Sullivan Hopes for a Little Spanking of the Americans
It was good seeing Sydney 2000 when we spanked their arses.
It was bound to happen - another swimmer opening their mouth… not that it is a bad thing, but it will provide some bulletin board material for the Americans. In the Sydney Morning Herald today Eamon Sullivan was quoted as saying “he’d love nothing more than to ’spank the arses’ of the USA’s 4×100m freestyle relay team like the Australians did at the 2000 Olympics.”
These comments came in response to South Africa’s Roland Schoeman’s claims that “everybody loves beating the Americans” that was published in yesterday’s The Australian.
Sullivan admits to having video of that race as inspiration on his iPod®. I am also sure that Gary Hall, Jr. will be amused by these comments, as he has been dogged by his “smash them like guitars” comment that has been taken out of context since he first stated it.
On that note I am sure that Australia has a shot in the relay, but it is worth noting that the United States has beaten Australia at every opportunity in the 4×100 free relay since their defeat in 2000. They also finally found the success they were looking for when they broke the world record in the event last August. But revenge can only come through one thing… Olympic gold. While it will surely be nice for the Americans if they can win in Melbourne this month, it will only be sweetest if, of course, they can take home the gold medal in Beijing… something that has eluded the USA since 1996.
Comment by David
Posted on March 16th, 2007 at 12:27
The nice thing about the U.S. relay is that if they feel they don’t have a strong enough relay after prelims with their 6 entrants…they always have Ian Crocker ready to go too. I’m sure after his 41.6 effort two weeks ago he would love a shot to be on that relay again.
Comment by Rhi
Posted on March 16th, 2007 at 17:28
HAHA. Wow, I LOVE this! It is making the anticipation for World’s SO exciting!
Comment by Sarah
Posted on March 16th, 2007 at 20:57
David, I’m wondering if they might even just give Ian a shot to race on the relay in the prelims, just to see where he’s at. The boy has been swimming great lately, and that might be a good option for them. The only question is who would he replace? All of the boys we have for that relay are pretty strong.
As to Eamon’s statement. I’d love to see the Aussies bring it to Melbourne. It’ll make it even better when we beat them. But, like Rhi said, it definitely makes the games much more exciting and interesting. A little smack talk never hurt anyone.
Comment by Aussie_Swimming
Posted on March 17th, 2007 at 04:38
Just a little note about the 4×100 free; Australia actually beat the US in the 4×100 free at both the 2001 World Champs (the US was DQed in that race but I think Australia still touched the wall first in a fast time) and at the 2002 Pan Pacs. That’s for post 2000 Olympics.
If you count the 1999 Pan Pacs then Australia had a nice little winning streak of 4 victories over the US from 1999-2002.
I actually think it’s good to see three different winners of this event over the past three Olympics but I think the US have already got this for the next Olympics.
As nice as it would be to see Australia smack anyones ass in that race at the WCs I don’t think they’ll do exceedingly well. I haven’t tipped them to medal because I think their competition is really tough. Too tough for them at this stage, though anything can happen on the day.
However I think it’s nice that Sullivan has that motivation to do his best.
Having said that the team did well in terms of times at the 2003 WCs, 2004 Olympics and even performed surprisingly well at the under-attended and under-performed 2005 WCs.