- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
In a stunning international swimming debut, Emma McKeon became the leading Australian medal winner at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
Practically unheard of a month ago, the unassuming 19-year-old has claimed six medals, four gold and two bronze, to show she has arrived.
The Australian Sports Commission set Swimming Australia a 55-medal target, which will play a huge part in future funding.
The team’s best medal haul in previous Comm Games was 54, in Melbourne 2006 and Delhi 2010, so 55 was a big ask.
That the team finished with 57 medals – 19 gold, 21 silver, and 17 bronze – was a credit to the individuals, and the new president of Swimming Australia John Bertrand – of 1983 America’s Cup fame – who took over after the London 2012 Olympics debacle. Bertrand instilled his own brad of pride and passion in the team, and the results speak for themselves.
There was plenty of experience in the current group, which made McKeon’s feats all the more remarkable. World champion Cate Campbell and Alicia Coutts, who won five golds at Delhi, both claimed three gold and a silver to be next best.
Cameron McEvoy won two gold and four silver for an outstanding meet, while Belinda Hocking, Emily Seebohm, and Thomas Fraser-Holmes captured two golds apiece.
James Magnussen’s comeback was also worthy of a salute, with two gold, a silver and a bronze.
Next up is the Pan Pacs on the Gold Coast from August 21-24, and the first tilt in 2014 with the Americans. That’s the ultimate litmus test. Before Roarers knock the Comm Games as a waste of time, Glasgow served as a launching pad and a morale booster for the Pan Pacs. The Australians can do no more than beat the opposition in front of them, and that they did.
The next best Australian sport has been the cycling, which doesn’t come as any surprise. The cyclists won seven gold, eight silver, and seven bronze.
Add those to the swimmers, and Australia has won 26 gold, 29 silver, and 24 bronze for 79 medals – a big hole in the overall count, where Australia and England have cleaned up.
Australia’s 101 medals – 34 gold, 31 silver, and 36 bronze – is just heading England’s 33-33-27 total of 93. Then there’s a huge drop to Scotland’s 13-11-13 for 51, and Canada’s 16-5-18 for 30.
Australian medals will be as scarce as hen’s teeth from here on in, but it’s impossible to believe Australia won’t finish in the top two nations.