Olympic Swimmers Welcomed Home to Australia

 

  

Swimming Australia, August 24, 2016: SWIMMING AUSTRALIA today thanked the Australian public for their ongoing support of its swimmers and the team for the way they conducted themselves in and out of the pool at the Rio Olympics.

As the Australian Olympic team arrived back in Sydney this morning, Swimming Australia CEO Mark Anderson said the swimmers had been overwhelmed by the support of the Australian public.

“We are proud of our team – our swimmers, coaches and staff - and the way they conducted themselves in and out of the water during the Olympics. In victory and defeat they have supported each other and once our competition was complete they actively supported all athletes that made up the Australian team,” Mr Anderson said.

 

“We celebrate together the great achievements in winning three of Australia’s eight Gold Medals in Rio, the 10 medals in total, and each of our swimmers that recorded personal bests on sport’s biggest stage. Our swimmers have also dealt well with their disappointments and near misses in true sportsmanlike fashion. Every swimmer sets out to perform to their best and while not everyone was able to do that, they all represented our country with dignity and class.”

 

“We have made progress. We were seventh on the swimming medal tally in London. As a result of the three gold medals we have elevated to second behind the Americans in Rio. Medalling in five of the six relay events displayed the depth of the team. We have made progress and we know that we have the talent to challenge the world again in Tokyo 2020. We can and will learn from our Rio experiences and have a team that will respond and bounce back strongly.”

 

Mr Anderson said that the work that had been conducted on the culture and building a team that would make Australia proud had been successful. While he said the Australian people should be the ultimate judge, Swimming Australia was incredibly pleased with the way our swimmers had represented the nation, our sport and themselves.

 

“I have immense respect for those who responded with class when things didn’t go their way. This is and was a true test of character and our values,” Anderson said.

 

He said Swimming Australia was disappointed with reports suggesting the Swim Team’s behaviours within the broader Australian team were not what they should be. He said he had written immediately to the AOC for an explanation as to why no AOC official had raised any issues with Swim Team officials at any stage before the claims appeared in media.

 

He said while the AOC was yet to respond formally to the letter, he expected them to formally do so in the coming week now that everyone was back in Australia. He was very pleased when senior AOC officials met with the team leadership and Dolphins Athlete Leaders in Rio earlier this week and reinforced to the swimmers and coaches that AOC team officials had no issues with the behaviour of the swimmers.

 

Swimming Australia President, John Bertrand AO said: “Our Swimmers are very honoured to be part of the Australian Olympic team representing all Australians and trying to win medals for the country. They were conscious throughout that they were also in Rio as Ambassadors for the sport, the Australian team and the country.”

“Australians expect our athletes to represent our country with dignity and to behave in a manner that is reflective of the great honour and privilege they have in wearing the green and gold. I am proud to say our swimmers did that.”

Mr Bertrand said the swim team had been overwhelmed by the support from all the members of the Australian Olympic team and had returned that in kind with its wholehearted support of athletes from all other sports.

He added, “Being part of a team representing Australia is a great honour, but also a great responsibility. You not only get support from the other athletes but you give it in equal measure.

“It’s important that we celebrate our successes together and commiserate the losses, but an important part of team leadership is to also be honest with each other in our assessment and in examining every single aspect of our preparation to ensure we bounce back better next time. Under the direction of head coach Jacco Verhaeren we have developed a strong team culture and we are able to have those honest and open conversations.

“We always planned to conduct a review following the Rio Olympics. We will commence this review with the team shortly and we will benchmark and apply world’s best practice to all areas of our high performance program. We have a great base to build on as we look forward to Tokyo in 2020.”

Note to Editors:  The Presidency of Swimming Australia is a voluntary role. Despite some reports otherwise, John Bertrand does not get paid for his role as President of Swimming Australia.