Pain for Australia’s Jarrod Poort after he leads 10km open water swim for most of race

JARROD Poort put his balls on the line. His coach thinks he may become the “sex symbol” of open water swimming. His dad is worried he might have “gravel rash on his nuts.”

Jarrod Poort celebrates after his gallant Olympic swim. Picture: Todd Balym

JARROD Poort put his balls on the line. His coach thinks he may become the “sex symbol” of open water swimming. His dad is worried he might have “gravel rash on his nuts.”

This is the story that puts the Oi Oi Oi into the most ocker Aussie yarn of the Olympic Games.

Wollongong’s Jarrod Poort and his courageous kamikaze 10km open water swimming race that was captivating and cruel in equal measures.

He led for 9km of the 10km race, breaking the field wide open from the starters’ gun to lead by as much as 1min:16secs at the halfway point before the world’s best distance swimmers reeled him in on the final lap.

Poort eventually finish in 20th position, 40 seconds behind Dutch champion Ferry Weertman, but he’d put a massive scare through open water swimming’s world order.

It was crazy, it was brave, it was damn close to Olympic gold. Poort knew to beat the best he couldn’t do what they do, he had to go all or nothing.

Jarrod Poort celebrates after his gallant Olympic swim. Picture: Todd Balym

In the process he put open water swimming on the map and made a name for himself. He will be the most talked about 20th position of the Olympics and he delivered one of the most honest interviews of the Games.

Think of rugby’s Honeybadger Nick Cummins, but wearing a swim suit.

“It’s a bummer you know, I used a lot of heart and a lot of balls,” Poort said.

Later he even wrote on Facebook: “My balls hurt, but my arms hurt more...not sure what to ice first, “ Poort wrote.

His mum hoped people would show more interest in open water swimming now they’ve seen just how brave her son had been on the world’s biggest stage.

“You never hear about it, it never gets televised. It hardly gets any publicity. Maybe he’s put us on the map a bit – that would be very good,” she said.

“We thought he was strong enough to hold them off. He’s been training at a really high pace for 10km to try and hold that pace. That was his plan.”

Jarrod Poort led the field for nine out of 10 kilometres.

Poort’s coach Ron McKeon revealed the rarely seen tactic had been devised more than two years ago. They dared to be different and almost hijacked the gold. Instead they may have just changed open water swimming forever.

“We knew that something needed to change, especially with an athlete like Jarrod. We know he has the courage to be doing it,” McKeon said.

“He put everything on the line then and it could potentially change the face of how that 10km is swum.

“We’re very excited for what he did and what his future could hold.

Australian Marathon swimmer Jarrod Poort celebrating with his family after his swim including his dad Gary and brother Tyson. Picture: Todd Balym

“We think we put the cat amongst the pigeons. The coaches out on the feeding pontoon were certainly, lets say, motivating their athletes to get moving.

“He got so much respect out there. He could taste it and that will hold him in great stead going forward.

“He wants to see excitement about open water swimming. Jarrod Poort just made it a little bit more sexy. He could be the sex symbol of open water swimming.”

Originally published as Pain for Australia’s Jarrod Poort after he leads 10km open water swim for most of race