AFTER the disgraceful pre-season performance of some of our footballers, hasn't it been great to see athletes worthy of being called role models excelling in the pool.
In the lead-up to this week's Olympic trials there weren't any shameful displays of drunken swimmers falling out of nightclubs or urinating in laneways -- they left that to our well-paid league and Aussie rules footballers.
And, unlike the petulant cricketers, the words "monkey" and "obnoxious weed" haven't been uttered in the swimming lanes at Homebush.
Our swimmers have turned up fit, fresh-faced and sober to swim their hearts out -- even though they're not paid to do so.
I guess that is because these wonderful athletes love it. They are a credit to their parents and a credit to their nation.
I wonder how many footballers would train every day if they weren't getting paid?
Some of them can't be bothered to turn up even though they are paid hundreds of thousands of dollars.
But never our swimmers.
There they are, morning after morning, swimming lap after lap at some ungodly hour in the hope of representing their country and winning gold.
The divide between their life and the pampered world of football has never been wider.
How do our vivacious and articulate swimmers, competing and training for the most part as individuals, get it so right and our footballers get it so wrong?
Our swimmers train alone, under different coaches, coming together only at events such as this week, and yet there is a strong bond between them. A camaraderie among rivals.
Take, for instance, Emily Seebohm and Sophie Edington. One steals the other's world record breaking thunder within 24 hours, but there they were, giggling and hugging, genuinely pleased with one
another's achievements.
And there they were again jumping up and down on Monday night when they both qualified for Beijing in the 100m backstroke -- an event in which they will compete against one another for gold.
It is a team ethos like no other and, to the armchair observer, there don't seem to be any egos and ugly rivalries.
In professional sport, the motivation seems to be money and status. And it seems at times to be filled with wasted talent -- players who, for want of a better phrase, piss it up against the wall.
If anything, you would think athletes in team sports would feel a greater sense of duty to their teammates, club and supporters. But they don't.
Some don't even give a second thought to the thousands of supporters. Instead, they would rather risk a suspension after a night out clubbing until dawn.
When caught, these sportsmen tell of the excessive stress of top-level competition and the need to let off steam.
So how do our swimmers let off steam? It's certainly not by publicly binge-drinking. Even in retirement there doesn't seem to be a hint of scandal.
The most recent, to my mind, was when Ian Thorpe's reputation was shaken last May when he was informed he had returned an abnormal drug test.
Despite being cleared, he complained that his name had been forever tarnished.
Next to that was Libby Lenton and husband Luke Trickett -- who allowed a magazine to cover them in a big white "walking tent" on their wedding day.
However, the couple did salvage their reputation by announcing that they donated to charity the entire amount they were paid for exclusive access to their big day.
It's easy to see, then, why merchandisers, sponsors and television executives are all lurking and smacking their greedy chops at the prospect of this year's Australian swimming team for Beijing.
The number of world records and personal bests broken this week is just the start.
The fact that they have an appeal that can straddle populations, incite patriotic fervour and inspire us all is another.
They also remind us exactly why sport is attractive and important -- and why we watch -- to enjoy the thrill of good competition and be excited by displays of grace, stamina and endurance achieved by perfectly trained bodies and sharply focused minds.
Of course their good looks, self-discipline, ability to be great public speakers and their graciousness in both victory and defeat also helps.
The sporting display at Homebush this week was wonderful to watch.
These youngsters are the poster girls and boys for our future athletes -- and a wake-up call for some of our existing sportsmen and women.
Source:
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,23 ... 46,00.html
