James Magnussen holds the key to Australia’s success in the pool, writes Kieren Perkins
JAMES Magnussen will be the measure of how far the team culture and positive energy in our swim squad has come since the London debacle, writes Kieren Perkins.
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JAMES Magnussen will be the measure of how far the team culture and positive energy in our swim squad has come since the demons of the London Olympics because he has a big opportunity to help lead Australia to six golds in the pool.
Redemption comes in many forms and he has worked hard over the past four years to shed the stigma of London when a poor team culture allowed him to separate and present himself as more important than the rest in a damaging way.
Certainly, he’ll be disappointed as a former world champion to only be swimming in the 4x100m freestyle relay which means his Olympics will most likely be done by the final on Monday afternoon (AEST).
That’s not entirely true.
If I was talking to him I’d tell him he has a big chance to step up in a leadership role for the relay team with support for Cam McEvoy, who does have a big schedule of individual swims, and engage with the team as a whole.
James can help put Cam on the crest of a wave which is so important because this is his one less pressured swim.
There would be no better show of the team working together.
Experienced athletes like James are absolute gold because they can demystify challenges for rookies, share what they have learnt the hard way and be the calming voice.
James definitely did not appreciate how much tougher, bigger and more intense the Olympics would be when he headed to London four years because it’s very easy to think if you’ve won a world title you should be right.
The Olympics are totally different with a massive village, the media noise, the multi-sport element and on it goes which is why the previous Olympic experience of the Campbell sisters, Emily Seebohm, Mitch Larkin and McEvoy is such an asset in their chase for gold.
I remember attending an Australian swim team meeting, as an athlete liaison officer, in 2012 when the team was in camp in Manchester before the Olympics.
It was not at all what I expected when James and the relay team entered and sat together wearing hoodies throughout.
I didn’t want to be the old guy whistling through his front teeth about how it was in the old days but, looking back, that moment meant what came next was no surprise with such a poor meet and fractured culture.
The shake-up forced by multiple reviews has created an environment for great success.
PERKINS’ GOLDEN AUSSIES
SISTER ACT ... GOLDEN
It’s remarkable that Cate and sister Bronte have a gap on the world in the 100m freestyle and the energy to push themselves harder and swim faster comes from within the same household.
Both seem to calm each other as well which is a wonderful asset for the pressure of Rio.
Cate has got the superior form because her astonishing world record in Brisbane last month was not a bluff on a sneaky taper. She was in full training without rest and the world knows it.
DITCH THE PHONE EMILY
Again, Emily Seebohm has irresistible form on her side, especially for gold in her pet 100m backstroke.
You don’t suddenly get more technically proficient standing on the blocks at the Olympics. The defining part of a great swim is all about your mental state.
Emily has clearly learnt from the mistake of London because she has given control of her social media accounts to a friend for Rio.
If any athlete allows social media to be their focus of attention when rest and complete focus is so paramount there is a lot of potential to be pulled off course.
I don’t pretend to know Emily’s exact experience in London before her silver and tears in the 100 back but wellwishers can be as damaging as trolls.
Hearing “I love you and I know you are going to win” over and over is a pressure that swimmers have collapsed under before.
THE OUTSIDER
I fancy Emma McKeon can pull of one those upsets for which the Olympics are famous in the 200m freestyle just as Susie O’Neill did at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney.
American Katie Ledecky will be one of the freestyle stars of the pool but this is the one event where she is vulnerable in a heavy program.
Emma has had four months of strong training since her excellent Olympic trials swim and she’s been getting the right emotional support from her two Olympian parents.
THE 1500
It would be silly not to mention the 1500m freestyle where Victoria’s Mack Horton is set up to do really well.
He is ranked No.2 in the world behind an Italian but I think the confidence he got from his super 14 min 39 sec time in the Australian trials puts him in strong contention to win.
Originally published as James Magnussen holds the key to Australia’s success in the pool, writes Kieren Perkins
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