Oh look, another swim-team rift. As if enough post Olympic dirty laundry hadn’t been given a public airing, star swimmers Melanie Schlanger and Geoff Huegill have taken twitter this week to get their beef on. At least this time we can blame The Today Show who kicked off the week with some serious pot stirring by pitting our victorious Paralympians against their able bodied compatriots in the name of public debate.
This was obviously a real drop the the spoon in the cornflakes moment as Schlanger hit back strait away.
I’m only speculating but I imaging her thought process was heading in the direction of “You know what, there’s cornflakes all over the coffee table and i still haven’t made my point. Fuck ’em!”
To which point Phil Rogers pitched in because he’s a former and Olympian and deep thinker i.e.
“Oh god Phil, this thread is for people who have won Olympic golds only but whatevs.” Again, I can only speculate.
Papa Hueg’s, as he’s known within the team (probably), doesn’t take kindly to anyone dissing his beloved sport and hits back before deleting his scathing comments within the hour.
@Mel_Schlanger How much of the 4/5 star hotel and world tours for racing did you have to pay for out of your money?
@Mel_Schlanger Also didn’t you get appearance fees and prize money from Aus meets?
@Mel_Schlanger Got nothing against your income but you have to be realistic about your funding from swimming Aus and also AOC.
@Mel_Schlanger “Have to rem (sic) that someone on min wage doesn’t get an all expenses paid trip to Shanghai or Manchester plus 3 weeks in London.
Schlanger knew better than to take it to Huegill head on because he’s an Olympic champion who got fat, then got thin, and then went to the Commonwealth Games and the general public LOVE that sort of stuff. Instead Schlanger’s pulled out the ice-cold veiled slam.
You tell him gurl! It’s hard not to feel her pain, not that we begrudge Huegill’s success in the slightest, but she’s struggling post gold medal and he misses the cut and is still receiving new cars care of Subaru. It’s not that either combatant should be painted as the villain. Schlanger just returned from the Olympics with a gold and two silver medals for godsakes so I think getting a little pissed when your efforts are undermined on breakfast television is justified while Huegill can see the dissension within the ranks is the last thing the Aussie swim team needs right now. Unfortunately for Schlanger and Huegill, watching this kind of infighting play out in public is grubby and even when you win you still usually coming off looking like a dick. But then again Twitter is pretty good at amplifying peoples dickishness so if you’re going to go for it, why not swing for the fence. That’s why we’ll leave the last word with Schlanger’s dad. Dads are awesome.
Pictures by Quinn Rooney and Jeff J Mitchell at Getty Images.
