Olympics - Struggling as Favourites

The true Australian spirit lies in the heart of the underdog fighting to win against all odds and claim the gold medal. At the Athens and Sydney Olympic Games Australian proved it self as a sporting powerhouse despite its small population. On both occasions we finished fourth on the medal tally winning many events we weren’t expected to.

So the stage had been set for our best ever games in Beijing, and with world records tumbling in the pool at the Olympic trials things were looking bright for our green and gold heroes. In the pool alone we were hoping for 10 Gold medals and had a very realistic chance of achieving them.

Now let’s fast forward to Day 9 of the games and Australia sits fifth on the medal tally winning six of their eight gold medals in the pool, all from our golden girls. This is the first time since 1932 no Australian male has won gold in swimming, and despite the rise of Stephanie Rice and strong performances by the girls overall, many Australian’s can’t help but be a little disappointed with what we’ve seen at the Water Cube.

Lisbeth Trickett is the world record holder for the 50m and 100m Freestyle, Liesel Jones was the world record holder for the 200m Breaststroke, Eamon Sullivan the world record holder for the 50m and 100m Freestyle and Grant Hackett for the 1500m Freestyle.

Six events, six world records, zero Gold. Perhaps this is our problem. As much as we don’t want to admit this WE ARE NO LONGER THE UNDERDOGS.

Sadly for the Aussies, Sullivan’s semi final swim in the 100m would have won him the final just as Hackett’s heat swim for the 1500m would have won the final and catapulted him into Olympic immortality. With it he would have been the first man to win three Olympic Gold medals in the same swimming event.

Traditionally we have always been one of the swimming powerhouses but never to the extent we were coming into these games. The team has actually performed better than any swim team before them but Silver is not gold enough for Australian fans. That’s not to say we don’t appreciate the achievement of winning Silver or Bronze we have just become so used to success we are only happy with Gold.

Unfortunately we only have ourselves to blame. With the success of the Sydney Games came the unveiling of our top class sporting facilities and many countries have been quick to copy us. Now in the worst turn of events the Poms are beating us on the medal tally because of it!

Even worse is that many former Australian Olympians are now coaching overseas and giving away our secrets. The winner of the men’s 50m Freestyle is coached by former Australian Olympian Brett Hawke, while Grant Hackett’s training partner represented China in the 1500m final.

In the latest blow for Australia’s sporting elite is the news that Jessica Schipper’s coach has sold his secret training techniques to the world for an undisclosed amount – clearly his focus is on his swimmer being successful!

We have enjoyed our success while it’s lasted but now we have to pay the prices as technology is closing the gap between countries. Our secrets have been exposed and the rest of the world is catching up to us.

One positive from all of this is that at London 2012 we may again be underdogs where we can be our best without the added pressure. But for the rest of these games lets hope our rowers can pull out a couple more miracles, our cyclists can return to form and our Hockey, Basketball, Beach Volleyball and Water Polo teams can do us proud. Just remember only GOLD does that now!

Come on Aussies!!!!