Commonwealth Games 2018: Cate Campbell now an unstoppable force, says legendary Dawn Fraser
CATE Campbell’s golden first night in the pool will make her unstoppable from here on, some of swimming’s biggest names have declared.
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CATE Campbell’s golden first night in the pool will make her unstoppable from here on, some of swimming’s biggest names have declared.
The 25-year-old last night produced the fastest relay swim in history — 51 seconds — as the Australian sprint relay team smashed the world record to claim gold.
And six-time Commonwealth Games gold medallist Dawn Fraser said the feat will have planted a seed in Campbell that will only fortify her ahead of her individual events.
“Now that she knows that she can swim a 51 flat, she’s got that in her mind and nothing’s going to stop her now,” Fraser said, explaining that swimmers went faster in relay events because of a flying start off the blocks.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if she gets into the final of the 100m. I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if she breaks 52 seconds. She’s got it in her brain now, she knows where it hurts. She stepped up to it, which is fantastic.”
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Three-time Olympic gold medallist and Commonwealth Games gold medallist Stephanie Rice — who today joined Fraser at the Longines Records Club at Broadbeach for its Women in Sport luncheon — said the stunning performance by Campbell, sister Bronte, Emma McKeon and Shayna Jack would raise the energy of the entire team.
Rice said both Campbell and the team would rightly be hunting redemption after what she described as a “really disappointing” outing at the Rio Olympics.
“For Cate, the way the meet is structured is really good,” she said.
“Starting out with a relay, less pressure, obviously Cate is the one to beat, so there’s a lot of extra pressure other than what she’d be putting on herself to perform well off the back of Rio.
“To come out with a relay … it’s fun, and to have the world record and an awesome split — that would give her confidence for her individual races.
“That’s going to help her mentally more than anything to step up and go ‘I’m ready, I’m here to do what I want to do’, and also have redemption.”
Fraser, who in 1962 was the first woman to swim 100m freestyle in less than a minute, watched on alongside Swimming Australia president John Bertrand and admitted she was worried about one of the women costing themselves with a false start.
She said that the competition’s opening evening sets “a beautiful tone” for the remainder of the Games.
Rice, 29, also highlighted the efforts of the likes of 17-year-old Ariarne Titmus who claimed a silver medal in the 200m freestyle and said such performances is what the team needs heading into the next Olympics.
“I think there’s been a lot of building of depth,” she said.
“(Titmus) is so young, she’s smashing it, and that’s really good for the whole team to see young ones coming through. That’s what we’re going to need leading into Tokyo 2020.”
Originally published as Commonwealth Games 2018: Cate Campbell now an unstoppable force, says legendary Dawn Fraser