Saturday, August 04, 2012

Australia who? - Smashed like guitars 'Swimming Australia' needs to reflect on what went wrong and how to fix it!


I woke up and asked myself: "Did Australia win any gold medals this Olympics?" Sadly the answer is a quiet, noooooo!

Why is it that an Australian coach can bring forth a swimmer like Ye Shewin among others but fellow coaches nearby and a plethora of swim talent therein failed to deliver Australia with a gold medal?

I suspect it is some sort of sociology issue. Perhaps the team was overconfident since they looked so good on paper? Perhaps they lacked 'esprit de corps'? Perhaps they did work hard enough?

It seems that those athletes both in America and Australia who were somewhat boastful about their comments  delivered less than what was expected.

From the Sydney Morning Herald:
Former coach Don Talbot has sent a missile of his own at Nugent, suggesting he toughen up and may be treading too gently with our swimmers, a number of whom have lost control of their emotions this week as result upon result fell against the Australian squad.

Nugent said any suggestion the swimming program lacked discipline was nonsense and he wasn't going to change his approach. Nugent was in charge as Australia won seven gold medals in Athens. In that Games, he had Jodie Henry, Grant Hackett and Ian Thorpe up his sleeve. This time all the out-and-out superstars swim for rival nations.

"I'm Leigh Nugent. That's who I am and I'll keep operating that way. Nice guys can make tough decisions. In this capacity, it's about doing the job. I don't really see what nice guy or tough guy has got to do with it," Nugent said.

[Link]


4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Didn't they win the women's 4x100 Free????

Tony Austin said...

Hey, well done, I spoke too soon, you got a gold medal. :-)

Anonymous said...

Australia was only a favorite for gold in the men's 100 free and 400 FR, with a good shot in the women's 100 back and 200 im. Magnussen and Roberts choking (and other swimmers stepping up) cost them the first two, they got silver in the second two behind some of the fastest textile times in history, and they got a surprise gold in the women's 400 FR. They also had a few good swims in other events (men's 100 breast), so I don't think they really underperformed, they just didn't have the star power of France (Agnel, Muffat, and surprisinglhy Manaudou), or China (Ye, Sun).

Tony Austin said...

Australia is a swimming powerhouse. I expected more. I thought you would take the 100-free, the 4x100 relay and possibly the 50-free and that is just the men's side