Olympic revelations from team members

The wash up is continuing over WTF happened at the London Olypics, and in particular WTF happened with our swimmers that produced the worst Australian swimming result since the 1970's. Swimming Australia has been looking into it and interviewing a large number of the team members to gain an insight. 

My opinions at the time were I suspect voicing what many people then were thinking. I was surprised to find like minded thinking online and in a short space of time in the main stream media as well. Generally it's considered almost sacrilegious for an Australian to criticise their Olympians (to be said with much awe) in any way at all. However the fact that huge amounts of taxpayers money is poured into our efforts to win medals, what we got in return was abysmal. On the swimming medal count yes, but to me it was much much more than that.

I'd have been happy to see a group of genuine people simply doing their best for their country. What we got however was a bunch of spoilt brats, spitting the dummy about nothing, behaviour akin to people under ten, trying to be mega-stars. Even the character traits of those chosen was in question; D'Arcy convicted of a serious assault on a team mate and going bankrupt to avoid paying compensation, Monk who lied to the police and the national media when he fell off his skateboard (lucky not to be charged for it) and that rower bloke who when he lost his race went on a drunken window smashing rampage, a tantrum of biblical proportions, akin to a 2 year old not getting bought any lollies at the supermarket by mummy. 

This is what we got for all that taxpayers money? People completely unrepresentative of who we are? Spoilt brats on the world stage? It was fuckin repulsive.

Well, it looks like we weren't the only ones. There were some pretty repulsed Australian team members as well by what was going on. From the interviews of the swimming team so far these are some of the complaints: 

That one of the youngest members of the team was bullied by older members of the team.

That some swimmers took Stilnox on the Olympic team's charter flight home from London to Sydney.

That two male swimmers kept the body hair they shaved off before competition and used it to play pranks on their teammates by scattering it in the beds and bags of other swimmers.

That the ill-feeling within the group was such that some team members were pleased when the men's 4 x 100m relay team failed to win a medal (finishing fourth) despite their heavy favouritism, and when Magnussen was beaten by 0.01sec for the gold medal in the men's 100m freestyle final.

That despite team rules to the contrary, swimmers who had finished competing went out socialising while their teammates were still racing, instead of supporting them in the grandstands. more

Remember that relay loss? Magnussen "the missile" just about having a mental breakdown over it? I wonder if he was hearing the Aussies cheering in the stands when he lost? This is just the tip of the iceberg though. 

There are also persistent "rumours" of an initiation ritual involving Stilnox, which was banned by Australia after reports of previous swimmers from past years had found themselves dependent on it after their swimming career was over. Nobody's talking, but as soon as someone doesn't confirm or deny something, IMO they've got something to hide.

Admitting that he had ''misbehaved'' during the Olympics, 21-year-old D'Orsogna told Channel Ten that he believed some people had forgotten that they were at the Olympics to win medals for Australia and not for personal glory. 

He also hinted that some swimmers had taken the controversial sleeping tablet Stilnox, which was banned from the Australian Olympic team. 

''I'm not going to be the guy that lies on media. I'm not going to be the guy that stands up here and lies to Australia. But, at the same time, I'm just not going to comment. I'll leave it at that,'' he told Channel Ten when questioned about Stilnox. 

His comments came as Swimming Australia prepared to launch an investigation into the culture of the national team after worrying reports emerged about pranks at the pre-Olympic camp in Manchester. 

Team insiders alleged that senior members of the men's 4x100m freestyle relay team, favoured to win gold in London but which emerged without a medal, devised an ''initiation ritual'' that involved taking Stilnox on a bonding night. They also reportedly upset their teammates and coaches at the camp on July 20 by knocking on their doors and making prank calls late at night. 

Some members of the six-man relay team - which comprised D'Orsogna, Eamon Sullivan, Matt Targett, James Magnussen, James Roberts and Cameron McEvoy - were said to act like celebrities rather than leaders, and as a consequence their teammates were pleased when they didn't win gold. more

Like I said, a bunch of kids. BTW no action was taken against the swimmers for doing that late night calling and waking up people. They were the world champs I suppose, untouchable.