Swimming

[Rabbits20]

Here comes the Basil Zempilas commentary about swimming late.

It's not an excuse. I'm sick of him saying it.

What he should be saying is the truth and the truth is we aren't what we used to be in the swimming.

We are going backwards.

 

[Rabbits20]

Hungary are performing better than us in the swimming lol.

They've got a few very good swimmers.

 

[Rabbits20]

Does this Hoozshu get tired?

It seems not lol.

 

[Rabbits20]

He will win. Was in cruise control today and only just lost. The other two seemed to be going for it a bit more.

Lol.

I knew he'd never win.

In my head I honestly thought Bronze.

 

[Rabbits20]

If she actually gets a start that isn't a second slower than the whole field she is a very good chance, if not forget it. Emily has been terrible off the start for years but today took the cake!

Lol.

Got a great start and faded.

 

[Twizzle]

The Iron Lady is pretty amazing.

 

[T-Boon]

I suspect the big advantage the US has is that they are constantly racing against other really good fast swimmers in their college system - which means the US athletes that get to the olympics are not only fast but also good at racing and bring their A game to the big events.
Our swimmers are fast and have great PB's but the big event get the better of them because the competition just isn't there in Australia - they win through too easily.
Every time we go into the Olympics you can sense some deliberate strategy (like being low key) to deal with the expectation. It generally backfires...We should just accept that 3 or 4 gold is a great effort for us.
One thing we should try is our best swimmers should try to get into colleges in the US and get some regular experience.

 

[Rabbits20]

The Iron Lady is pretty amazing.

She will win the medley tomorrow I reckon.

 

[Twizzle]

she could win the medley relay by herself

 

[Rabbits20]

she could win the medley relay by herself

Twizzle the USA chanting gives me the shits.

 

[Shorty]

I suspect the big advantage the US has is that they are constantly racing against other really good fast swimmers in their college system - which means the US athletes that get to the olympics are not only fast but also good at racing and bring their A game to the big events.
Our swimmers are fast and have great PB's but the big event get the better of them because the competition just isn't there in Australia - they win through too easily.
Every time we go into the Olympics you can sense some deliberate strategy (like being low key) to deal with the expectation. It generally backfires...We should just accept that 3 or 4 gold is a great effort for us.
One thing we should try is our best swimmers should try to get into colleges in the US and get some regular experience.

Exactly.

Are people really complaining that the Olympians are just happy to be there? We will never be USA or China.
We generally over perform but massively overperformed in the pools in the 90s and 2000s.

Proud of the Aussie swimmers, but the men's and women's hockey...well that's a different story.

 

[BuffaloRules]

Exactly.

Are people really complaining that the Olympians are just happy to be there? We will never be USA or China.
We generally over perform but massively overperformed in the pools in the 90s and 2000s.

Proud of the Aussie swimmers, but the men's and women's hockey...well that's a different story.

Whilst they will never be the US or even China, I find it disappointing that the majority of the team does not seem to produce their best times of the year in the Olympic final....

This has been the case particularly in London and so far in Rio..

It indicates to me that there are issues with the preparation of the team and the timing of the trials...

 

[BuffaloRules]

Just to qualify the above, I checked Horton's time in the 400m at the Trials - 3.42.84.

He improves this to 3.41.55 in the final and wins the Gold by a tenth of a second...

This further improvement is what got him home, and to be honest, I cant recall if anyone else has improved on their best time from either the trial or the semi final when swimming in the Olympic final ... ( Perhaps Larkin - I haven't checked his time from the trial)...

 

[T-Boon]

We should start a rumour that swimming was invented by the British and then the Americans might quit it and invent their own version of pool sport - pool football or base pool (which 50 years from now we would all think is awesome).

 

[Shorty]

Whilst they will never be the US or even China, I find it disappointing that the majority of the team does not seem to produce their best times of the year in the Olympic final....

This has been the case particularly in London and so far in Rio..

It indicates to me that there are issues with the preparation of the team and the timing of the trials...

I think the problem is the Aussie commentators overly pump up our swimming chances.
Mitch Larkin has never medaled in an Olympics, Seabohm has but she's never had gold in backstroke.
The men's free relay was never going to be anything other than bronze.
If Cate and Cam bomb out then imo people should definitely be disappointed.

Also the 'golden age' we had was necessary for us, as hosting the 2000 Olympics, to perform.
Athens was a flow on affect for that, but Atlanta and Sydney had significant infrastructure in place to ensure our swimmers performed well.
You'll notice we get less and less in the pool after Athens.

The qualifications for the olympics are subject of debate, but those dates have been around for a while.
Like Buffalo said, in the US they have scolarships for this sort of thing and Uni pride is huge over there.
It creates a competitive atmosphere the Aussies don't see until the Olympics.

 

[lockyno1]

Whilst they will never be the US or even China, I find it disappointing that the majority of the team does not seem to produce their best times of the year in the Olympic final....

This has been the case particularly in London and so far in Rio..

It indicates to me that there are issues with the preparation of the team and the timing of the trials...

At the end of the day you are 100% correct with the massive issue with the trials. You are having them 4-5 months before the main event and you wonder why some swimmers don't perform. Form changes every week let alone every 4 months!

 

[Frankus]

Embarrassing Aussie commentator trying to make excuses around the poor evening performances of the Aussie Swimmers talking about the time differences back to Australia...

They have been in the US for weeks in the lead up to this...

I said this the last time, but the fact that they have their selection trails 4 months before the games is not working....

They should follow the US who have theirs about 6 weeks before...

First point, I don't think they have been in the US for 'weeks'. Maybe a fortnight (should be enough to get over jet lag quite comfortably). At least Seebohm wasn't. My sister sat next to her on a flight from Brisbane to Sydney only 2 weeks ago.

And 6 weeks from tirals to major competition is probably a little too soon in my opinion although as you say, it works for the US. 8 weeks would be perfect - 1-2 week taper before the trials, 1 week of competing, a slow week then 5 weeks of solid work then start their taper again for the main event.

The thing with the US is that most are competing in the college NCAA system which is very competitive. They are racers, and do alot of it and never seem to be overawed by the big stage. We simply don't have that here.

 

[Frankus]

I suspect the big advantage the US has is that they are constantly racing against other really good fast swimmers in their college system - which means the US athletes that get to the olympics are not only fast but also good at racing and bring their A game to the big events.
Our swimmers are fast and have great PB's but the big event get the better of them because the competition just isn't there in Australia - they win through too easily.
Every time we go into the Olympics you can sense some deliberate strategy (like being low key) to deal with the expectation. It generally backfires...We should just accept that 3 or 4 gold is a great effort for us.
One thing we should try is our best swimmers should try to get into colleges in the US and get some regular experience.

beat me to it mate.

 

[Frankus]

Whilst they will never be the US or even China, I find it disappointing that the majority of the team does not seem to produce their best times of the year in the Olympic final....

This has been the case particularly in London and so far in Rio..

It indicates to me that there are issues with the preparation of the team and the timing of the trials...

It is not just in London. It happened in Sydney too with Klim and Huegill in the 100 fly.

We haven't had a pure out and out racer in either mens or womens since Ian Thorpe and Jodie Henry. Magnussen, Sullivan, Lenton/Trickett, Seebohm, et al. have proved time and again they were/are totally capable of choking on the big stage.

 

[BuffaloRules]

It is not just in London. It happened in Sydney too with Klim and Huegill in the 100 fly.

We haven't had a pure out and out racer in either mens or womens since Ian Thorpe and Jodie Henry. Magnussen, Sullivan, Lenton/Trickett, Seebohm, et al. have proved time and again they were/are totally capable of choking on the big stage.

Agreed that its not entirely a new problem but its been extremely noticeable this time and London.

But on a general note, I was reading something that the only individual male winners we have had since 1992 are as follows;

Thorpe - 3 times
Hackett -2 times
Perkins- 2 times
Horton -1

Its a very small list isn't it... for all of the success we think we have had in that time its only our elite that can break through at the Olympics......

The women have been better but still I can think of a lot of disappointments mixed in with the Jodie Henry's and Stephanie Rice's....

I know that the US has their college system but I still don't see how this impacts on our guys not swimming their best in the Olympic Finals.. Also other countries athletes that don't attend US colleges can bring their A game to the Olympic finals...

Perhaps there is a psychological thing where they qualify for the team ( which lets be honest is an amazing achievement in its own right) but they celebrate this perhaps to much and then they just do their own thing for 4 months whilst the rest of the world increases their hunger and workloads...

As I demonstrated with Horton earlier, the task has probably just started when you qualify for the team... More likely than not, you are going to have to improve on this time to win, yet the majority seem to go backwards...