Australians bring the green and gold to London’s Olympic Village

THE Australian Olympic Team have arrived in the UK! And already the Australian sector of the Olympic Village is looking decisively ‘Aussie chic’ with Boxing Kangaroo flags and green and gold banners adorning balconies, walls and terraces.

While not every single Australian athlete of the 410 strong Australian Olympic Team has arrived in the English capital yet, most have at least arrived in the UK and are putting the final touches on their London 2012 Olympic preparations.

Of the Aussie Olympians already here in Blighty, lots have been seriously impressed and almost all of them are very excited.

“I love it here – apart from the rain,” tweeted Australian swimmer Stephanie Rice.

Australian platform diver Brittany Broben is starting to feel a few nerves ahead of the official Olympic opening next week, tweeting: “Seriously this week has gone so fast! Getting a tad anxious now.”

And some of our Olympic hopefuls have even been getting a bit star struck, like Aussie swimming star Bronte Barratt who tweeted: “Oh my god, just had a conversation with Kobe Bryant in the elevator.”

Even the team inductions and introductions have been eye-opening for our athletes, with the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) tweeting: “Archers rate Laurie Lawrence’s Team induction as an experience to remember! Aussies are in for a treat!”

Granted, a few of the Australian Olympic Team have had little mishaps, like those who were caught on the Olympic bus that got lost between London’s Heathrow Airport and the Olympic Village. And a few of the Aussie Badminton squad were rendered bedridden after a bout of food poisoning hit the team.

But otherwise, it seems everything is in readiness for the Aussies to dominate the London 2012 scene and try and steal a little bit of spotlight away from the hosts (and maybe even some gold too – as this t-shirt would suggest: BACK TO STEAL YOUR GOLD).

And that’s not forgetting the amazing Aussie World Record Attempt, where expat Australians in London will be hoping to create history on Wednesday (25 July).

Meanwhile, Sydney born singer/songwriter Andrew Abbott has written a song to help our Australian Olympians in their quest for London gold.  Inspired by Australia’s Jon Sieben “coming from nowhere” to beat the unbackable favourite Michael Gross, win gold and break the world record in the 200m butterfly at the Los Angeles Olympics, Abbott got some talented musicians together to record ‘Here Come The Australians’.

“Getting the right voice for this type of song needed someone like Aussie Shane, a mate of mine who belts it out a bit like [John] Farnham – and he’s delivered a truly inspiring performance,” Abbott told Australian Times. “The trumpets and fanfare add to the festivity and I hope the Poms hear it up and down the streets and pubs of London during the Olympics.”

Check out the  song below:

Follow all the Australian Olympic action on Twitter by following @AustralianTimes and @AUSOlympicTeam or the hash tags #London2012, #TheAussiesAreComing and #TheAussiesAreHere