Cate Campbell On Aussie World Champs Success: “It Is So Much Sweeter Beating America”

In a TV interview with Australia Chanel 9, Olympic gold medalist and World Champion Cate Campbell discussed Australia’s recent success at the 2023 World Championships, emphasizing that the accomplishments of the Australians felt even better when they were beating Americans. In addition, Campbell also criticized American TV streaming service Peacock for ranking the World Championships medal table by total medal count rather than gold medal count.

“Such, such, sore losers,” Campbell said regarding the medal count rankings. “Australia coming out on top is one thing, but it is just so much sweeter beating America. There were a couple of nights, particularly the first night of competition, where we did not have to hear the ‘Star Spangled Banner’ ring out through the stadium and I cannot tell you how happy that made me. If I never hear that song again it will be too soon. Bring on Paris, that’s all I have to say. U.S., stop being sore losers.”

Campbell was referring to night one of the World Championships, where the United States won zero gold medals for the first time in 1994 and their national anthem did not have to play during medal ceremonies. Meanwhile, Australia won four gold medals on that same night.

“When we’re right next to each other in the warm-up area, the U.S. has this infernal cowbell that they ring, and as someone leaves to go to the competition pool, they ring out ‘U-S-A, U-S-A’ and I have never wanted to punch someone more and steal that cowbell,” Campbell added.

360 days. I can’t wait. The rivalry continues. pic.twitter.com/RXGAGsOHPi

— Rowdy Gaines (@RowdyGaines) August 1, 2023

Update: American swimmer and 100 breast world record holder Lilly King has responded to Campbell’s comments on Twitter, writing: “Sorry we aren’t so uptight we can’t cheer for our teammates as they walkout for events…See you in Paris.”

Sorry we aren’t so uptight we can’t cheer for our teammates as they walkout for events👀 See you in Paris🥰 https://t.co/wnt9Qe46GJ

— Lilly King (@_king_lil) August 1, 2023

Generally speaking, medal tables at international competitions are sorted by gold medal count, which is what World Aquatics goes by. Australia, therefore, won the World Championships medal table for swimming, earning 13 golds compared to the United States’ 7. However, the U.S. won 38 total medals to Australia’s 25, which had them come out on top in Peacock’s medal count.

The decision to sort a medal table by total medal count has drawn the criticism of many, including Team Australia head coach Rohan Taylor and men’s 100 free World Champion Kyle Chalmers. Meanwhile, U.S. men’s swim team head coach Bob Bowman said that there were “many ways to calculate” a medal table.

This year, Campbell did not compete with team Australia at the World Championships. Following the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games, she did not return to training until September 2022 or swim at an official competition until March 2023. Though her season-best time of 53.52 would have placed sixth at Australian trials this year, she said that she would not compete in Fukuoka regardless of her results and that her focus was on preparing for the 2024 Paris Olympic games.

Campbell is one of Australia’s most accomplished swimmers, holding six out of the seven fastest 100 free relay splits in history. However, with the depth of Australian sprint freestyle continuing to grow, qualifying for the Paris 2024 Games will be an uphill battle.