Australia swim team’s ‘toxic’ mix of bullying, beer and pills at London Olympics

 
Limited success: Australia’s 4x100m medley relay team celebrate a silver at London 2012. They won the country’s only gold in the 4x100m freestyle relay
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Bo Wilson19 February 2013

Drunken athletes, bullying, taking sleeping pills as an initiation ritual — the reasons behind the Australian swimming team’s flop at London 2012 were laid bare today.

A review ordered by the sport’s governing body said there was a “toxic” environment surrounding the team. A “dire need” for stronger leadership left young athletes vulnerable and confused, says the independent Bluestone Review.

Australia’s only swimming gold medal was in the women’s 4x100-metre freestyle relay, with the men’s relay and world champion James Magnussen failing to deliver for a country which prides itself on his performances in the pool.

Australia won 10 swimming medals overall, including six silver and three bronze, their worst Olympics haul for two decades. The review noted cases of “getting drunk, misuse of prescription drugs, breaching curfews, deceit, bullying”.

“Situations were left to bleed,” the report said, adding that swimmers felt alone and alienated and described their London experience as the “lonely Olympics”. There were allegations of pranks at a pre-Games training camp, including the devising of an initiation ritual involving taking the prescription sleeping pill Stilnox on a bonding night.

Swimming Australia president Barclay Nettlefold said: “Before we look at winning gold medals, we want to win back the admiration of the nation, and we want to engage with our swimming community like never before.”

He added: “The underlying message is that we all have to be accountable for the future success of swimming in Australia and that starts with discipline and setting the right standards of behaviour from the top down.”

Swimming Australia says it will investigate the possible misuse of prescription drugs including Stilnox.

Head coach Leigh Nugent said the behavioural issues in the team “were not overtly obvious”, adding: “Blame attribution is not where we need to go right now,” he said. “In hindsight there are things I look at now and think maybe I could have addressed those things differently.”

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