Top 20 Most Significant Swimming Stories Of 2016: #12 – Putting The Great Back In Britain

SwimVortex continues a countdown of the most significant swimming stories of Olympic Year 2016. 

We started with progress, the heights of Katinka Hosszu and  the Canadian Comeback, turned to a lack of progress in The Swimming Selfie, then considered inspiration and the impact of Michael Phelps on a generation knee-high when he was racing in his first Olympic final. Our list then turned to the theme that will not go away: doping and how to deal with it. 

We’ll be returning to the topic later in our countdown but yesterday we considered the Australia/ China interface and questions of faith & fair dinkum. In parallel context, we then looked at the folk responsible for the environment of all the entries in the list above and most to come, too: FINA, an international federation that is, in all the wrong ways, same as it ever was. 

Next up, the ruinous nature of runes in an Olympic year that drove home the wisdom of Bob Bowman when he said: “Those who predict don’t know and those who know, don’t predict.” Then we faced the reality of world-class swimming at continental level: headline sponsor for the European Championships? No takers. Result: Masters, UK Sport & British Swimming bail out the LEN showcase in London this year. A sport crying out for professional structures and governance.

Today, we stick with the other side of the British coin: performance. A time of revival, Rio the best result for the Great Britain swim team  since the days of pioneers more than a century ago. Hope, too, for Tokyo 2020, from the established with more goals ahead and the new wave making its way through the ranks.

No 12 – Putting The Great Back In Britain

One gold, five silvers and seven fourth places. Olympic Games. The Great is back in Britain when talking actual swimming results. The ‘G’ word has been there for much longer than 2012-2016. These things take time. The Rio result has its roots in the quad to Sydney 2000 and no medals for the first time since 1948; it has the roots of recovery in the Bill Sweetenham revolution of coaching coaches and taking the hard line required to not only raise the wreck but turn it round and set it sail in the right direction; it has its roots in 2008 and 2012 and the decision that flowed: Britain was ready to stand on its own two feet. Time to do it “the British way”.

The proof will be in sustainability. The signs are good. Below are relevant links to significant moments before we get to the review of Rio with head coach Bill Furniss after he met media at the conclusion of swimming in Brazil back in August.

The pathway of progress:

Beyond those links to archived articles, we reproduce four pieces below that speak to significant moments of preparation for the Olympic challenge:

From The Archive

1. 2014: Building The Next Wave – Tim Jones and 2TP: New Dawn As Land Of The Early Rising Talent Forms Toyko 2020 Pact With Britain

“I’d fallen out of love with swimming but the feeling has returned and I think there are exciting times ahead.” – Tim Jones

Jazmin Carlin celebrates double 800m gold – Commonwealth and now European in a stunning 8:15 [Photo by Patrick B. Kraemer]

2. 2014: Commonwealth Games, Glasgow – Steered By A Rudd-er Of Responsibility England Identify With Winning Ways

Where was alchemy to be found? Says head England coach Jon Rudd: “Sixteen days ago, we got together in London and we started talking about a philosophy for the team and how we were going to go about our business, we talked about what our priorities were, what we would focus on, some thing were were going to speak about and things were not going to mention or focus on. We talked about how important it was to find an identity, how easy it was for Scots to feel Scottish, Welsh to feel Welsh and how easy it was for the English to feel British. It says ‘We Are England’ on our T-shirts but it needed to be more than a badge. It needed to be something we felt. I was conscious about pushing that England button too hard because you don’t always get the best performances that way.” He adds:

“The point was to bring some kind of collective responsibility to what we were trying to do – and that meant the coaches feeling it, the support staff feeling it and the athletes feeling it. We created, I think, a really calm and productive environment on that camp.”

Adam Peaty, Chris Walker-Hebborn and Siobhan Marie O’Connor celebrate after Fran Halsall delivers gold and a world record returned in the 4x100m medley – by Patrick B. Kraemer

Chris Walker-Hebborn by Patrick B. Kraemer

3. 2014: European Championships, Berlin – Bill Furniss: Britain Doing It ‘Our Way’ & Berlin Success In Mid-Olympic Cycle Context

“The pleasing thing is the resilience we’ve shown. Last year we really struggled going from trials to a world championships in a four-week period and this year we’ve focussed on the Commonwealth Games and we sent out that message loud and clear. We were delighted with the Commonwealths and here I’m really pleased with the way they’ve raced. We’ve shown a bit of steel. That’s good.

“There are some excellent green shoots. A lot of those stepping up are 18, 19, just making their way, people like Adam Peaty and Ross Murdoch.”

Continuity of such things is important isn’t is? “Yes, never let a season go by without repeating the things that work. You have got to maximise your chances of putting the talent in the program: you have to have a structure. We can’t hope: we haven’t got the numbers to do that. We can’t afford to waste talent. We have to maximise it.” – Bill Furniss

4. 2016: Olympic Trials – Kazan The Past; Glasgow The Present; Rio “Where Battle Will Be Fought”, Says Furniss

“It’s important that we don’t leave Glasgow and start to compare our championship results with those on the world stage as many nations are also holding their own events at the moment. There is nothing to be gained and everything to lose by getting involved in a virtual contest with other nations. After Glasgow we need to re-focus on Rio – that is where the competition will be fought and not before.” – Bill Furniss

5. 2016: The Spice In Brit Quartets Last Year Feeds Hunger To Be “Known As A Relay Nation”

6. 2016: Britain Olympic Squad & Tokyo 2020 Target Team Picked For London Euro Showcase And … The Rio Olympic Games, 2016

7. 2016: The Rio 2016 Olympic Games

Adam Peaty’s 57.12 victory in the 100m breaststroke at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games marked the most momentous swim of the year – coach Mel Marshall, inset with Peaty, now aims to have winning ways ripple out to a wider swim world in Britain from the Loughborough ‘hub’ – main image by Patrick B. Kraemer, inset courtesy of Marshall and Peaty

Bill Furniss, the head coach of Britain celebrating the nation’s finest result in the pool since the age of pioneers more than a century ago, has shot a cannon ball across the bows of  FINA and the International Olympic Committee for failing to protect clean athletes.

Britain, he said, was celebrating its best Olympic Games in the pool with a gold and five silvers but the nation was also the most punished of all countries in Rio by the presence of swimmers who had a doping record to their name. It was time, he said, for all who test positive to be barred from the Olympic Games as a hard and fast rule.

Just below the surface of a medals tally only seen once before by a British shoal at the Games, at London 1908, there were a frustrating seven fourth places – and four of those races placed “a swimmer towing the asterisk” of doping with them. Furniss said:

“It’s our best-ever Olympics – that’s pleasing. We raced very well all week. We were resilient all week and that’s what we’ve been working on. We believe we belong at this level now. Six medals is great.”

He then gritted his teeth and added:

“It sticks in my throat a bit, I’ve got to say: we had seven fourths and four of those ahead of us were individuals who failed a drug test. I didn’t say anything in the build up because it was a distraction but I think we’ve been penalised more than any other nation here.”

He spoke directly to those at the IOC seeking to find a way to keep cheats out of the Games when he said:

“I’ll be perfectly honest: If you fail a drugs test you should not be at the Olympic Games. I can’t say it more clearly than that.”

Francesca Halsall – by PBK

Chloe Sutton – by Ian MacNicol

Fran Halsall‘s near miss in the 50m freestyle on the last night of racing in Rio marked the seventh fourth place for the national team this week. Of those seven, three on the podium ahead of the Brits were towing the asterisk of a specific doping suspension. Halsall finished behind Aliaksandra Herasimenia* (BLR), while on the 200m breaststroke, Chloe Tutton finished fourth behind Yuliya Efimova*, the Russian who was booed and jeered to her blocks all week after being …

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