Australia’s swimmers at Rio Olympic Games needs to win hearts as well as medals after London let down

AT the London Olympics our swimmers managed to stink out the place, in and out of the water. Are the Rio squad poised to make amends, asks Mike Colman.

COACH of the Australian swim team Jacco Verhaeren reckons every time he gets into a cab and the driver asks him what he does, the reaction is always the same.

“They go, ‘Ohhh … are things going better now?’”

Verhaeren wasn’t involved with the Australian team in London four years ago — he didn’t make the move from his native Netherlands until 2013 – but he, along with all the swimmers competing at the Olympic trials in Adelaide this week, lives in the shadow of what went on there every day.

Ask just about any Australia sports follower for their recollections of the London Olympics and chances are they won’t be of Usain Bolt, Mo Farah or even the Queen jumping out of a helicopter, but of a group of male swimmers running amok, throwing their weight around, banging on female swimmers’ doors, using the banned sleeping drug Stilnox and, perhaps worst of all, failing to win gold medals.

The troublemakers were a very small part of a large team – only the six-man 100m relay team was disciplined – but the damage to the image of the entire group was immense. To a large degree, the unimaginable occurred: the Australian public fell out of love with our swim team.

Four years on, as a new team is being assembled, the question must be asked: is it going to be one worth loving?

From the outside looking in, I’d have to say the signs are extremely positive – but then again, this far out from the Opening Ceremony, they always are.

As with all Olympic swim teams, this one will have its superstars and shy schoolgirls; its pinups and posers. The proven performers who live up to expectations and those who, for one reason or another, can’t get it together on the day.

And rest assured there will be someone who comes from nowhere to send the hosts of the morning shows into a lather of excitement and superlatives.

That’s all a given. The unknown element – and the one that will ultimately decide if this is a team we take to our hearts – is what goes on behind closed doors.

Four years ago in London, the signs weren’t good. I remember at Frank Lowy’s party the night before the Games began, talking to two of our most experienced swim coaches. When I mentioned that I’d been told one of our male relay swimmers had vowed to take on a leadership role within the team they almost choked on their orange juice.

“That guy a leader?” said one. “I wouldn’t follow him out of curiosity”.

Gee, I thought. That’s not very nice.

Of course I didn’t know what was going on behind the scenes. That “leader” – no longer swimming I might add – was one of the group Leisel Jones stepped in and berated for allegedly bullying a younger member of the team.

Jacco told me that he has put into place a leadership group, led by the likes of Cate Campbell and Thomas Fraser-Holmes to ensure that nothing like that happens again.

A team insider put it another way.

“Cate won’t cop any of that crap that went on in London,” he said.

As Jacco put it, “we’ve turned a page.”

“We’re very united,” he said. “We share the same values. Of course there are rules, but more based on the belief of how we want to be. How do we want to behave, how do we want to work together? How do we want people to see us?”

“What happened in London wasn’t well received by the public, and I get that, and this team is well aware of the responsibility they have. Our job is to create a responsible team – our values are professional, enjoyable and respect and you’d got to earn that. You’ve got to earn respect through behaviour and performance but maybe moreso through behaviour.”

So, as the cabbie said, are things better now?

The jury is out until after Rio of course, but right now I’m starting to feel the love.

Originally published as Australia’s swimmers at Rio Olympic Games needs to win hearts as well as medals after London let down