Oly: Swimmers keep Aussies afloat - but for how long?

AAP General News (Australia)
08-24-2008
Oly: Swimmers keep Aussies afloat - but for how long?

By Doug Conway, Senior Correspondent

BEIJING, Aug 24 AAP - How long can Australia's Olympians keep out-performing all but
a handful of the mightiest nations on earth?

Probably for as long as their swimmers keep them afloat, and opinions about that are divided.

The swimmers accounted for almost half of the 14 gold medals, and 46 medals overall,
won by Australia's 435-member team in Beijing.

Imagine what might have been if they hadn't under-performed.

The 2008 Olympic team was still Australia's third most successful ever, behind Athens
2004 (17 gold and 49 overall) and Sydney 2000 (16 gold and 58 in total).

It was enough for Australia to claim sixth place on the medals table - one below expectations
- behind the now fully emerged giant China, the US, Russia, Britain and Germany.

Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) boss John Coates stressed the importance of team
sports in the Australian culture, noting that 136 Australians would be going home with
medals - third behind only China and the US.

Swimmer Stephanie Rice's world record treble made her Australia's golden girl, and
Emma Snowsill wasn't far behind with an emphatic triathlon victory.

But pole vaulter Steve Hooker, kayaker Ken Wallace and diver Matthew Mitcham delivered
the most uplifting of 11th hour surprises.

Hooker's gold medal, after four times facing do-or-die attempts, was the first track
and field success for an Australian man in 40 years.

Wallace, the Gold Coast surfie, took over from Clint Robinson as Australia's premier
paddler with a bronze in the K1 1000m followed by a stunning upset to win the 500m.

And Mitcham, entering the final round of the 10m platform event a seemingly hopeless
30 points behind, chose the hardest dive in the book and nailed it with the highest scoring
dive in Olympic history to deny China a clean sweep of all eight diving golds.

It was all seat of the pants stuff.

It's worth remembering that no comparable nation punches anywhere near above its weight
the way Australia does.

But that may not last forever.

It's not so much that Australian standards are declining, but the bar is being set
higher and higher.

Other countries are getting serious about sporting success in a way that has become
second nature to Australia, and they are pouring millions into it.

Host nations, in particular, seem obsessed with churning out face-saving numbers of
Olympic champions.

Look at China this time: a whopping 49 - 17 more than in Athens.

And just wait and see what the Brits do at home in 2012.

As the AOC pressures Canberra for even greater funding of Olympic sports, it's worth
noting that the US Olympic Committee receives not a cent from Washington.

That might change, depending on how much American pride is stung by being toppled from
the highest rung of the Olympic perch by China.

If Australia's swimmers hauled in almost half of their country's gold, then Stephanie
Rice netted half of the swim team's titles.

With three gold medals and three world records - in the 200m and 400m medley and the
200m freestyle relay - the 20-year-old Queenslander was Australia's stand-out athlete
in Beijing.

Libby Trickett and Leisel Jones both bagged two each, one individual and one relay,
when they expected more.

Grant Hackett spent "every cent" of energy in his 28-year-old frame, but it was not
enough for him to complete the "impossible dream" of an Olympic 1500m treble.

Hackett was among a posse of Australian swimmers who held world records in seven events
but were unable to translate that into Olympic gold.

Sprint stars Trickett and Eamon Sullivan, in particular, failed to threaten their best
times in their respective 50m and 100m freestyle finals, returning just two silvers between
them from the four events.

"It was ups and downs all over the place," admitted head swim coach Alan Thompson of
his squad's six gold medals - two less than at Melbourne in 1956 - but 20 in all, an Aussie
record.

Thank goodness for the Aussie women, because the male swimmers failed to register a
gold medal for the first time since the disastrous 1976 Montreal Olympics.

Former greats like Shane Gould and Ian Thorpe have warned that Australia should make
the most of its successes now, because they will be fewer and further between in future.

But many say Australia should still mount a formidable challenge at London in 2012,
with Hackett so far the only big name to call it a day.

Cycling was the sport where Australia suffered the biggest reversal of fortunes in Beijing.

Despite the presence of Tour de France big gun Cadel Evans, Australia's cyclists went
from the euphoria of six gold, two silver and a bronze in Athens to one lone silver won
by Anna Meares.

It was their worst return since failing to secure a medal at Moscow in 1980.

Aussie sailors scored a golden double, following a barren time in Athens, through 470
pairs Nathan Wilmot and Malcolm Page, and Elise Rechichi and Tessa Parkinson.

Rechichi in particular triumphed over adversity after losing one-third of her body
weight to a mystery illness.

Rowers matched the sailing double-gold courtesy of Drew Ginn and Duncan Free in the
men's pairs, and Scott Brennan and David Crawshay in the double sculls.

Ginn also had to battle a persistent back injury to pick up the third gold of his Olympic career.

One silver medal probably deserves mention above the rest - that won by hurdler Sally McLellan.

It was a stunning coup, and after the "lay down Sally" controversy in Athens involving
a rower who wouldn't row, this time it was "stand up Sally".

AAP dc/mo

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