- The United States paid for some swimmers to stay in hotels near Paris
- Australian stars like Kaylee McKeown were in the Olympic Village
- The United States had the last laugh, winning the majority of the gold medals in the pool.
The rivalry between Australia and the United States is legendary in swimming circles, and now it can be revealed just how desperate the US were to win the Olympic medals in the Paris pool.
While Ariarne Titmus and Kaylee McKeown endured tough conditions in the Olympic Village, the same could not be said for Katie Ledecky and Regan Smith.
After Titmus won gold in the 400-meter freestyle, U.S. swimming officials had seen enough.
They quietly spirited a handful of their world stars out of the village and took them to a hotel within walking distance of the La Defense Arena.
In the end, the maneuver paid off and the United States finished with eight gold medals, compared to Australia’s seven.
The victory, which came in the final event of the swimming programme, the women’s 4x100m medley relay, also allowed the United States to maintain its record as the leading nation in swimming at the Games.
Australia defeated the United States in the pool at the Olympic Games back in 1956, when the Games were held in Melbourne.
It wasn’t long before other nations discovered that a handful of American stars were recuperating in groomed accommodation rather than the Olympic Village, but since the move didn’t break any rules, they had to bite their tongues.
The rivalry between Australia and the United States is legendary in swimming circles, and now it can be revealed just how desperate the US were to win the Olympic medals in the Paris pool.
While Ariarne Titmus and Kaylee McKeown endured tough conditions at the Olympic Village, the same could not be said for Katie Ledecky (pictured) and Regan Smith, who enjoyed pampered hotel accommodations.
“At the Olympics, you go in and expect everything to be a level playing field,” McKeown said. News Corporation.
‘So (after hearing the news about the hotel) I thought, ‘Well, that’s a big blow for us.’ We were traveling an hour to the village and back.
‘They (US) were staying just outside the village, walking to and from the pool.’
The news comes after Titmus came under fire after speaking out about “ridiculous” conditions inside the Olympic village.
“Living in the Olympic Village makes it difficult to compete,” she admitted in an interview.
“It’s definitely not built for high performance, so it’s about who can really hold it together in the mind.”
Retired Australian Olympic swimmer James Magnussen also criticised the Olympics, claiming the green stance in Paris ruined athletes’ chances of setting world records.
“There are many factors that make life in the village far from ideal,” the double Olympian wrote in his News Corp column a few days after the Games.
“It’s mainly the cardboard beds that don’t allow you to sleep optimally,” he explained.
“For me, the lack of world records is due to this whole eco-mindedness, carbon footprint and veganism rather than high performance.”