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In the most absorbing day of the Glasgow Comm Games, Australian James Magnussen won the 100 free, compatriot Michael Shelley stunned the athletics world with gold in the marathon, while the Queen of the velodrome Anna Meares, and the king of rugby sevens New Zealand, were both dethroned.
For Magnussen, it was ridding himself of the London 2012 and national championship gremlins.
His arch rival and great mate Cameron McEvoy was favoured to win the blue riband event because he has no gremlins, just a 100 per cent competitive instinct every time he dives into the pool.
But Magnussen was hungrier.
McEvoy led at the turn with Magnussen dragging the chain, but once he surfaced from his tumble turn it was game on.
But it took him until 70 metres until Magnussen’s bigger frame of 197cms and 90kgs took command over McEvoy’s 185cms and 85kgs, and it was all over bar the shouting.
Magnussen (48.11) took the gold, McEvoy (48.34), the silver, and a salute to Tommaso D’Orsogna (49.04) as well to hang in there to claim bronze for an Australian 1-2-3.
Stand by for more Magnussen victories to go with his 2013 world champion tag.
But the most stunning victory was Shelley’s from a big group of Kenyans, Ugandans, and Tanzanians who can run for days and days, let alone a marathon.
But by the time the tape was in sight, there was no sign of any of the Africans, just a lone Australian from the Gold Coast who had burned them all off.
Shelley became the fourth Australian to win a Commonwealth marathon after Dave Power (1958), Rob de Castella (1982 and 1986), and Steve Moneghetti (1994) who as Chef de Mission cheered Shelley home in a time of 2 hours, 11 minutes and 15 seconds.
On the other side of the coin, the seemingly invincible Anna Meares had to be content with silver as her teammate, Comm Games room-mate, and good mate Stephanie Morton emphatically took out the best of three sprint final 2-0.
Morton was literally stunned, she had beaten her idol.
But to prove it, if any proof was needed, Meares joined her conqueror on top of the podium in a big hug as they sang the national anthem together.
There was no such joy when South Africa beat New Zealand 17-12 in the final of the rugby sevens, the Kiwis very first defeat of any kind in 16 years of Commonwealth Games matches.
In one of sports more amazing stats, New Zealand has won every game in group and finals stages since they first played in the Comm Games sevens in 1998.
Australia, beaten 19-7 by the Kiwis in the semis, won bronze with a 24-0 win over Samoa.
So the medal tally shows Australian sport is back in business, comfortably leading the 70 other competing counties with 73 medals – 26 gold, 21 silver, and 26 bronze.
England’s second with 23-17-17 for 57 medals, and Scotland 11-8-11 for 30.
But the bulk of those Australian medals have come from the pool – 15-13-10 for 38 – and for that John Bertrand must take a bow.
The America’s Cup hero of 1983 took over as Swim Australia president after the disastrous performances at the London 2012 Olympics. It was so bad Bertrand almost had to reinvent the wheel.
That he’s been able to instil all the renowned Bertrand pride, passion, and dedication back into the sport, has reaped rich rewards.
We won’t know how rich until the Australians take on the USA. But for the moment they can only beat what opposition is available, and they’ve done that comprehensively well.