Young stars take big step towards Beijing glory
IT IS not quite right to say Australia has this week discovered
a generation of young guns to take to this year’s Beijing Olympics.
It has been more like the talent on show during the Olympic
selection trials, which end tonight, has been talked about for some
time around swimming circles and has stepped up to grab the chance
to compete in August.
In doing that, 15-year-olds such as Emily Seebohm and Cate
Campbell have performed like seasoned professionals %26#151; Seebohm,
in particular, setting a dazzling standard that had exceeded all
other Australian women in the 100 metres backstroke and for one day
surpassed all others in the world in the 50.
And Seebohm reminded people of her real age with her exuberant
displays after her wins %26#151; the most memorable being her
exclamation, “I’m going to be in the Guiness Books of World
Records” when she broke the 50 backstroke world mark on the opening
night of competition.
However, there is a host of young talent coming through just
behind the more seasoned performers. These include Matt Targett,
Kenrick Monk, new glamour girl Stephanie Rice, Bronte Barratt,
Samantha Hamill, Andrew Lauterstein, butterflier Nick D’arcy and
backstrokers Ashley Delaney and Hayden Stoeckel.
The group %26#151; some of whom had a taste of international
competition at last year’s world championships and the 2006
Commonwealth Games in Melbourne %26#151; this week showed their
potential by earning selection in the Olympic team.
Lauterstein said it had been a cut-throat process.
“Before the 100 free final, sitting next to Eamon (Sullivan), he
asked ‘are you ready to go?’ and I said ‘I guess I have to be’,”
Lauterstein said. “It all comes down to being ready. On (Wednesday)
night it was at 8.40pm.
“It’s crazy to think that years and years (of preparation) comes
down to a timeline and if you’re not ready, bad luck. It’s
cut-throat but it’s good, though. It brings out the best in some
and not in others.”
National youth coach Leigh Nugent has been responsible for
identifying and developing the talent that has been coming through
the ranks. A large portion of his focus has been on rebuilding the
men’s team that went through a period of disappointing results
following the Athens Olympics and through to last year’s world
championships, where the first signs of a revival were seen.
He was confident the current and future crops of men would
provide more sustainable success.
“The recovery that has been made has been quite significant and
rebuilding the men’s team takes so long. It’s taken these guys long
enough to get the experience and perhaps they are a little bit
older than the odd sensation who breaks through as a teenager,” he
said.
“(But) we’re looking for sustainability, not sensation
really.”
EMILY SEEBOHM
Announced herself a worldclass talent in the making when she
came fourth in the 100m backstroke at last year’s world titles at
14.
A few months earlier she had dead-heated the final of the
national titles with defending champion Tay Zimmer.
She has set some staggering times at this week’s Olympic trials
which have set her up as a genuine gold medal contender in the 100
backstroke.
That event has for so long been the domain of American superstar
Natalie Coughlin.
Seebohm twice broke the watershed 60-second barrier on her way
to winning during the week and showed great steel in the final when
she withstood the challenges of Sophie Edington and Belinda Hocking
in the fastest female 100 backstroke event in this country.
She will be 16 by the time Beijing comes around and declared
this week, “Natalie Coughlin, I’m coming”.
CATE CAMPBELL
Another 15-year-old rising star, there had been talk in swimming
circles about her for some time before she grabbed wider attention
by beating Libby Trickett (nee Lenton) in the 50 freestyle final at
the Japan Open last year in 24.
48, faster than any other Australian woman over the one lap.
The Brisbane-based Campbell, the eldest of five children, was
born and raised in Malawi of South African parents.
The family moved to Australia when she was nine to seek better
care for her handicapped brother.
She stumbled on the training squad of Simon Cusack over five
years ago when she went to the local school pool looking for a way
to meet friends as she was being home schooled.
She has now earned a berth in the 100 freestyle in Beijing after
finishing second to the world record-breaking effort of Libby
Trickett and can gain another individual spot in the 50 freestyle
final tonight.
She will also be an important member of the 4×100 freestyle
relay team.
STEPHANIE RICE
Her life has gone from talented team member to the better half
of Australia’s newest glamour couple - her partner being freestyle
sprint champion Eamon Sullivan - in just a few days.
Rice had earned respect as a quality 200 and 400 individual
medley swimmer by winning both events at the 2006 Commonwealth
Games and then winning dual bronze at last year’s world
championships.
However, she was largely seen as behind the likes of Zimbabwe’s
Kirsty Coventry and American Katie Hoff until last weekend when she
smashed Hoff’s 400IM world record.
She then backed that up by snatching the 200IM world record a
few days later.
In between those two achievements she posted a time in the 200
freestyle semifinals that showed she would be a valuable member of
the 4×200 freestyle relay team in Beijing.
ANDREW LAUTERSTEIN
Lauterstein chose to become a backstroker because he believed
that gave him the best chance to break into the Australian
team.
But that was until team officials encouraged the former
Victorian and his Gold Coast-based coach, Glenn Baker, to change to
the freestyle and butterfly ranks which needed replenishing with
the ageing of the once mighty generation of Australian
swimmers.
Since then, Lauterstein’s career prospects have shot ahead,
culminating in him earning a place in Beijing with his third
placing in the 100 freestyle final, which ensures him a place in
the 4×100 freestyle relay squad.
Last night he sealed his place by winning the 100 butterfly.
MATT TARGETT
The 22-year-old has recently returned to Melbourne after two
years in the collegiate system in America.
He came back to Ian Pope’s squad after the disappointment of
missing the world titles team last year.
The move paid off when he gained second place behind the flying
Eamon Sullivan in the 100 final thus earning him an individual race
in Beijing and, like Lauterstein, an entry into the squad for the
4×100 freestyle team.
He was also aiming for an individual swim in his pet event the
50 freestyle, which had its final last night.
Pope, who has trained Targett since he was 11 years old and
continued to liaise with him during his time in the US where former
Australian sprint champion and former Pope squad member Brett Hawke
is an assistant coach, said Targett was completely out of the
freestyle sprinters mould of eccentricity and cheekiness.
BRONTE BARRATT
Came to prominence when she last year broke Tracey Wickham’s 400
freestyle national (and Commonwealth) record which had been the
world record in Berlin in 1978.
The 19-year-old has secured her berth at Beijing in the 200 and
400 freestyle after top-two placings during the week.
Barratt was surprised by Linda MacKenzie in the 400 but the
teenager turned the tables on MacKenzie to win the 200.
Barratt’s coach, John Rodgers, believes she now has the class to
take on some of the big names among the events such as Laure
Manaudou, Natalie Coughlin, Federica Pellegrini, Kate Ziegler and
Katie Hoff.
Rodgers has never doubted her ability.
“When she was 12 I told her she would go to the Olympics and now
this is the fruition of eight years.
we’ve worked at it, got better at it, got faster and we’ve done
a lot of good work and I think she’ll go even faster.
She is (a genuine medal contender) in both and I think by the
time she gets there she’ll be an even better swimmer.”
KENRICK MONK
Came into the public spotlight in 2006 after being called up to
replace swimming superstar Ian Thorpe after he pulled out of the
Commonwealth Games team due to illness.
Monk has developed into a world-class competitor as his body
developed into racing muscle.
The 20-year-old has had a number of impressive performances
including his fourth placing in the 200 at last year’s world
titles.
He duly earned his individual berth in the 200 when second
behind Grant Hackett on Monday and will be a member of the 4×200
freestyle relay team for Beijing.
If things go to plan, he will be racing superstar Michael Phelps
in the 200 final, but he does not flinch from the challenge despite
the aura still surrounding the American superstar’s effort in
demolishing Thorpe’s world record at last year’s world
championships.
SAMANTHA HAMILL
The talented 17-yearold has already won 12 national titles and
had success at junior international meets, but has now broken
through to the senior ranks in the past week.
She was second behind the world record-breaking performance of
Stephanie Rice in the 400IM on the first night of competition.
She then pushed world champion Jess Schipper in the 200
butterfly.
National youth coach Leigh Nugent said the smallframed Hamill,
who moved from Victoria to Queensland’s Sunshine Coast a few years
ago, was tenacious.
“That’s her big plus, she’s a little girl with a big heart.
She’s got a great work ethic … got incredible determination
and is a wonderful athlete,” he said.
