating them 142-0, which set a world record for the biggest winning margin in Rugby World Cup history. Damn!

4. Steven Bradbury winning gold at the 2002 Winter Olympics

The biggest fluke in sporting history, but he is a national hero, and for that Steve, we thank you.

5. Alisa Camplin also winning gold at Salt Lake City

With her body still recovering from injuries, and majority of her practice taking place at a facility without any snow, Alisa Camplin defied the odds by defeating two of the odds on favourites of Canada, Veronica Brenner and Deidra Dionne.

6. Cathy Freeman wins gold at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney

While Australia's eyes were on Cathy Freeman for the 400m sprint finals, the rest of the worlds eyes were on Katharine Merry's of the United Kingdom who got a better time than freeman in the qualifying stages. Plus, the world knew they wanted to see an upset for Freeman being in her own country, which as we know didn't happen, with Freeman's win going down as one of the greatest moments in Australian sporting history.

7. George Gregan's game saving tackle on Jeff Wilson

During the final minutes of 1994's Bledisloe Cup, Australia was leading against New Zealand with the score being 20 – 16. That was until the Kiwi's Jeff Wilson had the ball and outran the Aussies towards what looked like a game winning try in the final seconds. That was until Australia's George Gregan tackled Wilson out of nowhere to knock the ball out of his hands, and win Australia the game.

8. Cadel Evans winning the 2011 Tour de France

captivations.com.au

Aussie Cadel evens winning the 2011 Tour de France was a massive upset, especially to Great Britain. Their native Mark Cavendish had been dominating the Tour for majority of the stages, and was the favourite to win.

9. Australia winning the 1983 America's Cup, bringing the United States 132 year winning streak to an end

Australia royally pissed off America so much that America accused Australia of cheating. The loss took such a toll on the skipper of the United State's yacht that he stated "It was awful. I just did not want to get out of bed in the morning. I am usually full of life and energy. . . I just wanted to hide”.

10. And of course Aussie teenager Nick Kyrgios defeating world #1 Rafael Nadal at Wimbledon

abc.net.au

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