Kieren Perkins says Australia’s swimming performance in Rio ‘was way better than London’
KIEREN Perkins looks at where it went right for Australia in the pool, where it went wrong, and why Rio’s performance was ‘way better than London’.
THE best is still ahead in the 1500m freestyle for Mack Horton if he can handle the adulation and the red carpet events in his overflowing new life as an Olympic gold medallist.
He’ll be very disappointed with his fifth in the 1500m final when his best time would have won him bronze and he was tuned for better.
He will have four years until the 2020 Tokyo Olympics to dissect, work on the gaps, reset his goals and get the most from what will be a long career of duels against Italy’s Gregorio Paltrinieri.
Mack is not leaving Rio shattered, far from it when he has a wonderful 400m freestyle gold medal in his pocket.
It was a mixed-up Olympics in the pool for the Aussies in that way.
Those world No. 1s we went in thinking would be atop the podium didn’t reach those heights and our individual golds from Horton and Kyle Chalmers were exhilarating surprises.
I’d still rate it a seven-out-of-10 meet for Australia, way better than London in 2012, less than the six golds we reasonably could have expected and exciting as a launch pad.
The sport of swimming is going through a renaissance.
The Europeans, with six gold, were much stronger in Rio, there were great swimmers out of Japan and Commonwealth countries lifted despite the American dominance.
The 2018 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast will be significant in the momentum for Tokyo in four years.
In her post-race interview, Cate Campbell lightheartedly said she may have a fourth Olympics in her at 28.
If she’s not sure, she should give the Commonwealth Games a crack in her own backyard.
A Games in your own country is beyond compare as an amazing opportunity and that may become the hook to hang on for Tokyo.
It is different when you build up a stress around a pet event, one you dream about and one you tune everything towards.
That was the 1500m for Mack, not the 400m which he was not necessarily so worried about.
I did think Mack went out very slow in the 1500 but once he pulled into second around the 400-500m mark I thought “here we go.”
The match racing I anticipated was a feature but just between those swimmers, second to sixth.
Paltrinieri was just not hanging around for it. He was gone and blew the race apart by the 1000m.
He won gold in tremendous fashion with his 14 Min 34 sec time.
Post-race, Mack mentioned he’d been feeling a bit rough since his relay swim earlier in the meet.
In the dissection of this meet, Mack and the Aussie coaches have to understand why that happened.
Enjoy and celebrate … they’ll be the two things most on Mack’s mind right now.
No more bubble in Rio to insulate him from distractions.
The whole world is now rushing in.
Things have changed forever after his first big medal.
There’ll be red carpet walks at movie premieres, invitations to open galleries, black tie dinners and fashion week invites.
I never felt more like a fish out of water than when attending fashion weeks by the runway after the 1996 Olympics.
I had David Jones as a sponsor, they fitted me with a Ermenegildo Zegna suits and there I was watching models strut the new fashions.
Fashion, for me, was making sure my colours matched and even then I had to ask.
However he enjoys the moment, Mack should get back in the pool in a few weeks even just to keep a feel for the water before serious training begins again.
Enjoy your new lives Mack and Kyle.
Originally published as Kieren Perkins says Australia’s swimming performance in Rio ‘was way better than London’