Australia’s 34-member swimming team for Rio Olympic Games announced

AUSTRALIA’S swim coach Jacco Verhaeren has labelled the 34-member team named for the Rio Olympics on Thursday night “one of the best I have ever seen.”

AUSTRALIAN swim coach Jacco Verhaeren is not one to put pressure on his athletes with outlandish predictions, but he couldn’t resist labelling the team announced on Thursday night to compete at the Rio Olympics as, “definitely one of the best I have ever seen.”

While some other countries, including the USA, have yet to hold their trials, based on results over the past week Australia is ranked in 25 medal positions - 9 gold, 10 silver and 6 bronze in current world rankings in Olympic events.

“It’s a great team,” Verhaeren said. “You can’t predict what the other competitors are going to do – you can’t predict what we ourselves are going to do – but looking at this team it is a very strong team. It is a fantastic team.”

Cameron McEvoy is all smiles after winning the 50m freestyle at the Olympic swimming trials in Adelaide.

A team of 34 swimmers was named at the end of the Olympic trials which were held over the last week in Adelaide, with three more expected to be added if and when the 4x100m relay team qualification is ratified next month.

There were 21 Olympic debutants chosen, with the 13 multiple Olympians including five who will be competing at their third Games. The oldest is five-time London Olympic medallist Alicia Coutts at 28, withTamsin Cook and Kyle Chalmers the youngest at 17.

Plenty to do before I can feel I'm ready to step up on those blocks in Rio. The only thing guaranteed is all the hard training left to do!

— Cameron McEvoy (@CameronMcEvoy) 13 April 2016

Amongst them the team have won nine Olympic medals: two gold, four silver and three bronze.

The team is headlined by dual individual world champions Mitch Larkin, Emily Seebohm and Bronte Campbell and her dual Olympic medallist sister Cate. Queensland sprinter Cameron McEvoy will compete in three individual races after becoming the first Australian to win the 50m-100m-200m treble at the national time.

For triple Olympian-to-be Cate Campbell, the Olympic trials have been a chance to get back to her best after a shoulder reconstruction last year.

“You’d think that third time round at an Olympics it would get easier, but it doesn’t, it gets harder and harder and more and more special each time,” she said. It means so much more to me each time I go because you know how much time and effort you’ve put into the past four years.”

Cate Campbell (left) and sister Bronte hug after finishing first and second in the 100m freestyle at the Olympic swimming trials in Adelaide.

Gold Coast-based McEvoy, who swam the fastest-ever non-supersuit 100m freestyle on Monday night, will go to his second Olympics a stronger and wiser competitor than the 17 year-old who gained experience as a relay heat swimmer in London.

“It’s going to be a very different experience,” he said. “Every time you put on the green and gold it’s never going to diminish in importance. I’m really excited to be able to do that in as many events as I can. I get 11 more races than I did in London, and that’s exciting.”

Verhaeren said the team was progressing well as it approached the 100 day countdown to Rio.

“The team is shaping up perfectly,” he said. “We’ve got an excellent group and we’ve had some great races here.”

None better that the very last race of the championships, the 1500m freestyle, in which Mack Horton’s scorching 14:39.54 was the second fastest by an Australian over the distance, bumping Kieren Perkins from second all-time behind Grant Hackett, to third, and giving him the world No.1 ranking.

Equally amazing was the swim of second placed Jack McLoughlin, who qualified with a time of 14.48.60, putting him into fourth place in the Australian all-time list, ahead of the likes of Daniel Kowalski, Glen Housman and the original “Superfish” Stephen Holland.

A Brisbane student whose parents have supported him in his Olympic quest, 21 year-old McLoughlin, struggled to hold in the emotion as his girlfriend Emily burst into tears after the race.

“It means the world,” he said. “I don’t think it’s really kicked in just yet.

“I just saw Emily and she was crying, I almost cried as well. I tried to hold it together.

“She means the world to me - her and my parents. I can’t thank them enough over the past few years when stuff hasn’t gone my way and they’ve just been fully behind me 100 per cent, no matter what happened.”

James Roberts, James Magnussen and Matthew Abood will be added to the team when the 4x100m freestyle relay qualifies on May 31.

Australia expects to send around 450 athletes to Rio , with the full Team to be finalised by mid-July.

TEAM ANNOUNCED SO FAR:

Jessica Ashwood, Bronte Barratt, Joshua Beaver, Georgia Bohl, Bronte Campbell, Cate Campbell, Kyle Chalmers, Tamsin Cook, Alicia Coutts, Brittany Elmslie, Blair Evans, Thomas Fraser-Holmes, Madeline Groves, Jacob Hansford, Belinda Hocking, Mack Horton, Grant Irvine, Mitch Larkin, Travis Mahoney, Cameron McEvoy, David McKeon, Emma McKeon, Taylor McKeown, Jack McLoughlin, Keryn McMaster, David Morgan, Leah Neale, Kotuku Ngawati, Jake Packard, Joshua Palmer, Emily Seebohm, Daniel Smith, Brianna Throssell, Madison Wilson.

Originally published as Australia’s 34-member swimming team for Rio Olympic Games announced