Australia has won its first gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics, by none other than our women’s 4×100 metres freestyle relay team – who smashed a world record in the process.
Bronte Campbell, Cate Campbell, Emma McKeon and Meg Harris finished the race in just three minutes and 29 seconds – which was a whopping 29.78 seconds ahead of both Canada (3:32.78) and the USA (3:32:81).
The girls are the first ever team to finish the race in under three minutes and 30 seconds – beating the previous world (which was also set by Aussies) at the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.
Campbell said setting a new world record was actually incredible considering how disrupted the Tokyo Olympics have been.
“I could not be prouder of these girls,” she told Channel 7.
“It has been a tough ask for everyone to get here and to come away with the win and a world record, you honestly couldn’t have asked for anything better.”
Emma McKeon split a 51.35 100 freestyle on that World Record relay for Australia. That’s insane.
— Kyle Sockwell (@kylesockwell) July 25, 2021
McKeon said swimming with her teammates was uplifting and actually made the race better.
“Going out with the girls, you always have that extra bit of adrenaline,” she said.
“I actually felt a bit more relaxed going in with the rest of them and seeing the girls last night put up a good heat swim.”
She also acknowledged Mollie O’Callaghan and Madison Wilson, who swam in place of McKeon and Cate Campbell in last night’s heat.
“All six of us are parts of this team,” she said.
WORLD RECORD FOR AUSTRALIA. A huge gold medal win in the 4×100 women’s freestyle relay, breaking the 3.30 barrier for the first time in history #Tokyo2020 https://t.co/JPlXc4aHKN
— Kieran Pender (@KieranPender) July 25, 2021
The race is being called ‘iconic’ and ‘insane’, with the women absolutely blowing their opponents out of the water. Pun intended.
“Three seconds ahead of the rest of the world,” Ian Thorpe said.
“You just don’t see that.
The win brought Australia’s third consecutive Olympic gold medal. Yeah the girls!
