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Aussies blame pranks, lack of unity for London flop
Source: Agencies |
September 14, 2012, Friday
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Print Edition
SCHOOLBOY pranks, over-inflated egos, a lack of team unity and unrealistic expectations filtered into the public domain yesterday as reasons for Australia's poor showing in the Olympic swimming pool.
Australian swimmers suffered their worst Olympic performance for 20 years in London, failing to win an individual title and ending up with one relay gold, six silver and three bronze medals.
Swimming Australia announced a review into the disappointing display during the Games but is still framing the exact terms of reference and structure of the investigation.
Some individual team members, however, have already had their say on media and television, while the submission of one key figure, head coach Leigh Nugent, has been leaked to the media.
Many of the initial reports focus on the behavior of the men's 4x100 meters relay team, which, led off by 100 meters freestyle favorite James Magnussen, was expected to win gold but ended up out of the medals in a major shock.
Tommaso D'Orsogna, who swam in the 4x100m heats, admitted to being party to misbehavior during a pre-Games camp in Manchester, where squad members made prank telephone calls and knocked on bedroom doors. "That kind of behavior shouldn't be tolerated nor should it be allowed," he said.
Libby Trickett, who helped Australia to the women's 4x100m relay gold in her third Olympics, said the team spirit had not been the same as she had experienced in previous Olympics.
"Obviously this is the first year I've been on the team since 2009, and I just felt in previous years there was a more cohesive unit," she said.
D'Orsogna, meanwhile, also said he had witnessed favoritism for some of the bigger names in the team.
"It is a little bit disappointing to see and I think it is part of the reason why the results in London weren't what we had expected with people maybe putting themselves up a little bit higher than the rest of the team," he said.
Australian swimmers suffered their worst Olympic performance for 20 years in London, failing to win an individual title and ending up with one relay gold, six silver and three bronze medals.
Swimming Australia announced a review into the disappointing display during the Games but is still framing the exact terms of reference and structure of the investigation.
Some individual team members, however, have already had their say on media and television, while the submission of one key figure, head coach Leigh Nugent, has been leaked to the media.
Many of the initial reports focus on the behavior of the men's 4x100 meters relay team, which, led off by 100 meters freestyle favorite James Magnussen, was expected to win gold but ended up out of the medals in a major shock.
Tommaso D'Orsogna, who swam in the 4x100m heats, admitted to being party to misbehavior during a pre-Games camp in Manchester, where squad members made prank telephone calls and knocked on bedroom doors. "That kind of behavior shouldn't be tolerated nor should it be allowed," he said.
Libby Trickett, who helped Australia to the women's 4x100m relay gold in her third Olympics, said the team spirit had not been the same as she had experienced in previous Olympics.
"Obviously this is the first year I've been on the team since 2009, and I just felt in previous years there was a more cohesive unit," she said.
D'Orsogna, meanwhile, also said he had witnessed favoritism for some of the bigger names in the team.
"It is a little bit disappointing to see and I think it is part of the reason why the results in London weren't what we had expected with people maybe putting themselves up a little bit higher than the rest of the team," he said.
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