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John Bertrand is the guiding light with the Australian swimming team poised for a potential gold rush at the Rio Olympics.
The knockers will say that comment is a repeat of the London Olympics where the ‘gun’ Australian swimmers shot themselves in the foot.
They managed just one gold medal – the women’s 4×100 freestyle relay. Their disgraceful in-pool performances were matched only by the performances out of the pool.
To cut a pathetic long story short, AOC boss John Coates gave the ‘stilnox six’ – Eamon Sullivan, Matt Targett, James Magnussen, James Roberts, Tommaso D’Orsogna and Cameron McEvoy – a set-in-concrete ultimatum.
If there was any repeat of the out of the pool performances and they will be banned from Rio.
John Coates didn’t miss.
That ultimatum surfaced a year after London and at roughly the same time John Bertrand was appointed the new president of Swimming Australia.
Brilliant.
Why?
John Bertrand was responsible for ending the world’s longest winning streak of 132 years by skippering Australia II to victory over the USA’s Liberty 4-3 to capture the Americas Cup.
But that’s not the main reason for a brilliant swimming appointment. He’s a two-time Olympic yachtsman, winning bronze at Montreal in 1976, so he knows the Olympic atmosphere at first hand.
He’s also chairman of the Sport Australia Hall of Fame, where he is hands on constantly dealing with the all-time greats of Australian sports.
John Bertrand is rightfully regarded as a magnificent motivator, that was his key instinct in winning the Americas Cup, and since being hands on with the Australian yachting successes at the Beijing and London Olympics.
Three years ago he switched from salt to chlorine water, with exactly the same results – vast improvement not only in the pool, but out of it as well.
That’s the Bertrand way.
I found that during my Green and Gold Greats series of 30 of Australia’s greatest sporting men and women that went to air on ABC NewsRadio.
In an hour-long interview, Bertrand constantly heaped praise on his teammates, his support crew, and those he competed against – his motivational assets clearly evident.
Last week in Adelaide the Australian Championships were held in conjunction with the Rio Olympics selection trials.
The Bertrand touch surfaced time and again.
In the latest world rankings, Australians are right up there.
Ranked number one in the world – Cameron McEvoy (100, 200 free), Mack Horton (400, 800, 1500 free), Mitch Larkin ( 100, 200 backstroke), Cate Campbell (50, 100 free), Emily Seebohm (100 back), Belinda Hocking (100 back) and Madeline Groves (200 fly).
Ranked two in the world – Bronte Campbell (100 free), Emma McKeon (200 free), Jessica Ashwood (400, 800 free) and Emily Seebohm (200 back),
That’s a mighty impressive list with the USA selection trials scheduled for June 26-July 3 with the Olympics from August 5-21 – just 109 days away from the opening ceremony.
More time for the John Bertrand motivational capabilities to take hold.