By Andrew Webster
Rio de Janeiro: Cameron McEvoy wasn't the first to touch the wall but he is the last to leave the pool. In fact, he's still in it. He doesn't want to get out, like he's misplaced something and won't get out until he finds it.
He is still there when the rest of the starters in the 100m freestyle are on the pooldeck. Some are trying to get away as quickly as possible but Kyle Chalmers is still there waiting for him. He has been McEvoy's roommate here in Rio and he has just won Olympic gold at the age of 18. It is a medal most had expected McEvoy to win.
Cameron McEvoy, right, raises Kyle Chalmers' arm in triumph. Credit: Joe Armao
So McEvoy stays in the pool a little longer, glaring back at the electronic scoreboard at the other end of the stadium as he runs an eye over the names and the times. He studies physics at university and has a passion for mathematics and he's trying to solve the problem.
It doesn't matter because the result will never change. He's finished seventh in 48.12 seconds, a long way off Chalmers' 47.58 and even further from the assumption for the best part of year this moment belonged to him.
As Chalmers celebrates, McEvoy, in the background, stares at the scoreboard.Credit: Lee Jin-Man
"It is baffling to me, particularly with my analytical mind," McEvoy, 22, said later. "Hopefully, I can get back and pinpoint what went wrong. Right now, it's hard to pinpoint anything specifically."
Then McEvoy added this: "That's all I can say about myself. The rest of Australia can get excited about an 18-year-old's start to his career. He's an Olympic champion at 18. When I dwell on it, it is tough and I expect it to sink in over the next few weeks. Funnily enough, it doesn't feel as gruesome and raw as coming second at worlds last year, which is odd because this is much bigger. But Kyle's success and happiness, I can feel that. I'm riding the wave that he's won."
They are remarks that ooze class and also display McEvoy's intellect. A reminder: he's only 22. As he said on the eve of these Olympics, he knows his place within the universe because he knows how big the universe actually is.
Nevertheless, he was expected to win.
Seventh in the final: Cameron McEvoy.Credit: AP
Whispers often leak out of the athletes' village at Olympic Games and on this day a few of them suggested McEvoy wasn't feeling himself. Maybe he'd tried the food in the media food hall.
Yet the feeling among his teammates as they made their way to the aquatic centre was that he would win. This moment belonged to McEvoy, not Chalmers.
Meanwhile, the two of them were so calm about the possibility of becoming the first Australian since Michael Wenden in 1968 to win the 100m freestyle they sipped hot chocolates and were among the last on the bus.
When it came to the race, they took their starting positions on the blocks on either side of defending Olympic champion Nathan Adrian, the American who is almost two metres tall and weighs 100kg, most of that in muscle and pure machismo.
As always in this race, picking the winner out of the whitewash at the halfway point was folly. McEvoy turned in fourth position, Chalmers worse still in seventh. With 25m to play, it appeared neither of them would medal, let alone claim gold, as others inched ahead.
"But that last 15," Chalmers said afterwards, trailing off. "I love the sting and when I started burning up I knew I'd done so much I could push myself those last 15 metres."
Adrian, who touched the wall in third behind Belgian Pieter Timmers in second, was asked afterwards how hard the race had been.
"Pretty hard," he laughed. "My legs are shaking … You have good peripheral vision with these goggles, but I'd rather not see what's next to me. I'd rather race in lane eight."
What he saw next to him was the looming shadow of Chalmers, surging home to win gold and deny Adrian his title defence.
Few had possessed any of the peripheral vision in the last year to believe Chalmers would be winning gold on this night in Rio.
He'd been a sensation at the trials in April, claiming his spot on the team with silver behind McEvoy in world junior record time. That time nudged James Magnussen – Chalmers' idol – out of an individual spot in the 100m, costing him a shot at redemption he'd missed out on gold in London to Adrian.
"I've been the underdog the whole way, even at trials, to get on the team," he said. "I've loved having none of the pressure on me. I could go on social media and talk to my mates, because all that pressure has been on Cam."
When McEvoy finally decided to get out of the pool, it was Chalmers who extended his arm and hauled him out of the water.
They hugged, and the class of McEvoy was again there for all to see, trying to hide his disappointment because he did not want to dull his roommate's moment.
They were standing in front of the section of the grandstand belonging to the Australian contingent of swimmers who were not competing this night. McEvoy grabbed Chalmers' hand and lifted it in the air like a boxing referee awarding the winner of the fight.
Among the faces was Magnussen, who knew exactly what McEvoy was going through. They are different personalities but now share the same pain of being expected to win 100m gold and then falling short.
Journey's Don't Stop Believing started playing over the loudspeakers. Now on land, McEvoy couldn't get away from the pool quick enough.