Steph Rice: Australia’s ‘truly remarkable’ achievement in Paris pool

Australia fell just short of ending America’s 68-year Olympic dominance in the pool. Steph Rice pinpoints one area the Aussies must improve in.

Steph Rice says there's one area Australia's swim team needs to improve on.

The Aussie swim team did a truly remarkable job in Paris!

We were hopeful that the Aussies could top the medal tally and beat the US which they haven’t done in 68 years, but the final night of competition saw the US take the crown once again.

It really was our medley relays which let us down, which we have previously been so dominant in. The women finished second behind the world record breaking Americans, and the men finished sixth.

All the praise has to go to the women of the pool, who claimed six of our seven gold medals, with Cam McEvoy flying the flag for the men’s team with his history making win for Australia in the 50m freestyle.

But now that the swimming is over, lets wrap up some of the highlights from La Défense Arena.

Kaylee McKeown became the first woman ever to win the double double (the 100m and 200m backstroke at consecutive Olympics).

The USA pipped Australia by one gold in the swimming. (Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)

It was a superb campaign from our female swimmers. (Photo by Adam Pretty/Getty Images)

It was a truly remarkable achievement to defend both of her Olympic titles again in Paris and she’s only 23.

She had a tough battle on her hands, needing to take down world record holder, Regan Smith, which shows how tough Kaylee’s fighting spirit is.

Ariarne Titmus won gold on the opening night, defending her Olympic title in the women’s 400m freestyle and beating Katie Ledecky and Summer McIntosh in the process.

To paint the picture of how impressive this win was, Katie is a nine-time Olympic Gold Medallist, the most of any female swimmer in history, and Summer, who is the 17-year-old powerhouse from Canada, won three gold medals at these Games.

Ariane’s win against these women shows how dominant she is.

Defending an Olympic title takes immense mental strength to carry the weight of expectations we put on our swimmers, while knowing they have one moment every four years to show the world what they can do, and both Kaylee and Ariane handled the pressure with such class.

Kyle Chalmers, Elijah Winnington, Kaylee McKeown and Emma McKeon with their Olympic medals in Paris. Picture: Adam Head

Cam McEvoy became the first Australian to ever to win the men’s 50m freestyle while competing in his fourth Olympics.

Cam almost gave the sport away after placing 29th at the Tokyo Olympics three years ago, but instead decided to give it one more crack, throw out the training rule book and try something completely new…and it worked!

What an inspiriting story of resilience, redemption and courage.

Mollie O’Callaghan takes home three gold medals from her second Olympics, winning the 4x100m freestyle relay along with Emma McKeon, Shayne Jack and Meg Harris, the 4x200 freestyle relay along with Ariarne Titmus, Brianna Throssell, and Lani Pallister, and of course the showstopping race we all watched with anticipation, the women’s 200m freestyle, where Mollie took the win from her training partner, friend, and the current world record holder, Ariarne Titmus.

A truly impressive meet for Mollie and I can’t wait to see what her future holds.

Steph Rice knows what it takes to win Olympic gold. Photo: AFP PHOTO / MARTIN BUREAU

Some other great swims we have to talk about were Elijah Winnington coming second in the men’s 400m freestyle and Kyle Chalmers taking silver once again in the men’s 100m freestyle final, saying he might go for one more Olympic campaign, which would be his fourth.

The rivalry between the US and Australia was as intense as always. The US triumphed on the final day, beating us in both the men’s and women’s 4x100m medley relays.

It was always going to be tough to beat the US given the depth of world class swimmers they have across all four strokes.

The Aussie swim team was lacking depth in both men’s and women's 100m breaststroke, which makes it very challenging to win a medley relay.

Building strength in all strokes is crucial for Los Angeles 2028.

Building depth in strokes other than freestyle is key. Picture: Adam Head

Overall, the Aussies excelled in Paris, winning seven golds, eight silvers and three bronzes, putting us right in the mix alongside the host nation on the overall Olympics medal tally.

Some final thoughts from me.

If Australia wants to cement its place in the top three on the medal tally, we have to invest in the sports that provide the most medal opportunities.

Swimming has 35 medal events up for grabs, which makes up a huge portion of the overall medal tally.

We place such high expectations on our swimmers and it has always been a sport we have done well in at the Olympics despite the lack of financial support that’s given to swimmers.

I would love to see these top athletes, who we place on a pedestal once every four years, receive the recognition, financial support and opportunities they deserve to maintain or hopefully even bolster Australia’s chances of beating the US in the pool.

Stephanie Rice is a three-time Olympic gold medallist and a member of both the International Swimming Hall of Fame and the Sports Australia Hall of Fame. She is writing exclusively for news.com.au during the Paris Olympics.

Originally published as Steph Rice: Australia’s ‘truly remarkable’ achievement in Paris pool