Australia Predicts: Less Swimming Medals

Australia predicts that it’s medal haul in swimming during the Beijing Olympics will not be as good as its previous results. The problem? Seems like the guys (but not the gals) have not been delivering in recent international events.

From The Australian:

AUSTRALIA will need its men to lift their game to maintain its place in the top five nations on the medal tally in Beijing, according to research released by the Australian Olympic Committee yesterday.

The AOC’s medal projections, broken down by gender, reveal that Australian women are holding their place in the top five among their international competitors, but the men have dropped to eighth on results in the past year.

Last year’s rankings show that Australia is under heavy pressure from France, Britain and Italy.

In the women’s rankings, China leads with a predicted 53 medals (23 gold), from the US (46), Russia (41), Germany (36) and Australia (28).

The Australian tally includes 14 gold medals, twice the amount forecast for the Australian men.

Eight of those gold medals are expected to come from the world No1-ranked women’s swimming team, spearheaded by five-time world champion Libby Lenton, breaststroke queen Leisel Jones and world record-holder Jessicah Schipper. World 400m hurdles champion Jana Rawlinson, the basketball team, cycling, rowing, sailing and equestrian have also been earmarked for gold.

The Australian men’s swimming team is expected to deliver just one gold medal.

Just one gold medal from the men? Whatever became of Australia’s grand swimming tradition? But, then again, medal-poor nations would be very happy indeed to have just one medal. Whether this medal be gold or not.