Time to pull our heads out of the water bucket

By Peter Fitzsimons
Updated August 4 2017 - 11:08pm, first published 11:02pm

How old am I? I am so old, soooooo old, I remember when Australian swimmers only had to dip a toe in chlorinated water and they started growing gold medals on their chest! I remember when all it took for Kieren Perkins to beat American swimmers was to frown at them in the change-rooms, whereupon they'd burst into tears. And, yes, I can even remember when the World Swimming Championships were a big deal, with Ray Warren calling every race - "Hackett! Hackett! Hackett is world champion, I'll tell a men he is!" - and they kept the Australian National Anthem on fast forward as they had to get through it so many times. They are, of course, days long gone, and after these latest World Championships in Budapest - where our mob secured just a single gold medal, Australian swimming has not been at such a low ebb since the 1976 Montreal Olympics when Stephen Holland managed to get a bronze medal only.

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