Alicia Coutts could empathise better than anyone what Emma McKeon was going through. Four years ago Coutts was having the sort of games McKeon is having.
On Friday night in the pool McKeon claimed a third medal in two days when she won bronze in the 100 metre butterfly. To do so she edged out Coutts and denied the woman who won five medals in London and five gold in Delhi, another appearance on the podium.
This was swimming so it was not a baton passing moment, more a touching of the wall and tagging the next girl in.
It was never going to be as good as Delhi for Coutts. How could it? Five gold medals in a Games was Ian Thorpe, Shane Gould stuff. Coutts never set herself up for that sort of fall by forecasting or trying to replicate that sort of extraordinary performance here.
“I really don’t know what happened. I just didn’t have it. It wasn’t my night, I felt really nervous going into the marshalling area and sitting down and I don’t normally get nervous. I just didn’t have it tonight,” said Coutts.
Australia’s most successful swimmer could not claim one more medal, not yet. She has two events to come though so there is time yet, even for a 26-year-old.
For McKeon, her mind was still filled with thoughts of last night when she was asked to focus on tonight. Then she could wait not a moment to savour another medal for she had to turn her head to tomorrow night and beyond. Her head was spinning.
With a family pedigree demanding she at least dip a toe in the pool – her dad Ron swam at two Olympics, her mum Susie at a Commonwealth Games, her brother David is on the same Australian swim team and uncle Rob Woodhouse won Olympic bronze - this performance might have seemed more confirmation than baptism.
“I am excited. I am still buzzing from last night, I went home last night and I got as much sleep as I could but I have been on the go since yesterday morning,” she said.
“My head is still spinning but I am trying to stay focused for the rest of my races so I can do well in them.”
Earlier Leiston Pickett defended her Commonwealth gold medal from Delhi in the 50m breaststroke just twelve months after being dropped from the Australian team.
“It’s certainly been an interesting 12 months, missing the team last year was a pretty big blow but I learnt a lot from it so it's really good to get back on top in that 50,” said Pickett who won in a time in 30.59s.
Pickett was forced to hang on and hope as she glided into the wall, realising five metres out that she was half a stroke short
“I knew five metres out ‘oh man I am going to be short or long on this’ so I just had to do all I could and just reach for that finish,” she said.
Pickett surprised herself with the victory knowing Jamaican Alia Atkinson in the lane next to her had swum two Commonwealth records firstly in the heat (30.49s) then in the semi (30.17s) the night before.
“I definitely did not expect to win seeing how quick Alia went in that semi but one of the biggest things learnt in London was that it doesn’t matter what times people go in the heats or the semis it’s really the (final) race it comes down to so that is all I kept thinking the last 24 hours it's going to come down to the race and it is what you do on the day that counts,” Pickett said.
Then there were the moments not so much perfunctory as businesslike. Emily Seebohm ticked off what she needed to do to advance to the final in 100m backstroke where she will defend her Commonwealth title. The London silver medallist in the event did so in the quickest time - 59.59s.
Belinda Hocking tied for first in her semi-final and advanced in the equal fourth quickest time (59.98).
Cate and Bronte Campbell both qualified for the final of the 50m freestyle along with Melanie Schlanger.
Cate set a new Games record time of 24.17s until England’s Francesca Hall shaved another .03 seconds from that time in the next semi. Schlanger had the fourth quickest time (24.59s) and Bronte next in 24.62.
Maddison Elliott won gold in a world record time in the para S8 100m with Lakeisha Patterson winning bronze.
