As the Campbell sisters touched home outside the medals in Rio yesterday, the fact Australia's swimming team has already done much better than they did in London in 2012 provided little comfort to a nation primed to expect Friday to be a golden morning in the pool. Not everything has gone to plan.

Before leaving for Rio, Swimming Australia president John Bertrand told AFR Weekend that the key to achieving good results in the pool was to "de-pressurise the situation" for the swimmers and make them feel comfortable enough to record their best ever times on the sport's biggest stage.