Swimming failure

[wfcmoog]

I wonder if there will be an inquest into the overall failure of our swimmers at their home games. With the possible exception of Jamieson, none of our swimmers seemed to peak at the right time and the overall result was well short of what was expected. For a team who won golds and silvers at the Worlds, to end with just 2 medalists was pretty pathetic.

The worst thing for me was the attitude. Seeing so many swimmers chirpy and cheery when they'd finished 6th, it was as though they were just glad to have enjoyed all the funding and facilities, but without recognising the privilege of representing GB in front of the best crowd the will ever have.

Even Addlington was bemoaning the "pressure" and "expectation" rather than perhaps recognising the fabulous support that she was being given. Despite the American kid who beat her being made to look amazing, she was well inside Addlington's own WR, which makes one wonder, why wasn't Addlington at her peak NOW, when it counts?

At least she won 2 medals and Jamieson won one too. The rest of the squad were just an overwhelming disappointment.

Where are our 15-19 year old wonderkids?

Where has all the preparation for the home games been?

WHat have the Team GB swimming coaches been doing for the past 2 years?

What sort of mental preparation has been done? Watching the swimmers approach the pool, American, Chinese, Italian, Hungarian, French, Russian, Spanish, all have walked out with confidence and swagger. The British swimmers have looked like scared children by comparison.

Overall, the success of the other teams in other sports shouldn't detract from the failure in the pool.

[Whippendell Woods]

You've got a point. They need Aidy Boothroyd.

[The Voice of Reason]

I wonder if there will be an inquest into the overall failure of our swimmers at their home games. With the possible exception of Jamieson, none of our swimmers seemed to peak at the right time and the overall result was well short of what was expected. For a team who won golds and silvers at the Worlds, to end with just 2 medalists was pretty pathetic.

The worst thing for me was the attitude. Seeing so many swimmers chirpy and cheery when they'd finished 6th, it was as though they were just glad to have enjoyed all the funding and facilities, but without recognising the privilege of representing GB in front of the best crowd the will ever have.

Even Addlington was bemoaning the "pressure" and "expectation" rather than perhaps recognising the fabulous support that she was being given. Despite the American kid who beat her being made to look amazing, she was well inside Addlington's own WR, which makes one wonder, why wasn't Addlington at her peak NOW, when it counts?

At least she won 2 medals and Jamieson won one too. The rest of the squad were just an overwhelming disappointment.

Where are our 15-19 year old wonderkids?

Where has all the preparation for the home games been?

WHat have the Team GB swimming coaches been doing for the past 2 years?

What sort of mental preparation has been done? Watching the swimmers approach the pool, American, Chinese, Italian, Hungarian, French, Russian, Spanish, all have walked out with confidence and swagger. The British swimmers have looked like scared children by comparison.

Overall, the success of the other teams in other sports shouldn't detract from the failure in the pool.

Generally I find myself agreeing with you yet again Moog :doh:

However, I feel you are being harsh on Addlington as she had the weight of the British public on her shoulders in that pool and was never expected to medal in the 400 anyway, only the 800, but a bronze in the 800 is good enough for me!!!

She obviously cracked a little under all the media hype and pressure, you could tell by her reaction to winning the 400 bronze, it was massive relief rather than joy; I honestly think that had the media and the British public not already hung the 800m gold around her neck, she may have gone out and won it instead of the bronze!!!

As for the swimmers general attitude, what about Fran Halsall, I thought she showed great fighting spirit, she even said she would chew her right arm off for an Olympic medal of any colour, and plenty of other swimmers showed spirit and disappointment too!!!

And before you compare Becky Addlington with Jess Ennis; even Jess looked a lot more stressed than she usually does before each of her events, and probably did not do as well as she expected in the High Jump because of the media and public hype, but thankfully she managed to handle the public expectation and pressure a little better than Addlington and was able to overcome it all in great style!!!

Overall I agree with Halsall and Addlington, that an Olympic medal of any colour is a fantastic achievement, and I get very annoyed when people decry anything but gold!!! I am willing to bet that most of the athletes who are initially upset when they have won a silver or bronze instead of gold, in the cold light of day after they have gotten over their understandable disappointment at not winning, are proud of their achievement; and I for one are proud of them too :sign15::sign15::sign15:

[Moosedog]

Tell that to the cycling team, they have had more pressure on them to win gold than the swimmers, they have won every gold bar one on the track, the one they didn't they disqualified after setting a World record. The swimmers just aren't good enough

[wfc4ever]

Funny thing is the swimmers do a fairly decent job at the other major competitions (ofcourse the europeans won't have the USA,China!)

We don't seem to have the next generation coming through like these other countries do...

Afterall Adlington is only 23 and she is seen as past her best!

[PFCFitz,YellowArmy]

I don't recall anywhere near the focus and attention on the results Of the Olympics last time around as this time.

When you have the same or at least a closer level of attention and desire to succeed at Rio as you have here in London, you will be on your way.

The most important thing the London Olympics has done in my opinion for Britain is help develop a taste for success and appreciation for what it takes to win.

I visited Seoul Korea in 1990, a mere two years after their Olympics, and I can tell you the desire to be at a high level of success for as long as possible fully was apparent. Britain and England always seem to struggle with a cynicism about being patriotic or pro Britain, but this may be a very positive and productive way to go about it.

[wfcmoog]

I don't recall anywhere near the focus and attention on the results Of the Olympics last time around as this time.

When you have the same or at least a closer level of attention and desire to succeed at Rio as you have here in London, you will be on your way.

The most important thing the London Olympics has done in my opinion for Britain is help develop a taste for success and appreciation for what it takes to win.

I visited Seoul Korea in 1990, a mere two years after their Olympics, and I can tell you the desire to be at a high level of success for as long as possible fully was apparent. Britain and England always seem to struggle with a cynicism about being patriotic or pro Britain, but this may be a very positive and productive way to go about it.

Beijing sowed the seeds for the GB expectation. We did remarkably well in many sports and were effectively promised improvement and development in preparation for the home games. Almost all sports have pulled their socks up and spent 4 years preparing to peak at London. Swimming has gone backwards and shows no sign of advancing. Annoyingly, its the one sport where a disproportionate amount of medals are up for grabs. No offence to the USA, but they are miles ahead on the medals table, but most have come in the pool. I'm sure they will medal at the athletics, women's football and others, but from a fairly narrow focus, the USA is going to dominate the Olympics. 2-3 really world class British swimmers and we could have won another 6-10 medals.

As for Fran Halsall, she may say that she'd give her right arm, but she would have been better giving a bit more effort, training and focus. She had the chance to win a medal, all, she just didn't take it.

And I'm not being harsh on Addlington. She performed below her best. How many PBs were acheived by British swimmers at this games? How many by the French, Lithuanian, American etc.?

There's something rotten in British swimming and it needs a radical overhaul.

[Walter White]

swimming is **** anyway. humans live on dry land

[Aberystwyth_Hornet]

The BBC have started the inquest...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/olympics/19133445

[PFCFitz,YellowArmy]

I've never run competitively before, but I swam for 6 years from 12 to 18 on rec league and for my high school teams.

The best times I ever swam were where I had nothing on the line, and I felt really good, like say when a much faster swimmer on my team was certain to win the race, or when we had beaten the other team already and the outcome of my race couldn't have effected the team meet results.

At 17, I made the northern California State sectional finals in 100yd breast stroke, qualifying 7th out of 15 in the race. It was the biggest race I'd ever swam in. I was tight, uncomfortable, and ended up finishing 11th but only because the third place guy DQ'd for a stroke technique problem which moved me up from 12th, all with a far worse time than I'd swam on average all that season.

The anxiety factor in this situation rings true for me in this case, though you'd expect seasoned international swim meet veterans to be a little prepared for that sort of thing.

[99mph]

It does seem odd...

Cycling - High previous success and an increasing performance from other nations meant that GB had their work cut out. They responded by getting all but one gold (I think) and setting 6 consecutive world records.

Rowing - Another British dominated event where British rowers were finding it harder to ensure victory. They responded with lots of golds and world records

Athletics - Expectation was 1...maybe 2 Golds but we ended up with 3 in one day! Clearly big advances have been made in Athletics.

Like you say, it seems that Swimming has gone backwards.

I also agree that a stupid number of medals are won in the pool. Australia struggled in the pool, they're really far down the medal table and will probably stay there.