Aussie powerhouse chases pool’s gold after clearing the air

RIO DE JANEIRO— Boastful Oy-Oy-Oy came out sounding more like a plaintive Oh-Oh-Oh.

And 0-for-swimming gold at London 2012 was just narrowly averted by one (1) top podium finish from the Australian women’s team in the 4x100-metre freestyle relay.

That was a calamity for a powerhouse pool nation that still worships at the temple of Ian Thorpe, with a panoply of aqua stars in their Olympic history.

Down Under, competitive swimming is a passion that ranks equal to Aussie Rules Football, rugby and cricket. So London was a disaster, a national humiliation, with just 10 medals emerging from the swimming lanes.

The long-standing and intensive rivalry with the U.S. for swim domination was woefully subdued as Australia was pushed to the outer lanes in collecting six silver and three bronze to go along with the relay triumph — the country’s worst swim tally in two decades at the Games.

On those broad swimmers’ shoulders has traditionally rested — weighed down — a country’s Olympics reputation.

Since 1900, 58 of Australia’s 143 gold medals have been won by swimmers. They swept the pool events at the Melbourne Games. No country relies so heavily on the swim events for its Games hardware. Sydney: 31 per cent of the country’s gold haul; Athens: 41 per cent; Beijing: 43 per cent.

So distressing was the country’s thrashing in the London pool that it triggered national soul-searching and the commission of an investigation on what went wrong by the Australian Sports Commission.

The report made for grim reading. The findings shone a harsh light on what it described as a “toxic” environment within the swim squad.

It’s most significant disclosure was a “quietly growing lack of focus on people across the board.’’ Athletes claimed that, in the zealous and streamlined attempts to obtain gold medals, “the delicate management of motivation, communication and collaboration were lost.’’

There was “increasingly desperate emphasis on gold’’, the report said, and morale dropped as London unfolded without the anticipated medal haul. Team management appeared unprepared to tackle the absence of success, leaving swimmers feeling “undefended, alone and alienated.’’

Indeed, swimmers described those Games as the “Lonely Olympics” and the “Individual Olympics.” The lack of cohesion and internal support meant that poor behaviour went unchecked — drinking, curfews ignored, misuse of prescription drugs and bullying. But that was then. This is now, four years of correction later, with young Aussie swimmers in the vanguard, taking the sport by storm over the last year.

The goal for the 39-member swim team: eight gold, 15 silver, 12 bronze. It’s 15 or 16 gold medals overall, across all sports — 410 Aussie Olympians in Rio — chef de mission Kitty Chiller has estimated, fingers crossed, which would be double the take from London.

“Yes, we’re going to rely on swimming, we always do. We know from history that the number of medals swimming wins in the first week is normally around a third of what we can expect to win overall. Do we like the fact that we are always relying on swimming? Not necessarily.’’

The Americans have a gaudy swimming contingent, of course, led by Michael Phelps, Katie Ledecky and Missy Franklin. They might very well swamp the field. But the Aussies have sent their most formidable squad in a long time, with eight ranked No. 1 in the world in their events.

Atop the apex are siblings Cate and Bronte Campbell. Cate bested her world record in the 100-metre freestyle last month, cementing the Malawi-born swimmer’s gold bona fides in Rio and proving she’s returned to peak form following shoulder surgery in 2015. Cate actually lost that race to younger sister Bronte at last year’s world championships. Bronte further discarded her “bridesmaid” status by winning the 50-metre freestyle.

“It’s going to be tough, there’s no denying,” Cate acknowledges of lining up against little sis. “But we get to swim a relay together, which has always been a dream. It’s the one time we get to compete with each other instead of against each other.”

Cameron McEvoy, the swim sensation known as the Rocket, has his eye on claiming Australia’s first 100-metre freestyle men’s gold since 1968. He set a world record of 47.04 in winning the Olympic trials.

Emily Seebohm and boyfriend Mitch Larkin were both doubledouble (100 and 200) backstroke victors at worlds, with Larkin named FINA male swimmer of the year. Jess Ashwood is ranked No. 2 in the 800 freestyle behind Ledecky.

Expect lots of gold and green out of the blue on the podium.