Can you feel it, Swimming Australia’s positive energy roaring back? If not, you’re not paying attention.
Swimming Australia took a pounding by the Aussie media last year at 2012 London Olympic Games, but they’ve regrouped and they’re roaring back with team spirit and the promise of great performances. Their two top sprinters, Cate Campbell and James Magnussen, have been the best in the world this year and have put up some all-time-great performances en route to the World Championships. Alicia Coutts, the program’s big winner at the Olympics last year, has remained sharp as well and shown no signs of a post-Olympic letdown.
You have to give credit where credit is due. Per capita, Australia is the greatest swimming nation on earth. Compared to the US with over 300 million citizens, Australia’s only 22.1 million strong. Australia is smaller, population-wise, than Southern California. You have to appreciate Australia’s ability to continually churn out talent.
See Swimming Australia’s HQ here.
All that mattered to me from the video was the fun the swimmers were having. If they can bring this with them into Barcelona then they will win a boat load of medals.
Objectively they are ranked as medal contenders in 11 Olympic events plus the 6 relays.
If 10 medals in 2012 is the pits – then improvement would be 10 + .
They have fewer shoppers & toy boys this year . Lookin up 🙂
And I always have to remind myself Australia is a country of just over 20 million people. Proportionately speaking, they are the best swimming country in the world (Hungary can be up there also). .
Hungary is quite close indeed with its 10 million citizens and an all-time total of 66 medals at the FINA World Aquatics Championships (all FINA events are included), while there are approximately 23 million Aussies with their accomplishment of 196 medals.
Hence, the ratio of medals to the pool of talent is just a bit higher in Australia than in Hungary being about 8,5 and 6,6 per one million inhabitants respectively. Hungary must be the greatest swimming nation in Europe.
I’m so sorry but I can’t help sharing this one. If we apply similar thinking to the Olympics, what do we get:
http://www.medalspercapita.com/#medals-per-capita:all-time
The all-time greatest nation in Olympic history is… ? Hahaha. But seriously, a nice website with some nice statistics.
I like those stats, go Nordic countries! 🙂
I guess winter sports account for quite a few of those, but then again Finland used to have all those great javelin throwers and distance runners. I remember going to an athletics meet in Helsinki quite a few years ago, and being amazed how the javelin was almost the centrepiece of the meet, unlike most athletics meets where the field events are just something to watch while waiting for the next track race to start.
Heh, you noticed it right. Javelin is probably the most popular event in athletics here. Maybe it’s simple enough for us.
Looking good. I hope Ozzies can create friendly and supportive atmosphere. I see them just behind the USA on the medal table but with all the marquee medals bound for Australia after the Worlds, via Eindhoven and Berlin I hope.
Couldn’t see Cate Campbell…
Thanks for the video. Really does look like the boys & girls are going to be back, doesn’t it…and with a mighty vengeance!
The Missile will finally perform to his full potential, can’t see anyone mounting a serious challenge in the 100. Seeing how Morozov in all likelihood already peaked at Kazan as the Russian Sports Ministry had mandated the higher national priority to WUG over WC. The 50 will be closer though.
Wouldn’t surprise me if the AUS women sweep the 3 relays – already clear cut favourites in the 4×200 (all 3 North American analysts on SWM are in unanimous agreement on this, in fact so far as to declare “there’s no hope for the Americans to reap… Read more »
Food4Thought
You certainly have some strong love for AUS and dislike of America’s swim team. Don’t ever say someone stole a gold medal because the other swimmer let the pressure get to them, that’s part of the atmosphere of the Olympics. That’s why it’s the Olympics, and not just another meet, because there is big pressure on everyone. Keeping your emotions in check is part of the competition.
Missy had a huge amount of media hype on her but she didn’t let it affect her and she swam great. You prepare for pressure/expectations the same way you prepare for the physical demands, by practice! Missy had a lot of races in London, so she had to save a little through… Read more »
Fair enough to your comments for the most part.
Wouldn’t say that I expressed a dislike of America’s swim team, just rather they get more than the lion’s share of the attention what with them being the biggest swim nation in the world and all that. Aussies & Europeans are often underestimated and at times under appreciated for their over achievements for such smaller swim countries.
Franklin does seem like a sweet lass and smashing athlete who deserves some of the massive hype surrounding her. However the American press went much easier on Franklin in London than their AUS counterparts did to C-Bomb & Maggie. When Franklin failed to secure a podium spot in both the 100 & 200… Read more »
That was indeed a miracle. On her 7th year of internationals Bronte finally equalled her trials swim. Plus she held off Melissa on the relay.
Seebohm is still on her way back from Swine flu that struck Feb 2011 on top of a close call at Dehli. There are quite a few swimmers that never recovered from the that shithole.
Plus she has the most handsome & smart horse . True love.
Not to forget that among the sickness woes , Emily’s former horse died suddenly. A bad trot to say the least.
I remember that interview Hackett had with Seebohm right after the race. She was absolutely devastated and you couldn’t help but feel for her.
USA Swimming has been quietly and extremely protective of Missy since she started to make senior national teams. I suspect that Terri McKeever and friends had a meeting with NBC beforehand and made it clear that if she felt like the talking heads were putting undue pressure on Franklin, their microphone hands would be reduced to bloody stumps right quick.
im rooting for Team USA of course lol, but you know what i really do hope Cate n Emily will be able to show the world what they are so capable of in their respective events.
yeah they have both suffered tons of setbacks but they possess too much talent for them not to finally shine on the big stage!
to FOOD4THOUGHT who wrote ‘When Franklin failed to secure a podium spot in both the 100 & 200 individual last year’…
well you just wait n see i have a lil feeling Missy will do a bit better in her frees @ Spain than she did @ London. check out this recent writeup from the Denver Post where she… Read more »
I agree with you on one aspect:
American swimmers have never been put under immense pressure by their public/media as top australian swimmers normally are.
In that way, US swimmers are quite fortunate.
That’s true for almost everyone. Except for Phelps. Some sports media pundits acted like his 6 golds performance in Athens was a failure/disappointment after the matching Spitz Pre-Olympic hype that was not generated by him but by the media.
Before the London Olympics, there was supposed to be no way that the Australian men could lose the 4x100FR. Look at how well that all worked out for them.
That’s kind of a misleading statement about Franklin and Seebohm. Seebohm was well ahead through the heats, but all that really matters there is getting through; the difference between Franklin’s winning time in the final and Seebohm’s OR is only a tenth.
We can feel how u feel here ………sorry if the Aussies didn’t bring much last year in london . I hope they have the supportive atmosphere the Usa has often develop for best performances . Good luck …..
Wow, that last paragraph is so disrespectful to Franklin. Are you aware Franklin won that title after just completing the 200 free semis? If Franklin was fresh, that WR could of been gone. Franklin didn’t “steal” anything, she beat Seebohm fair and square.
There’s a difference between being a great time trialist (see Katie Hoff) and a champion race. Franklin’s been a champion racer from an early age.
Very nice video of the Australian team in training sessions . They are having fun and they will be very strong in 10 days .