Ghost of the London Olympics still haunt Australian swim team, according to Belinda Hocking

THE London Olympics might have been four years ago but the ghosts are still haunting the Australian swim team, according to backstroker Belinda Hocking.

Australia's Belinda Hocking after finishing fifth in the 200m backstroke final at the 2016 Rio Games. Picture: Phil Hillyard

THE London Olympics might have been four years ago but the ghosts are still haunting the Australian swim team.

That is the opinion of Belinda Hocking, who finished fifth in Saturday morning’s final of the 200m backstroke.

Four years ago Hocking, 25, who was ranked second in the world in the event at the time, missed the final in London. The goal of making it to that final in Rio just added to the pressure of her current campaign.

Australia's Belinda Hocking looks on after finishing a 200m backstroke at the Rio Olympics.

“For me the memory of London was more of an issue than I thought it was,” she said. “My coach and I were like, ‘We just need to get to the final, we just need to get to the final’.”

Other athletes had their own London demons.

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“We heard it on the very first night, ‘Australia has already got more gold medals that we got in London’, so it keeps coming up and I think because of that we probably forgot to enjoy what we are doing here.

“I honestly think there’s always going to be something. London was London; Rio is now going to be called Rio.

“I think at the end of the day you put so much pressure on yourself. Yes, you get pressure from the outside. Your parents spend all that money coming to watch you, and you’ve got media and all that, but you put everything into this one meet that happens once every four years.

“As soon as you hear that word Olympics it does change things. It’s not just a pool with water in it. I think sometimes you can get a little ahead of yourself.”

Hocking said the rest of the team could learn a lot from the easygoing attitude of 18 year-old 100m freestyle gold medallist Kyle Chalmers.

Australia's Kyle Chalmers after winning gold in the 100m freestyle.

“As I said the other night, we could all use a bit of our inner Kyle because as we get older we are in fear of what can happen, and when we are younger we just go out and race. If we can all reflect on that we can all do better.”

So how is it that the all-conquering Americans, many of whom are not youngsters, do not show any signs of self-doubt or pressure?

“I think they are just enjoying it. We are enjoying it too but we also have a lot of pressure with what happened in London.

“We put so much pressure on ourselves that we forget to enjoy it. We forget to be in the moment, and I think that those people who are in the moment are the ones who swim really well, and the ones that are really worried about what’s going to happen and the repercussions are the ones that don’t get the results.”

Originally published as Ghost of the London Olympics still haunt Australian swim team, according to Belinda Hocking