I don’t think I’m showing my age too much, but surely you remember when swimming was Australia’s ‘it’ sport.
I’m not just talking about our fascination every four years when the pool becomes our Olympic river of gold – or silver or bronze – but a time when everyone seemed to talk about speedos, splits and strokes, and the chase of the elusive red (or sometimes yellow) world record line.
Who remembers watching Daryl and Ossie on Hey Hey It’s Saturday, only to be interrupted by a live cross to the Aquatic Centre to watch the 1,500m final at the national titles? Honest, it did happen.
We would be glued to the box to watch each of the 30 laps Kieren Perkins would swim, each butterfly stroke of Susie O’Neill and breaststroke of Sam Riley.
It was just what we did.
Then, when a teenager with big feet turned up, so too a successor to King Kieren’s throne, and, with the Olympics about to arrive on our doorstep, we became totally obsessed. We couldn’t get enough of it.
There was a suggestion we only watched because we liked to watch winners and during that golden age of swimming for Australia, we had a lot of winning.
In fact after the Sydney Olympics, in Japan at the world championships the following year, Australia beat the USA for the first time in almost 50 years, to become the number one swimming nation on the planet.
But I tend to think it was a little more than just winners being grinners – and viewers – the sport was truly exciting. Fingertips taunting that world record line, Ian Thorpe going stroke for stroke with the arch enemy, the USA, and Grant Hackett chasing, and breaking Kieren’s world record.
We were so spoilt living through the most incredible era of Australian swimming.
And it continued. In Athens in 2004 we won seven gold, second only to the US, and was our best off-shore performance. In 2008 in Beijing, we won six gold, again runners-up to the Americans, and winning 20 medals overall.
We continued to love it, but what happened after that?
Well for starters, in 2009 the sport’s governing body somehow allowed swimmers to don ‘super suits’, which saw all but one or two world records shattered during that year.
The suits disappeared the following year, and times got back to where they should have been, but the sport had become a laughing stock, and one of the casualties was that the world record line was no longer a ‘rival’, instead it was often half a pool ahead.
The excitement of that chase, that need for speed, it was all gone for the viewer.
Also at that time, Swimming Australia signed a lucrative multi-year deal with the Ten Network, ending their highly successful partnership with Nine.
With the money involved it was not a surprising move, but it coincided with the launch of ONE, and that was where Ten decided to put most of their sport.
The problem was, at that time, many people didn’t have digital TV, and swimming virtually disappeared from the spotlight, and it became out of sight, out of mind.
We still had the elite stars, swimmers capable of matching the world’s best.
We actually still had (often) live coverage, but it wasn’t being thrust in front of us on Channel Nine in prime time.
When Ian Thorpe returned in 2011, a spark of interest was reignited in the sport, and people did tune in for the 2012 Olympic trials.
But with just one gold in London and some swimmers with attitude less than appealing to the general public, then the post-Olympics fallout over initiation games and pranks, and swimming was for the first time in my long memory, on the nose.
The 2013 national titles went by almost unnoticed, and unfortunately so too did the world championships in Spain.
Sadly in recent times the only major mainstream coverage swimming has received is via stories about the struggles of Ian Thorpe with depression, Grant Hackett with addiction, and Scott Miller’s wayward life since he left the pool.
The national titles begin tomorrow in Brisbane. It will be shown live on One again, but now everyone has the channel and importantly knows how to find it.
Now people, listen to me! You really need to give swimming and particularly our latest batch of swimmers, a chance.
We may not have a Thorpe, a Hackett, or a Perkins (you have no idea how rare they are), but we have some outstanding swimmers, including the reigning world champions in the blue riband event, the 100m freestyle – James Magnussen and Cate Campbell.
Magnussen was the one who turned plenty off before London with his brash approach. Personally I liked the confidence, some didn’t though.
London was humbling for him, and now, he’s just letting his swimming do the chatter. The fact is he could be one of our greats, and I think you should start learning to love him.
And Campbell, an exceptional swimmer, is just as remarkable a role model and person.
Add to that pair Alicia Coutts, a five-time medal winner in London – that’s right, five Olympic medals at one Games – an amazing feat, and yet the most humble sports person you would find. And then there’s Melanie Schlanger, a stunning swimmer, but also a young lady any parent would be proud to call their daughter.
Many of the guys and girls who you will see race this week in the selection trials for the Glasgow Commonwealth Games, really are tremendous role models, not just for young swimmers, but young kids, showing that if do work hard and apply yourself, you can achieve some special things.
Keep an eye on these other names too, Christian Sprenger, Emily Seebohm, Cameron McEvoy, Bronte Barratt, Brittany Elmslie, Thomas Fraser-Holmes, Kylie Palmer, siblings David and Emma McKeon, and talented teenagers such as Jordan Harrison and Mack Horton.
We can be just as proud of them as we were O’Neill, Riley, Hackett, Thorpe, Jones, Perkins and Kowalski.
And then there is one of swimming’s best, and also one of its most inspirational ambassadors, Paralympic legend Matthew Cowdrey.
But don’t take my word for it, let your fingers do the walking, onto the remote control and find Channel One. It won’t take the effort it once did, and you’ll be surprised just how good the product still is.
Professor Rosseforp
Guest
I don't think drugs are the reason that people don't watch swimming, but I think it would be naive to assume that the sport isn't affected by drugs. It's not unusual to see Australian swimmers shave huge chunks off their personal best -- if it were the Chinese team doing it, we would be proclaiming "Chinese herbs" with a knowing wink. When Australians do it, we assume it's brilliant coaching, great timing and the thrill of the competiton. One of the most interesting interviews I heard on this topic was with Mark Spitz, on the ABC a couple of years ago. He said that coaches have a list of banned substances. Everything else -- absolutely everything -- is fair game. Different people react differently to different substances, so if a vitamin cuts a millisecond off a swimmer's performance, his "diet regime" will include that vitamin (or some other non-banned substance). It may not work for any other swimmer. Let's not forget that some of the hijinks surrounding the team included sleeping tablets. Thoughtful people might wonder why athletes who are obsessed with their bodies and peak fitness would be fiddling around with them.
clayts
Guest
The entitlement thing i think referred to the fact that after each swimmer didn't win, they jumped out of the pool (were mobbed by media which is less than ideal) and burst into tears saying things like "but i had a really good plan, i just dont know what went wrong ." I think the general public viewed those comments (which plenty of them made) as "I'm Australian, I should have won, like Thorpey and Perkins did!" That's the 'entitled' part. I used to swim competitively into my early 20s and for life of me can't understand the "we had a good gameplan" comment, especially thrown out there by the relay swimmers. Ok. What exactly was your plan? There is no plan in relay other than, "Let's all swim as fast as we can, and hope it is faster than all the other teams." If you are faster, you win. If you are slower, you lose." Plans are useless. Just swim fast
clayts
Guest
I still have my doubts about our 'golden era.' Might be an unpopular view because Aussies are apparently incapable of drug cheating, but I have my suspicions about some of them.
Matthew Skellett
Guest
Well the D'Arcy saga didn't help give the public confidence in the administration of the sport , Hackett's hijinks, Thorpe's fall from the pedestal of hero-worship, Magnussen's brain explosion in London , failed comebacks of several former olympians -anything else anyone wants to add ?
Cameron Mee
Roar Guru
I'm sorry but Swimming Australia didn't chase the money by signing with Ten, Channel nine decided that Swimming wasn't generating enough viewers and so they chose not to resign their contract. It was here that, as you rightly point out, Swimming lost its prime time coverage and fell out of the public eye. Dwindling performances at World Championships and Olympic Games enabled it to further fall out of the public eye.
Roy
Guest
Totally well said, and the media should stop giving the swimming parents a voice, they are worse than the swimmers especially the ones of the top past swimmers always making excuses when something goes wrong!
Roy
Guest
Big stars take swimming to a higher level but the big stars have managed to bring it down to the lowest level, shame for the sport! And selfish of them!
Bob Anderson
Guest
Agree with everything in this post. Amazing to see how athletics which used to be the biggest sport in the world become a minor sport, probably not even the most popular at the Summer Olympics. Swimming and other endurance sports are quickly joining it in obscurity.
petriasfan
Guest
Lenton? Best swimmer on the planet in 2001? Meck01 you need to rethink this comment. Libby Trickett (nee Lenton) made her first senior Australian swim team in 2003 for the Barcelona World Championships. Our big stars of 2001 were Thorpe, Hackett, Welsh, Huegill, Petria Thomas and Giaan Rooney.
Punter
Guest
I still enjoy swimming & looking forward to the upcoming trials starting tomorrow, I love the stats & watching the races & expect maybe 1 or 2 world records in the blue riband races. I still remember being at a party & everyone stop to watch Thorpie compete in the world championship. But I tend to agree with Onside here with the general public. I have been to national championships & seen live racing & I love it. Will be following it over the next few days. To each their own.
Punter
Guest
Yeah, there are no tools in the AFL, NRL or any of the football codes or in cricket. I think all sports has tools.
onside
Guest
The Olympic games is to swimming what The Melbourne Cup is to horse racing. Outside of the Olympics and The Melbourne Cup, few people follow either sport Both are events. You can watch the best swimmers in Australia at State championships, and pretty much sit anywhere you want in a two thirds empty stadium. Same with horse racing, there's little support outside of key events. Its not just swimming, consider the support for say Shield cricket outside of Test matches, and cricket is supposed to be our National game. Television ramps up the expectation of swimmers beyond reality. Its a television sport. How many people have actually seen a race live? Television amplifies our interest ,and keeps us in a state of suspension with the use of the split second clock. The clock is pivotal to the tension,more so in many cases than the swimmers themselves. There are many sports people can enjoy, live or on television, even if their team loses because the game and competition was enjoyable. Not so a swimming race, because for the uninitiated the swimmer is racing against a clock . And where the Australian public is concerned, that mainly know swimming via television, those people are largely uninitiated, sporting voyeurs looking for a quick sporting fix.
Lazza
Guest
The best AFL comp in the world has to give it's overseas TV rights away for free because no one is willing to pay any money for them? So we're happy to be the best without competing against anyone and with no one watching?
deanp
Guest
I don't think the swimmers have really changed that much. It is in fact Aus as a nation which has become a very feral, self-righteous, even hateful place. One of the buzz-words I kept hearing about the Oz swimmers was 'entitlement'. I never could work out what exactly was meant by it. Apparently it was something to do with showing too much emotion when you lost. This was just not sporting. Although interestingly, showing too little emotion is also considered a very bad thing. The Oz winter Olympics team were apparently guilty of this. So you just can't win. The Oz media is also feral. It was they who have lead the attack on the Oz swim team, and of course the feral sheeple are only too willing to follow. So eager to believe the worst. They get off on it. It was the ocker gutter press who were responsbile for the controversy over the 'fat' photos of Liesel Jones. Oz just isn't the happy, fair minded nation it used to be. That fact is well illustrated by many of the posters to this thread. So full of hate.
Michael Cowley
Expert
Let's agree to disagree, but to my recollection, apart from the Chinese drug dramas of the early 1990s, and the East Germans of two decades earlier, there really hasn't been too many in swimming thesedays. Guess they must be using undetectable stuff?
BigAl
Guest
I remember when Lionel Rose and Johnny Famechon were world class boxers and everyone (including myself) used to just hang on the results of their fights. Now Australia has quite a few world class boxers (I believe ?) - but don't ask me or most people what their names are - things just change I guess.
HooHaa
Guest
Yes, riddled. Don't know what happened there. Perception is reality in today's world old son. I reckon most punters would tend to the view swimming is as full of drug cheats as push biking. http://www.totalprosports.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/female-athletes-caught-using-peds-performance-enhancing-drugs-doping-scandals.jpg
meck01
Guest
I've been watching swimming for 20 odd years (only 31) and 1998 - 2008 were our golden years. Our worst Olympics in 30 odd years and a mens team which only won 1 gold (relay) at the previous commonwealth games means people aren't as enamored with it. In 2001 we had the 2 best swimmers on the planet (thorpe and lenton (trickett)) - these are once in a couple of generations or lifetime athletes. It was a great pleasure to see these 2 swim. I still support our team, but lets be honest - we are no longer a top 2 swimming nation - top 5 at best.
Michael Cowley
Expert
Drug addled? Not even drug riddled. Argue against the sport as much as you like, call it boring, call them self obsessed, but you can't call it drug riddled.Not factually correct.
Pclifto
Guest
Couldn't agree more It's just dull