Olympics 2024: Pool queen Cate Campbell on why this is the golden age of Australian swimming

It’s been called Australia’s best Olympic swim team ever but can they convert that potential into gold? These are the 12 events where the Dolphins have their best shots at gold medals.

Australian swimming stars are in a golden era, according to Cate Campbell.

Welcome to the golden age of Australian swimming.

The sport has been blessed with Dawnie, Thorpie, Susie, Grant and Shane, but Cate Campbell says the current Dolphins squad is the best ever.

The now-retired four-time Olympic gold medallist narrowly missed out on a spot in the team during the recent Australian trials.

It will be the first Games since Athens 2004 where Campbell won’t be in the pool. But having swum alongside some of the greatest names in Australian swimming across her career, she can comfortably say that the 41-strong team set to compete in Paris could be the greatest of them all.

“Everyone talks about the golden age of swimming and they hark back to your Ian Thorpes, Grant Hacketts and Susie O’Neills,” Campbell said.

“We are in the golden age right now. The Tokyo Olympic swimming team was our most successful ever Australian Olympic swim team, and last year, our swimmers came out on top of the world and topped the gold medal tally at the World Championships.

“It just goes to show the calibre of the athletes that we have at the moment. So we all need to get really excited and stop talking about the golden age, because it is now.”

Australia’s success in the pool is set to be dominated by the women with six genuine gold-medal opportunities in the individual events on top of their typical relay dominance.

Campbell worked tirelessly to try to join them in Paris, but fell just short in both the 50-metre and 100-metre freestyle events.

Campbell believes that this is the greatest Australian swim team ever as they prepare for the Paris Olympics. Picture: Patrick Hamilton / AFP

Despite being disappointed at missing out on the chance to become a five-time Olympian, the 32-year-old sees it as a positive that the sport is in such a strong place in Australia.

“The team is so good that they no longer need me,” Campbell said. “Which as a retiring athlete is a bitter-sweet thing, but it shows the calibre of the athletes and how difficult it is to qualify for the Australian team.

“We have the toughest qualification standards in the world and for good reason, because if you make it onto the Australian swim team you and well and truly earned your spot, and you’re in with a medal chance.

“For me to be able to sit back and watch and just be a swimming fan is going to be a novel experience. I think it is going to be more nerve-wracking being a fan than competing because at least when I’m competing, I feel like I have a little bit of control.

“I am a terrible viewer of sport especially when you have a close vested interest in the people competing … quite literally there is my family with my sister Bronte. So I’m going to be a nervous wreck for two weeks.”

Australian swimming legend Michelle Ford, who won gold in the women’s 800m freestyle at the 1980 Moscow Olympics, also said this was a golden era for the Dolphins.

“I’m very proud to see the Australian team performing so well. We do have a strong tradition, in Australia, especially for the women’s swimming team,” she said.

“We’ve always brought home the gold, and this year will be exceptional because, I believe it’s a golden era for Australian swimming.”

Ford was Australia’s only individual gold medallist at Moscow, defying the odds to beat the fearsome East German team that was aided by state-sponsored doping.

She could have won three gold medals if the racing had been fair and remained a strong advocate for recognition of the innocent victims, saying it’s hard enough to win Olympic gold.

Australia’s women’s 4x100m freestyle team will look very different without Cate Campbell (right) for the first time since Athens in 2004. Picture: David Ramos/Getty Images

“Olympic medals just stand out because we can never take it for granted,” Ford said.

The Games present such a different set of circumstances and people just come out of the woodwork.

“That’s the beauty of the Olympics and the history of it. That will to perform and take home the gold is very strong for an Olympic Games.

“Seeing such a strong group of girls and guys coming forward is amazing and it just makes you such a proud Australian.”

Kaylee McKeown was among the gold medal winners at Tokyo, Australia’s best in the pool. Picture: Alex Coppel

The Australian team will be looking to claim a fourth-straight women’s 4x100m freestyle crown and their first without Campbell. However, the one event she can’t wait for is the 400-metre showdown between Ariarne Titmus and America’s Katie Ledecky.

One of the marquee events on the opening night of the Games, Campbell is predicting it could be gold-gold-gold to Australia in an opening session that could go down in the history books

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“On the first night of swimming we have four medals up for grabs, the women’s and men’s 400 free, both of which we are gold medal chances for, then the women’s and men’s 4x100m freestyle relays,” she said. “So just on night one, people are going to be really hooked in.

“One of the most exciting prospects is an Arnie and Ledecky showdown again. Going into Tokyo, Arnie was the underdog, she was coming up against Ledecky who had never been beaten at an Olympic Games.

“But now those roles are reversed. I would say that Katie Ledecky, who is the greatest female swimmer of all time, and arguably the greatest distance swimmer of all time. She is now the underdog and so she’s coming in quite an unfamiliar position.

“we are going to see a really tough battle between the two of them. But I reckon Arnie’s got it.”