Tokyo 2020 Olympics: Why Australia swim team will be our best yet

Australia’s swim team will carry huge expectations into Tokyo — and there’s good reason to believe they can deliver on the hype.

Elijah Winnington is set to make a splash in Tokyo.

For an organisation obsessed with winning, Swimming Australia has been conspicuously coy about predicting how many medals the Dolphins will collect at next month’s Tokyo Olympics — even when everything points to the start of a new golden age.

The party line from team officials is they don’t want to add to the pressure on the swimmers, though everyone knows that’s a crock.

Australia’s top swimmers have already been put under the blowtorch because of a brutal selection policy that excludes some competitors even when they achieve the official qualifying standards.

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“No one on this team is here to make up the numbers,” Cate Campbell said.

“Every single person on this team is a legitimate medal chance.

“That is why our qualification standards are so hard, they’re the toughest in the world.”

Based on current rankings — which have long been a reliable guide to forecasting medal winners — the latest data indicates the 35-strong team picked for Tokyo could be the greatest ever to wear the green and gold togs.

Australia is ranked No. 1 in the world in 13 events on the Olympic swimming program for Tokyo.

Of course, that doesn’t mean they will win them all but if the Dolphins collect nine golds that will break the Australian record for the most won at a single Olympic Games — eight — set way back in 1956 when Dawn Fraser and Murray Rose were spearheading the first golden era of Australia.

It’s not just gold medals either. Australia’s swimmers are also forecast to win five silver and five bronze for a total of 23 — surpassing the record of 20 from the 2008 Beijing Olympics during the last golden era.

“I’m not going to give you a number,” Australia’s head coach Rohan Taylor said.

“The standard we have … going into the next phase, puts us in a great position, but that’s all it does.

“I‘m really excited about what opportunities are presented going forward.”

The Australian public heard similar things before the 2012 and 2016 Olympics so were left deflated when the team only managed 10 medals each time, but there’s a noticeable difference with the squad for Tokyo.

Matthew Temple will be out to make a name for himself at the Olympics.

Unlike previous years, this team is not relying on one big-name to carry the nation’s hopes because it is overflowing with fearless star performers, toughened up by the challenges thrown at them by the pandemic.

Emma McKeon (50m freestyle, 100m freestyle), Ariarne Titmus (200m freestyle, 400m freestyle), Kaylee McKeown (100m backstroke, 200m backstroke, 200m individual medley), Elijah Winnington (400m freestyle) and Zac Stubblety-Cook (200m breaststroke) — are all ranked No. 1 in their events, but that’s small fish compared to the unprecedented strength in some of the relays, notably the women’s 4x100m freestyle

The top four in the world are all Australian and the top six from last week’s Australian trials all went faster than the winner at the US trials, which hasn’t been lost on anyone.

US swimmers have dominated the last two Olympics — winning 16 gold medals both in London and Rio — and haven’t stopped bragging about it since, already dismissing Australia as a serious challenger in Tokyo.

Emma McKeon (R) and Cate Campbell react after finishing first and second respectively in the women's 50m freestyle final.

Katie Ledecky — prematurely anointed by American media as the greatest female swimmer of all time — claimed she wasn’t even aware the Australian trials were taking place last week after Titmus almost broke her 400m world record, declaring: “The medals aren’t given this week so I don’t think we have to get too caught up in what times people are going here versus anywhere else in the world right now.”

Ledecky’s outspoken teammate Lilly King went even further, forecasting the American women will win every individual gold medal in swimming in Tokyo — only to later backtrack once she realised she was wading into the same murky waters as Gary Hall Jr, who still gets lampooned for wrongly boasting that the American relay team at the 2000 Sydney Olympics “would smash Australia like guitars”.

“I wasn‘t trying to start anything up, but as always it’s been spun that way,” King said.

“But they‘re having a really fast trials and we’re having a really fast trials, so we’ll meet up in Tokyo and see what happens.”

Australia’s swimmers are so used to hearing the Americans and their cheerleading media blow their own trumpets that no-one was surprised but Campbell said the Dolphins won’t be backing away, stating: “We‘re more than up for the challenge. We’ve always been more than up to the challenge.

“Australia always gives it to the US and this year is going to be no different.”

Ariarne Titmus will carry high hopes in Tokyo.

FIVE NEW STARS TO WATCH IN TOKYO

Ariarne Titmus, 20 (pictured)

200m freestyle, 400m freestyle, 800m freestyle, 4x200m freestyle

Ranked No. 1 in the world in 200m freestyle, 400m freestyle. Already a double gold medallist from 2019 world championships

Kaylee McKeown, 19

100m backstroke, 200m backstroke, 200m individual medley, 4x100m medley relays, 4x100m mixed medley relay

Ranked No. 1 in the world in her three individual events. The only swimmer in the world to break a world record (100m backstroke) in an Olympic event since the pandemic

Elijah Winnington, 21

200m freestyle, 400m freestyle, 4x100m freestyle.

Ranked No. 1 in the world in 400m freestyle. Former junior world record holder looking to continue Australia’s great tradition in distance swimming

Zac Stubblety-Cook, 21

100m breaststroke, 200m breaststroke, 4x100m medley

Ranked No. 1 in the world in 200m breaststroke in 2021 and second fastest all time. Aiming to become the first Aussie man to win a gold medal in breaststroke since 1964

Matt Temple, 22

100m freestyle, 100m butterfly, 200m butterfly, 4x100m freestyle, 4x100m medley

Former scaffolder with one of the busiest schedules of anyone in Tokyo. Ranked 3rd in the world in 100m butterfly.