American swimming fans have struck again. After the Aussie women’s epic 4x100m medley win over ther USA on the final day of the program Sunday, salty Americans accused Cate Campbell of cheating when she produced a super slick changeover for the final leg.
Campbell’s reaction time in leaving the block after Emma McKeon’s touch was .04 seconds – inside the legal allowed time to avoid disqualification.
Campbell later admitted she was nervous as she looked at the board at the end of the race.
“I saw a number one next to our names and I thought, ‘oh, my goodness, that’s incredible’,” Campbell told Channel 7.
“I looked up and the girls were celebrating and I thought ‘my changeover was very quick, we’ve either just won an Olympic gold medal or we’ve just been disqualified’.
“So I was like we have to wait until the results are official. And they were official and we are Olympic gold medallists.”
But on social media US fans – who were moaning earlier in the meet when Ariarne Titmus did a double over Katie Ledecky – returned to tantrum mode.
Campbell’s final leg may have been her final race in an Olympics in her fourth appearance, and she used all her experience to make a massive difference.
“That 0.04 from Cate Campbell on the relay changeover compared to 0.38 from the American,” said Ian Thorpe on the Channel 7 commentary. “That is the difference.”
Australia clocked 3:51.60 to win gold, .13 seconds ahead of the USA.
“I still just can’t believe that we just did that,” Campbell said.
“It’s an incredible job by everyone. “I was disappointed with my 50m freestyle but I told myself you find out what you’re made of when things don’t go your way, not when things are working well for you.
“I took that mindset into this race and thought you have to be brave and get back out there. I’m absolutely blown away.”
Campbell paid “full credit” to Emma McKeon, who won seven medals at these games – to equal the all-time tally by a female in a single Olympics, and go to an equal record five Olympic golds for her country.
“I could not be happier for her,” Campbell said.
Campbell said that she refelcted on her career and future on Sunday.
“Before I walked out for my 50m final I just had to stop myself and think what a privilege it’s been, to be mixing it with the best in the world for so long.
“While there are some empty seats up there, if you look up at the Australian section that’s full. And I know the rest of the stadium is full of the Australian spirit we can feel pouring in from back home.”
Mark
Guest
Mooty, Yes the Yanks have short memories, but your guilt by associated nationality charge is pretty lame. What connection does Phelps have to Carl Lewis, other than nationality? Lewis was lucky in 1988, as he tested positive to prohibited substances at the US trials, but it was hushed up and he was let off secretly because he convinced them that he took medication that also contained a prohibited substance. Phelps was 3 years old in 1988 - and he competed in a totally different sport. You may as well claim Cathy Freeman was on drugs just because she was in the same sport as Carl!
Mark
Guest
Mooty, where do you think the 0.04 reaction time comes from? It's the electronic measurement of Campbell's reaction time. The fact is she didn't break - she left the blocks 0.04 seconds after her teammate touched, and that is just good relay swimming. In swimming, they actually allow a break of up to -0.03 seconds, but in this case there was no break. Australia won fair and square.
Jeff
Roar Rookie
Agreed. I had the same thoughts - yeah there were a few negative comments, but so what, out of potentially tens/hundreds of thousands of American onlookers? I just like to respond to this sort of reporting as a bit of good fun/banter/jousting. It's hardly representative of a systemic position of negative attitudes re the outcome from the American swimming community/broader public.
Jeff
Roar Rookie
Those grapes taste pretty good to me.
Paul
Roar Guru
exactly. The term "sour grapes" springs to mind.
Mooty
Roar Rookie
I assume this is checked electronically, not just by the naked eye. If the electric touch mechanism gives the okay, then no reason for complaint
Paul
Roar Guru
I suspect it was way more good luck than good management, Shmax, probably brought on by nerves, I reckon.
ShmaxShmillas
Roar Rookie
It was an amazing gamble.
Paul
Roar Guru
You raise the obvious point we've missed - hoe could she cheat? She anticipated the touch like all swimmers are trained to do and as you said, she got lucky. She certainly didn't cheat. More to the point, I'm not sure how she could.
Sean McHugh
Guest
Even if she had left the block early (she didn't) that would not constitute cheating as it would not have been deliberate. No one in the close a position would deliberately do something that would see their team miss out through disqualification. Also, she had 0.04 seconds to left. No one one the block can accurately judge down and react that finely. Sure, she was lucky and she knew it. She was anxious about it having cut it so close. It's dumb and vicious to suggest that there was cheating and it's dumb to ignore the fact that she still had 0.04 seconds to spare.
matth
Roar Guru
Carl Lewis got found out after his career ended, with very strong circumstantial evidence at the least.
Paul
Roar Guru
This story is a huge reason why I'm not a fan of social media. Four comments were posted in this story which are obviously from disgruntled American fans but how many negative comments were posted at all? Then how many positive remarks were posted? I also take non-posts to mean people were okay with the result. In other words, I'll bet plenty, the vast majority thought the result was okay. At the end of the day, who cares what some person from America thinks? There were a gazillion judges who thought Australia should have won and that's what the record books say.
andyfnq
Roar Rookie
Geez that country is a shirth0le these days. First attempt at this was no good, hopefully this one is okay because I think the sentiment is justified :happy:
bazza200
Guest
What's mindblowing is that in Running you can react too fast which seems wierd. So people were penalised not for going before the gun but reacting too early they had this 0.1 which is deemed too fast. I'm sure the people in the long distances are glad they don't have to worry about that. Watching it live All australia's relay change overs were really quick not just in that race.
Micko
Roar Rookie
Mooty, you wrote the word "ch eat": big no-no word (and it's various derivatives) on here! :silly: :silly: :silly:
Big Mig
Roar Rookie
It was an epic 4x100m medley win by the Aussies, even more so over the USA.
Jeff
Roar Rookie
Hmm. I would have thought it was simply being better at change overs. But what ever suits their denial of their own failures I guess.
The Late News
Roar Rookie
I have a good mate named Mee Sook in Hong Kong. Looks like the yanks have pinched his identity!
Mooty
Roar Rookie
What was wrong with my comment, no swear words, no direct accusations, nothing worse than in the texts quoted in the article
Mooty
Roar Rookie
The Yanks have got short memories if they’re going call anyone cheats. Anyone remember Flo Jo Joyner, and you can’t forget her husband Carl. That whole saga unfortunately puts question marks around other Americans like Carl Lewis and even the great Michael Phelps. It would be naive to think that only the Russians and Chinese are cheats, even our own teams might inadvertently cheat, given the pressure they are under.