The Athens Games have beaten all odds. There was so much criticism about the “incomplete work” and the “unfinished venues”…but that was hastily brushed aside when Athens opened its arms and released its magic. The Opening Ceremony was breathtakingly AWESOME!!
Mind you, I missed seeing the Indian and Aussie team enter…DAMN IT!
However, now we shall switch to swimming…a BIG sport in Australia, and am a BIG fan of the Aussies in this event. I mean, even if India were to participate in this event (and am very much patriotic for my homeland)…I still would support Australia more…of course I would root for the Indian…proud that they’ve made it…but…lol…don’t hold that against me though =)
4 by 100m Freestyle Relay
Competitors: Aussie! Netherlands, USA, Germany, Russia…. rest I’ve forgotten.
Nerves were on the edge…hearts pumping…shaking all over…hehehehe and that was just me =P
Question:
Will the Aussies finally claim their rightful ownership to the Gold Medal that was stripped off them in the last Olympics when they jumped in the pool just a little bit before the race had finished?
What had happened was that the last team were still swimming when the Aussies, ecstatic from their win from the Americans, jumped in the pool and were as a result, disqualified.
That was heart wrenching…emotions ran high, some people cried, some lashed their anger out at the judges and called the decision “unfair”…which logically, it wasn’t, but emotionally, it was.
But yes, logic overrules.
Nevertheless, we managed to “play the (Americans) like guitars” with the winning of the Australian men’s team…hehehehehe…the Americans had previously challenged the Aussies that they will win and thus, “play the Aussies like string guitars”…ah…no. =) btw, not too sure of the exact wording.
Anyways, now in Athens…4 years later…
A big task lay ahead of the women’s relay team…
Previously, in the heat, they had the fastest time and were understandably placed in lane 4 to compete…lane 5 went to the Americans who had the second best...lane 3 to the Dutch and so on…sorry I wasn’t paying much attention to the others…was too nervous contemplating the fact of Australia winning.
We were screaming, “Let’s go girls! Claim that medal that was yours to begin with!”=P
START!
Oh god, I didn’t see Alice Mills start…my head was behind the pillow…=P
Started and oh-my-god (omg), America and Australia were neck n neck…Netherlands was also quite close…but the Aussie pushed ahead…if only by little…and pushed…and managed to remain in front…thankfully…
Libby Lenton dived…lost a bit of ground…we all thought that oh no! That’s it! But no…on her way back…she managed to come out front!
3rd swimmer was the fantastic Petria Thomas!! Butterfly Great…after Susie O’Neil of course! And well…that just about killed me…Petria lost a lot of ground…she was about half a body-length behind the American…and I was just like, “oh god, there we go…Petria’s gone”…but one can’t blame her…she’s a Butterflier, not a Freestyler. She had also replaced Sarah Ryan who had competed in the Heats.
BUT, we had one more ace up our sleeve…JODIE HENRY was the girl!!! WOOOOHOOOO…she’s clocked the fastest time in history for her 100m in the relay (52.95 secs) in the heats…and man, did she catch up to the American or what!!!
I mean, she just charged into the water…and caught up about halfway through the 7th lap!! And we were like…fully screaming into the television…”Come on Jodie!! You GO GIRL!”.
8th lap…and all she had to do was just hold on to her position as the American was fast catching up...and omg, those few moments were soooo tense…Jodie 20yrs vs. Jenny 31yrs …it was neck to neck…Jenny had the experience whilst Jodie had the adrenaline (well, she’s younger)…and what happened???
After a few more tense seconds…which seemed to DRAG on…Jodie touched 1st!!
Woohoo!!
THEY BROKE THE WORLD RECORD!!!
NOW THAT’S WHAT I’M TALKIN’ BOUT!!!! (Quote from Aussie Idol)
Previous World Record: - 3:36 set by the Germans in 2002
NOW: 3 minutes 35.94 seconds
I think that the Americans broke the Olympic one…coz they were just behind the Aussies…
At last…we had it!!
The team were jubilant…and I was like…”please don’t jump in…please don’t jump in”…hehehehe…they didn’t….but no doubt, were overcome by emotion…just hugged and almost cried…relieved…
When they got up on the podium…their eyes shone with pride…they had WON. Mills, 18, dissolved into tears even before the Australian flag was raised.
Susie O’Neil was there to present each one of them with the handsome reward… a GOLD MEDAL for their country. She hugged each and every one of them…as the dream had now been realised…with an added bonus…a WORLD RECORD.
Well deserved
Now that’s what I call a game…the relay was only on for about 3 mins but in those 3 minutes…there was so much tension and drama…
Advance Australia Fair boomed out from the speakers across the stadium…with proud Aussies singing along…what a wonderful event…what great emotion…what fierce competition…what a sport!
Result:
GOLD:Australia, 3:35:94
SILVER: U.S.A, 3:36:39
BRONZE:Netherlands, 3:37:39
Oh and of course…GO IAN THORPE AND GRANT HACKETT!! You go guys!! GOLD and SILVER for Australia in the 400 m Freestyle.
Good Luck for the 200 m Freestyle!!
Also, WOOHOO for diving and rowing!
This review was written after watching the relay…so emotions were high…and so, I am just laying my heart out on paper. =)
Oh and, if you got the idea that I might hate the Americans…hehehe…you’re wrong there…it’s just the competition…I mean I really did feel for them when the Men’s Relay team were disqualified after winning Silver in the Sydney Games…
ALSO, HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!! August 15!
