We have to talk about it right at the very top. It was the most anticipated individual race of the swimming program at the London 2012 Olympic Games - and turned out to be the most exciting of all, even more so than the women's 4x100m freestyle relay on Day One - but James Magnussen's bid for some sort of revenge for the much-discussed men's 4x100m freestyle relay in the men's 400m freestyle final fell short by the shortest and most agonising of 0.01 seconds, about as close as it can get in swimming. What will make The Missile even more frustrated is that he looked for all the world like becoming an Olympic champion with about two strokes to go. I even thought he had it in the bag with one stroke to go, but was touched out by the American, Nathan Adrian, who also swum a wonderful race, both men managing to mow down the pace-setting Cielo of Brazil late in what can only be described as an epic race.
The interesting thing now that Magnussen has won a "lowly" (insert some sarcasm here) Silver will be the reaction by Australia, and particularly by certain sections of the media who've jumped on him, on Leisel Jones and some other athletes - including Chinese swimmers - over the last few days of competition and, in the case of the supposedly-overweight Jones, before the Olympics had even begun. There will be frustration and disappointment, I'm sure, but I honestly think any criticism will be unfair. Magnussen, as anyone who watched the race could tell, left everything out there in the pool, gave it every little ounce of strength he had and came up short by the shortest and most morale-sapping margin imaginable. A Silver medal at the Olympic Games is nothing to sneeze at, despite what was expected of the man. It's much better than most of us will ever be able to do, including those who'll right the predictable stories about the death of Australian swimming. Ho hum.
There has been some chaos in the badminton ranks, if you can believe that, with a eight competitors ejected from the Games in disgrace following what seems to be a match-fixing racket, which has left the sport rather red-faced. Interestingly, the Badminton World Federation chief, Thomas Lund, said he was "sorry" rather than "embarrassed" by the episode. Really? I'd probably be embarrassed that my federation had to expel from the Olympic Games the top seeds (the Chinese pair), four South Koreans and an Indonesian pair for deliberately throwing games. Honestly, this is probably the most press that the sport of badminton has ever gotten in the mainstream media.
Opals coach Carrie Graf is in the news, suggesting that some teams strategically lose games. In this instance, it may be that a team manipulates it's own results to avoid having to play, say, the powerful Team USA in the quarter final round. If Australia loses one more game in the group matches, they may avoid that very fate. At the same time as she broke this news, Graf was quick to add that Australia endorsed such tactics. She also said that she didn't think it undermined the sport. I think it does, the sport and the Olympic movement both. Athletes should be out there to win.
Thankfully, after their last start loss to France in overtime, the Opals edged out Brazil 67-61 thanks to an 18-point haul from the captain and Australian team flag-bearer, Lauren Jackson, who was ably supported today by the usual suspects, including Liz Cambage (17 points) and Suzy Batkovic (11 points). The buzzer-beater hero from the last game, Belinda Snell, was reasonably quiet with just the 5 points. Let's hope that the French game was but a minor blip on the radar.
Finally, the host nation has a Gold medal. It must've been the longest and most frustrating wait imaginable for the British public, who have supported their athletes incredibly well in the opening few days of the London Games, but the wait is over. The Team Great Britain women's pairs rowing crew of Helen Glover and Heather Stanning are now assured their place in British sporting immortality. Must've been a massive relief, considering many observers were sure that Cavendish or Wiggins would deliver a first-up Gold medal in the Men's road race on Day One of competition. Congratulations to Australia's Kate Hornsey and Sarah Tait who came home to finish Silver, as much an opening act for the big-time rock stars as there's been in these Olympics.
Then there was another, with Bradley Wiggins, fresh off his Tour de France triumph, won his fourth ever Olympic Gold medal, taking out the men's road cycling time trial, to make this a wonderful day for the host nation. Wiggins won by a mammoth 42 seconds and the British rider Chris Froome came home in third. All in all, a pretty solid day. From an Australian point of view, it's a great shame that Cadel Evans wasn't able to race in this one.
Australia's men's hockey team is rolling nicely. Boy, did the Kookaburras do the job well, dismantling a good Spanish team - albeit one with a few key players out - to the tune of 5-0. There were three goals in the first half and two in the second, Orchard, Turner, Butturini, Ockenden and Ford scoring for Australia. Were it not for some excellent work in the net by the Spanish goalie Francisco Cortes, the score could've ballooned right out. In every facet of the game, the Kookaburras were impressive. Jamie Dwyer remains one goal shy of becoming Australia's all-time leading goal scorer. Hopefully it can happen in the team's next game vs. Argentina.
Australia's medal tally: 1 Gold, 5 Silver, 2 Bronze. Total: 9. Rank: 15
No-one should jump down the Missiles throat. The Olympics is not a swim in the training pool, it's the most intense competition in the world. Maggie told us he was struggling massively with nerves - he wasn't even sleeping. To still be able to come out and swim to a silver medal when you're putting that amount of pressure on yourself is an achievement in itself!
ReplyDeleteAside from the pressure heaped on him by the Australian public.
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