This is how our swimmers wind down in 2016
Dress-ups and games nights helping swimmers relax ahead of Olympics. Photo: Instagram
The fallout from an ill-advised ‘bonding session’ involving Aussie swimmers before the 2012 Olympic Games was so extensive it required two independent reviews and saw the winds of change sweep through Swimming Australia.
One of those reviews panned the “toxic” culture within the team after it emerged that members of the men’s 4×100 metre freestyle relay team experimented with the prescription drug Stilnox and annoyed teammates into the small hours of a Manchester morning.
Australia’s worst Olympics in the pool in two decades followed, so when athletes met up for a staff-free gathering in sleepy Auburn in the United States ahead of the Rio Games, you can be sure that some officials were at least slightly worried.
They shouldn’t have been, though, as swimmers instead expressed themselves in a range of different costumes before a games night.
They got creative with their Olympic uniforms and other items of clothing they had received on their travels, dressing up as bumblebees, the ‘Qantas Club’ and the ‘Puff Daddies’.
Cameron McEvoy – Australia’s star hope in the men’s 100m freestyle – was claiming victory for his team.
The swimmer, flanked by Georgia Bohl, Kotuku Ngawati, Jessica Ashwood and Belinda Hocking, posted on Instagram his side were the best.
Where is Auburn?
The swimmers couldn’t be blamed for being slightly bored in Auburn.
Around 60,000 people live in the small town in Lee County, Alabama, which is best known for its university.
Approximately 25 per cent of the city’s workforce are employed at Auburn University, which around 20,000 students attend.
Auburn have impressive sports facilities, though, including Jordan Hare Stadium – which can seat more than 80,000 fans.
They love their college football in Auburn. Photo: Getty
Their college football team, the Auburn Tigers, is well-known across the United States and notable former players include Cam Newton – the first pick in the 2011 NFL draft – and Bo Jackson.
With students and staff currently on holidays, Auburn makes for a very relaxed and quiet environment for the Australian swimmers.
The 2012 saga
McEvoy was one of the six-man relay team at the centre of the Stilnox saga ahead of the 2012 London Games.
The prescription drug zolpidem, sold as Stilnox in Australia, is a sedative that is mainly used for the treatment of insomnia.
McEvoy, James Magnussen, Eamon Sullivan, Matthew Targett and Tommaso D’Orsogna all admitted to taking Stilnox on a night they were accused of “prank phone calls and door knocking”.
Teammate Jade Neilsen, who said she complained about their behaviour, later told News Limited: “All I can say is their behaviour was completely inappropriate.
“It was so inappropriate it was not funny.”
A group of sorry swimmers apologise. Photo: Getty
The same review into culture and leadership that found a “toxic” culture within Australia’s swimming team said that cases of athletes “getting drunk, misuse of prescription drugs, breaching curfews, deceit [and] bullying” were not addressed.
The 2012 Olympics – where Australia won just one gold medal in the pool – was our first without an individual gold medallist since the 1976 Games in Montreal.
Around 80 per cent of staff at Swimming Australia who were in charge during those ill-fated Games are no longer there.
Leisel Jones, a swimming veteran of four Olympics, 2012 being her last, admitted the team culture was incredibly poor four years ago.
“It [review] really had to happen; it went toxic pretty quickly,” she said.
“The culture has done a complete 180 since London 2012. It was probably the worst it could have been.”
Magnussen later said he felt the whole episode was a bit of a “storm in a teacup”.
In a bid to address team harmony, Swimming Australia have stated that no swimmers will march in the opening ceremony – because some are participating in events the following day.
They want to do everything as a team – and will be at the closing ceremony.
Hopefully, they’ll have something to celebrate.
