Australia’s 4x100m freestyle relay women swimming for four straight Olympic golds
Our 4x100m freestyle women may be crowned Australia’s greatest Olympic team of all if they manage a fourth Olympic title in succession writes JULIAN LINDEN.
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Even without Cate Campbell, Australia’s incredible female sprinters remain the envy of the swim world.
Gold medallists at each of the last three Olympics, the Aussie women are raging favourites to win the women’s 4x100m freestyle relay for a fourth straight time in Paris.
If they pull it off, they should be acclaimed as Australia’s greatest Olympic team – in any sport – because no-one wearing the green and gold has ever won four Olympic titles in succession.
They might also lay a claim to being Australia’s best sports team outside the Olympics, because of the quality of opposition they beat, which includes sporting powerhouses such as the United States, China, Russia and Britain because swimming truly is a global sport.
Perhaps the most impressive part of Australia’s domination of female swimming, is that the relay line-ups for each of the last four Olympics has been different each time, with Campbell the only swimmer to feature in each of the last three victories.
Her sister Bronte and Emma McKeon both swam the relay at the last two Olympics, at Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo, but Australia has never fielded the same four swimmers in any of the finals.
With Campbell missing the team for Paris, a new combination will fly the flag this time, which is no slight on her. On the contrary, it serves as testimony of how great she was to be part of the last three teams because the competition is so fierce.
McKeon won the individual 100m Olympic gold at the last Olympics in Tokyo but won’t get to defend her title because she could only manage fifth place.
“I’m obviously disappointed,” McKeon said. “But you look at the depth and it’s amazing so it’s good for the country.”
Neither McKeon or Bronte Campbell is certain of racing the final in Paris because the depth is so strong.
Mollie O’Callaghan and Shayna Jack will be automatic choices after finishing first and second in the 100m at last month’s trials, leaving McKeon, Bronte Campbell, Meg Harris and Olivia Wunsch to contest the heats and battle for the two other places.
“You have to be pretty fast if you want to make this team,” Bronte said.
“Everyone is gunning for those top two spots but here in Australia, top six is like going for top two in other countries, so we’ve made it a really big deal to be proud of being part of the relay and we’re proud of every single relay member.”
While nothing can be taken for granted, it would be a major upset if the Australians didn’t win gold in Paris.
Of the fastest 11 female swimmers in history over 100m freestyle six are Australians, including five members of the current team.
All six of the Aussies picked for the relay are ranked in top 15 in the world this year.
The only other country with more than one swimmer currently in the top 15 is the United States, which has four, but the Americans are well behind.
While four Australians have broken 53 seconds this year, only two Americans have dipped under the barrier. Accumulating their best times this season, the Australians have a combined advantage of almost 1.5 seconds, a big margin in elite swimming.
Australia has held the women’s 4x100m freestyle world record uninterrupted for a decade. The current mark stands at 3:27.96, which O’Callaghan, Jack, Harris and McKeon set in winning gold at last year’s world championships, where they finished nearly four seconds ahead of the US.
Australia’s 4x100m freestyle Olympic champions
2012 London 3:33.15 (Olympic record)
Alicia Coutts, Cate Campbell, Brittany Elmslie, Melanie Schlanger, Emily Seebohm*, Yolane Kukla*, Libby Trickett
2016 Rio de Janeiro 3:30.65 (world record)
Emma McKeon, Brittany Elmslie, Bronte Campbell, Cate Campbell, Madi Wilson*
2021 Tokyo 3:29.69 (world record)
Bronte Campbell, Meg Harris, Emma McKeon, Cate Campbell, Mollie O’Callaghan*, Madi Wilson*
Australia’s 4x100m freestyle world record domination
3:30.98July 24, 2014 Glasgow
B Campbell (53.15), Melanie Schlanger (52.76), Emma McKeon (52.91), Cate Campbell (52.16)
3:30.65August 6, 2016 Rio
Emma McKeon (53.41), Brittany Elmslie (53.12), Bronte Campbell (52.15), Cate Campbell (51.97)
3:30.05April 5, 2018 Gold Coast
Shayna Jack (54.03), Bronte Campbell (52.03), Emma McKeon (52.99), Cate Campbell (51.00)
3:29.69July 25, 2021 Tokyo
Bronte Campbell (53.01), Meg Harris (53.09), Emma McKeon (51.35), Cate Campbell (52.24)
3:27.96July 23, 2023 Fukuoka
Mollie O’Callaghan (52.08), Shayna Jack (51.69), Meg Harris (52.29), Emma McKeon (51.90)
Originally published as Australia’s 4x100m freestyle relay women swimming for four straight Olympic golds
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