Swimming is the undisputed flagship of every Australian Olympic Games campaign.
Of the 468 medals Australia has won in 24 sports between 1896 and 2012, swimming has accounted for 178, or 38 per cent.
Of our gold swimming has accounted for 57 out of 139, or 41 per cent; 60 silver out of 152, or 39 per cent; and 61 bronze out of 177, or 34 per cent – the most medals in every category.
Next is athletics with 71 medals in total, or 15 per cent, with 21 gold (15 per cent). 25 silver (16 er cent) and 25 bronze, or 14 per cent.
Cycling is the third most successful Australian sport with 49 medals, or 11 per cent, with 14 gold (10 per cent), 18 silver (12 er cent), and 17 bronze, or ten er cent.
And rowing with 37 medals, or eight per cent, with ten gold (7 per cent), 13 silver (9 per cent), and 14 bronze, or 8 per cent.
Of the 13 most successful Australian Olympians, nine are swimmers.
Nine medals – Ian Thorpe five gold, three silver, one bronze, Leisel Jones 3-5-1.
Eight – Dawn Fraser 4-4-0, Susan O’Neill 2-4-2, Petria Thomas 3-4-1.
Seven – Grant Hackett 3-3-1. Libby Trickett 4-1-2, Shirley Strickland (athletics) 3-1-3
Six – Murray Rose 4-1-1, Anna Meares (cycling) 2-1-3.
Five – Shane Gould 3-1-1.
Four – Betty Cuthbert (athletics) 4-0-0, and Drew Ginn (rowing) 3-1-0..
So when swimming bombed out with just ten medals in London with one just gold, six silver and three bronze, so did the overall medal count of 35 with eight gold, 15 silver, and a dozen bronze.
Remember the swimming headlines?
“Toxic culture of the Australian swimmers with drugs, alcohol, and bullying rife among the team”.
“Lack of discipline and leadership became a major issue”.
And “There will be an investigation into the worst Australian swimming performance in 20 years”.
There was an investigation, with many swimmers on a good behaviour bond or shown the door. But more importantly, Americas Cup hero John Bertrand was appointed president of Swimming Australia, a decision that was widely applauded at the time.
But the Rio swimming is done and dusted with the same medal count of ten – three gold, three silver, and four bronze – way below expectations.
Will there be another investigation?
No, the problem is crystal clear.
The Australian swim team for Rio were named after the Australian Championships – four months ago.
The Americans named their team last month, after their nationals, and the difference became obvious very quickly.
The Americans were in top form, the Australians had tapered down.
That’s how the Americans managed 33 pool medals with 16 gold, eight silver, and nine bronze, but they weren’t that much better than the Australians – only far better prepared.
The potential Australian swim gold medals that got away:
Cate Campbell – 100 free (6th), and 50 free (5th)
Cameron McEvoy – 100 free (7th), and 50 free (11th)
Bronte Campbell – 100 free (4th), and 50 free (8th)
Emily Seebohm – 100 back (7th), and 200 back (12th).
Mitch Larkin – 100 back (4th), 200 back (2nd).
Madison Wilson – 100 back (8th)
Mack Horton – 1500 free (5th)
Belinda Hocking – 200 back (5th).
The next Olympic Games will be Tokyo 2020 from July 24 to August 9.
Therefore the Australian Championships for swim selections must be in the second half of June 2020.
Then there will be a level playing field in Japan.
craig swanson
Guest
We beat the Yanks in 1956. So never say never.
craig swanson
Guest
Kim Brennan-- born Kim Crowe. Now have you heard of her? Olymp[ic Silver medalist in London.
Jackpott
Guest
You forgot Shane Gould in 1972.
holi
Guest
Swimming bores me. I guess because I'm not a fish. Running is the King discipline of the Olympic Games.
Republican
Guest
Swimming is also a sport where there is so little between 1st and last. In terms of economics I don't believe Swimming is a good investment or bang for your buck. Take away all the sentiment that this sport evokes, being quintessential to our sporting DNA historically, things clearly have to change and Swimming may have to be scrutinised quite closely in the process.
Michael
Guest
I considered the likes of Thorpe, Hackett and Susie O' Neill when writing that comment. I think the real question is? Does being the best at something come at a cost?? Of course it does. Without doubt. One must also ask, does losing come at a cost?? You already know the answer to that. So the shrinks need to make up their mind. Indifference to losing v obsessed by winning.
Rich_UK
Guest
At least in rowing and cycling we will definitely rise again in the next 8 years. Why? Because the Brits specifically targeted those sports for their London Olympics and threw buckets of cash for many years. This Olympics is their ‘handover’ from London, which is similar to how well we did in Athens after Sydney. Once this generation leave the Brits will go back to their base level. ---------- I think you're being a tad optimistic there as i think that GB will only drop off slightly (if at all) in rowing and cycling during the 2016-2024 period Continued lottery funding post-2012 together with extensive talent identification programs will keep GB very strong in these two sports for years to come. This isn't even taking into account the 'success breeds success' factor where huge numbers are taking up these sports post 2008/2012 Olympics.....this will only add to the conveyor belt of raw talent coming through Other sports will be targeted with similar methods/talent identification programs and success will increase in these sports, whether this will equal GB cycling/rowing's achievements will be known in due course If i was you i'd just worry about the issues with Aussie swimming and let GB worry about there future sporting successes :)
commonwombat
Guest
In many cases, collegiate sport is the main spectator sport in those states and thus a revenue raiser. Arguably, a good number of US colleges are more famous & put greater emphasis on athletics than academics. In the majority of US states, the highest paid individual on that state's payroll is either a college basketball or football coach !! Can this be set up in Australia ? Realistically not. Our universities are not only set up differently (along the lines of the UK/European model) but also funded differently. Key professional sports are already too heavily entrenched into the sporting public's psyche for university sport to ever find a significant niche in the market let alone be a revenue stream.
Jerry
Guest
You gotta have gas stoves, how else is Michael Phelps gonna get the hot knives out?
commonwombat
Guest
Chris, AUS DOES have a competive season but it runs over our summer through early autumn leading into Trials. This generally consists of the various state championships; the quality of which is variable. The 3 big ones (QLD, NSW & VIC) do tend to attract a goodly number of the best swimmers from other states but the only time you really see full fields are at Nationals. They probably do also compete outside these events but at a more local/lower level. What does probably need to be enforced is a greater influence on short course swimming. Whilst it should not be the "be all and end all", it DOES put a major emphasis on key racing skills namely those of starts, turns & underwaters. All of these are areas where too many AUS swimmers are terribly deficient. Over the years, there has been too much resistance both from leading swimmers & coaches who have bemoaned "its doesn't allow them to get into their stroke !". Well, the proof has been that almost all of out biggest names of the past 20 years have lost additional Olympic & World titles due to their deficiencies in these areas. Maybe funding needs to be tied to participation in particular fields ? The USA holds their trials at the latest possible date before the closing of the qualifying period. Actually, their "pulling power" is such that they effectively get a waiver that extends that period beyond the logical end of the month into a few days into the next. IF AUS is to move their Trials/Nationals in major championship years to match that of USA, then the entire AUS competition season will have to be moved accordingly. This may take a year or so to iron out so results may not instantaneously improved. We CANNOT realistically create an NCAA system in Australia; our universities are set up very differently and funded differently basically along the UK model. Should more AUS swimmers potentially take up NCAA offers .... arguably yes but again, this will not be a sure-fire fix. Even for American collegiate swimmers, you can get it very wrong and for every intl success story like Schoeman, Heyns (RSA) there are just as many if not more who disappear without trace. What WOULD, however, be helpful for AUS Swimming's culture in the medium-long term would be for a number of the next generation of AUS coaches to take up overseas appointments, be they NCAA or in Europe ...... and bring back some of this culture and influence the mindset of swimmers coming through
Kavvy
Guest
You're right I'm sure but interested in where Grant Hacket fits in to your analysis. Would his life have been better if he were a well adjusted loser or the not-so-well adjusted winner he is/was?
jameswm
Roar Guru
Sheek we DO produce those exceptional athletes. It's just that a lot of other countries do too. Athletics just wasn't as cmpetitive years ago. It's that simple.
Tony
Guest
Correlation does not equal causation. All of the US swim team live in the Northern Hemisphere, and they beat us in the medal tally. GB are in the rise and you know what? They live in the northern hemisphere too!!! When are we going to learn from them and get our team living up there!!!!
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
The big point is that we manage to produce world class swimmers, but they just keep failing to produce their best at the Olympics. So it's specifically around that aspect, how to have them at their best at the Olympics, that is the issue. We certainly produce more world class swimmers than athletes in most other Olympic disciplines.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
Have to agree on the fact that when Australia was good in Athletics was back when it was a lot whiter. But Australia is a really diverse nation, we have plenty of non-whities here. But despite the fact that we have plenty of non-whities, and it's pretty much been shown that whities just can't run as fast, our sprinting teams are still dominated by whites who have no hope of ever running under 10s in the 100m, let alone fast enough to actually medal. Plenty of people of African origin in Australia these days, between them, and the first Australian's, those are the places to look to try and find potential top sprinters and the like.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
Oh, and I do get the butterfly argument. If you just went for a casual swim, you could easily find yourself naturally doing breaststroke, backstroke and freestyle, but nobody would ever do butterfly for any reason other than racing it. It's just not a stroke anyone would ever choose to swim other than because someone's created the artificial environment with specific restrictions requiring you to swim that way.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
Again, I don't agree with Jerry about getting rid of strokes, but that doesn't mean his point isn't valid. To an extent you can easily argue that having those four different swimming strokes is a bit like, in athletics, having the 100m sprint, and the 100m backward sprint, and the 100m walking on your hands, and the 100m where you have to skip the way they do in the Wizard of Oz. Then a 200m where you do 50 of each and a 400m where you do 100 of each. But they actually do have something like Jerry is describing here, it's called race walking. Get there the fastest but we'll put really detailed restrictions on how you are able to go fast to make sure you are a lot slower.
BrainsTrust
Guest
Kim Brennan didn't stay in the village, so she wasn;t suffering the effects of leaking gas like the rest. Who ever thought they needed gas cooktops in the Olympic village is to blame.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
Yes, I had thought of Gymnastics. Potentially a female gymnast could get up to 6 medals in one games with team, individual all around and then 4 apparatus. Men could get up to 7 as they have one extra apparatus. Would be pretty unusual to have anyone medal in every apparatus, but then it's pretty unusual to have a Michael Phelps get 8 Gold medals at one games too.
Michael
Guest
First, one must admit they have a problem. Then one has to hit rock bottom. 8 years ago they realised there was a problem. This week, I think the people mentoring our Australian swimmers have hit rock bottom. Australians used to thrive under the pressure of competing on the biggest of stages. We had the ghost of olympics passed, the great "Laurie Lawrence," screaming that the other nations should FEAR the pride of Australia. We had a ferocious streak. We were formidable. Bring on whomever!!! We will not back down!! Now lets go to version 2016. " I'm just happy to be here" "Ive already won by just competing in a final" "Im looking forward to partying for the next week" What have the sports psychologists created?? Really, really well adjusted, very together, lovely bunch of losers. Nice work guys. Money well spent.