Old comments have been recycled to fire up the American team before the two nations vie for supremacy in the Paris pool
owbells. Australia’s Olympic swimmers could be hearing them in their sleep, and definitely will be hearing them in their waking hours at the Paris Olympic pool, after the US-Australian rivalry ignited this week.
Comments that Australia’s former sprint queen Cate Campbell made last year about the sweetness of beating the US team and their “infernal cowbell” were the talk of the US swimming trials that finished in Indianapolis earlier this week.
Australia is generally not the focus of USA Swimming at its biggest showcase event, but Campbell’s comments were dragged up by Olympic broadcaster NBC to pour fuel on a fire that had been gently smouldering for nearly a year, since Australia beat the US on the gold medal tally at the world championships in Fukuoka. It was only the second time that had happened at a global showdown since the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne.
Egged on by Nine presenter Karl Stefanovic, Campbell described the Americans as sore losers (because the USA orders the medal tally according to total medals – a contest they never lose because of their unrivalled depth – rather than gold medals as the rest of the world does). She then decried the US team’s ringing of a cowbell to send their athletes out to compete, and said she was delighted not to hear the Star Spangled Banner on the opening night.
All of this was said in jest, her tongue firmly in cheek, but tell that to Gary Hall Jr, who wrote an otherwise glowing article about Australia in the lead-up to the Sydney 2000 Olympics, which happened to mention that he believed the US 4x100m freestyle relay team would smash Australia “like guitars”. Context is the first casualty of sporting rivalry.
NBC commentator and US Olympic gold medallist Rowdy Gaines said the US team would use Campbell’s words – serious or not – as extra motivation for Paris.
“Rivalry is important to Americans. It’s the epitome of sports attraction here, and we don’t really have many rivalries in swimming. When I was swimming, it was Russia, but now the Australian team is so good. This has built up because of last summer, when Australia kicked America’s butt. Getting beaten on the gold medal count fired our swimmers up.”
Will it be a major factor in Paris? “Once that fuse is lit, it can’t be stamped out,” he said. “From America’s point of view, and NBC’s, it’s a big deal. That Cate Campbell video will get replayed a lot.”
“Cowbells are selling out over here,” Gaines joked. “I don’t think it [the rivalry] would be near what it is now if not for Cate. I loved what she said. That kind of statement is just awesome because it gets everyone fired up and more people watch swimming.
