Aussie swimmers make brutal mockery of American's cocky call
Australia's swimmers have made Lilly King eat her words after the American boldly declared Team USA could win every individual women's gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics.
Australia and the United States entered the penultimate day of swimming competition in Tokyo tied with six gold medals each.
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Four of Australia's gold medals have come from individual women's races, with Ariarne Titmus winning two and Emma McKeon and Kaylee McKeown one apiece.
So much for America winning them all.
"I think the (US) women, if we have the meet we can have, can win every single individual gold,” King said before the Games.
“That would be pretty cool, right?
"But really, just looking at it, I think that is a genuine possibility.”
Think again.
King wasn't able to live up to her words as she had to settle for silver in the 200m breaststroke final on Friday.
South Africa's Tatjana Schoenmaker broke the world record, becoming the first woman ever to go faster than 2 minutes and 19 seconds in the event.
King also took bronze in the 100m breaststroke earlier this week, although compatriot Lydia Jacoby did win gold.
Lilly King slams 'bullsh*t' farce over minor medals
The American has since changed her tune after the bold pre-Games prediction, calling on fans to celebrate athletes winning minor medals.
The USA had won nine silver and nine bronze heading into Saturday's events, while Australia had two silver and six bronze.
“Excuse my French but the fact that we’re not celebrating silver and bronze is bullsh*t,” she said.
“You get to bring a medal home for your country and just because we compete for the United States and maybe we have extremely high standards for this sort of thing that doesn’t excuse the fact that we haven’t been celebrating silver and bronze as much as gold.
“I might be more happy with this medal than I’ve been with any of my previous medals including my two golds in Rio.
"That’s simply just for the way that I’ve handled myself.”
Schoenmaker smashed the long-standing world record after touching in 2min 18.95sec to better the 2:19.11 set by Denmark's Rikke Moller Pedersen in 2013.
King went out fast and turned first at both the 50m and 100m mark before Schoenmaker made her move, reeling in the American to touch first.
It made her the first female South African to win an Olympic swimming gold since 1996, when Penny Heyns swept the women's 100 and 200 breaststroke.
with agencies
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