Classy moment overlooked in historic Aussie relay gold medal

Australia’s all-conquering 4x100m freestyle relay golden girls produced a moment of sheer class during the medal presentation ceremony.

Classy touch by the Aussie golden girls.

Australia is very lucky to have our 4x100m freestyle relay Olympic champions.

The golden girls of the pool were red-hot favourites to win gold on Sunday morning — but their world record swim still blew the world away.

The team of Cate and Bronte Campbell, Emma McKeon and Meg Harris smashed the opposition to become the first team to break the 3min 30sec barrier.

They were three seconds clear of their nearest rivals and smashed their own record from 2018 by half a second.

Australia's Cate Campbell and teammates celebrate after setting a world record and winning the final of the women's 4x100m freestyle relay. (Photo by Attila KISBENEDEK / AFP)

Classy overlooked moment in Aussie gold

The team has now revealed itself to be just as classy out of the pool as they are when they are smashing records in the pool.

They produced a moment of sheer class when they found a way around the strict biosecurity protocols in place in Tokyo.

There are significant restrictions on medal ceremonies as part of the Games’ Covid-19 protocols.

The changes to the medal presentations are designed to make the ceremonies contactless with athletes wearing masks and placing medals over their own heads instead of the tradition of leaning forward while dignitaries bestow a medal around their neck.

However, for the Aussie relay team, they were able to have a special moment when they placed their gold medals over each other’s heads.

Channel 7 commentator Basil Zempilas called it a “classy” move.

Love that the relay teams are putting the medals on each other on the dais. Really nice touch. Making a moment from a bizarre time. The leaders really stand up in this @DolphinsAUS squad. Bloody good humans those Campbell sisters #Swimming#Tokyo2020#Olympics

— Paul Cochrane (@paulcochrane) July 25, 2021

It was just one more reason to love the team.

Earlier on Sunday it was revealed the team had reacted with incredible sportsmanship when faced with the gut-wrenching decision of dropping two swimmers to bring stars Cate Campbell and Emma McKeon back into the team for the final — after they sat out the heats on Saturday night.

The Aussies still qualified fastest.

Classy touch by the Aussie golden girls.

It meant Mollie O’Callaghan and Madi Wilson missed out, despite Australia qualifying almost two seconds clear of the rest of the field on Saturday night.

The brutal selection crunch was summed up by a touching moment on Saturday night when Bronte Campbell supported O’Callaghan during a poolside TV interview – even though the pair were fighting for a final spot on the team.

Channel 7’s Nathan Templeton spotted the moment.

Nice moment off-camera tonight with the @DolphinsAUS 4x100 women. 17yo Mollie O’Callaghan looked a bit nervous as she stepped up to the mic after her awesome relay swim and ‘veteran’ @Bronte_Campbell (sorry Bronte!) put a reassuring hand on her arm. Love this team.

— Nathan Templeton (@nathantemp7) July 24, 2021

Stunned reaction to world record time

Commentators around the world have described the performance in the final as “insane”. Aussie legend Ian Thorpe described it as an “iconic” swim.

“Three seconds ahead of the rest of the world,” Thorpe said. “You just don’t see that.

The Aussie girls are the first ever team under 3:30.00.

“This is an iconic swim for world swimming. The first women’s team to ever be under that. Absolutely amazing to see.

“I have some splits here for people to understand how this was won. 53.05sec for Bronte … 53.09 for Meg Harris. Listen to this one, for Emma McKeon, 51.35, which

is the fifth fastest time, the fifth fastest split anyone has ever done. She takes one of those away from Cate Campbell to be able to do that. Cate in the final leg, 52.24.sec.”

That Australia relay team is no joke

— Julian Mitchell (@j_mitchell25) July 25, 2021

Emma McKeon split a 51.35 100 freestyle on that World Record relay for Australia. That's insane.

— Kyle Sockwell (@kylesockwell) July 25, 2021

McKeon explained how she set up her split.

“Being a part of this relay especially always lifts you,” McKeon said. “Going out with the girls, you always have that extra bit of adrenaline. I actually felt a bit more relaxed going in with the rest of them and seeing the girls last night put up a good heat swim. All six of us are parts of this team. So very exciting.”

Cate was also thrilled with the result.

“I could not be prouder of these girls,” she said. “It has been a tough ask for everyone to get here and to come away with the win and a world record. You honestly couldn’t have asked for anything better.”

Harris, 19, put in a great effort and you couldn’t wipe the smile off her face if you tried.

“Incredible. There is no feeling like it,” she said. “Last night swimming with Maddie I walked out and it was insane. Then to get the opportunity to do it again in the final is even better.”