Australian media slam relay choke in Olympics

Lashes out at men's 4x100m freestyle relay team's failure to win medal, calling it country's greatest swimming disasters

I / Sydney July 30, 2012, 13:57 IST

Australian media today lashed out at their world champion men's 4x100m freestyle relay team's failure to win an Olympic medal, calling it one of the country's greatest swimming disasters.

The Sydney Daily Telegraph lamented a "dark day", with James "Missile" Magnussen, the fastest man in the world this year, singled out after swimming a sluggish first leg.

"Our failure to win a medal in the men's 4x100m freestyle relay is our greatest swimming disaster in a rich history that dates back to Fanny Durack winning gold at the 1912 Stockholm Olympics," it said on its website.

 

Australia went into the race led by the two quickest 100m swimmers this year in Magnussen and James "Rocket" Roberts, plus former world record holder Eamon Sullivan, and Matt Targett.

They were hot favourites but flopped, finishing outside the medals in fourth behind winners France, the United States and Russia.

"The so-called 'Weapons of Mass Destruction' were the hottest of hot favourites to win the gold medal but all four swimmers swam badly," the Telegraph said, adding that they "bombed out in a big way".