Payne misses the medals by 0.4seconds... and now GB swimmers face big dip in the cash pool
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It was a nice day for a swim; or a punch-up. To successfully complete the women’s 10 kilo-metre marathon course on the Serpentine requires a bit of both. Unfortunately, the way things have gone for British swimming at this Olympics, it is the fisticuffs that will better serve Keri-Anne Payne for what lies ahead.
There will be a fight after this, have no doubt of it. A fight for funding. Payne was British Swimming’s last real chance of a gold medal at these Games and when she failed even to make the podium it as good as rounded off a dismal two weeks in the water.
Daniel Fogg will compete in the men’s marathon event today, but having finished 35th in FINA’s Olympic qualifier in June, little is expected of him.
Making a splash: Keri-Anne Payne was pipped to a medal in the women's 10km marathon swim
It was different for Payne, the world No 1. There were high hopes of a redeeming gold medal after so much disappointment. Instead, the entire 42-strong British swim team, plus officials and coaches, spent two hours in glorious sunshine watching their budget go inexorably down the tubes.
Great Britain runs a performance programme linked to success, so Rebecca Adlington’s two golds in Beijing meant high times; after flopping in London, however, Rio de Janeiro in 2016 will be swimming’s austerity Games.
There was so much riding on Payne, but endurance races are unpredictable in any sport, and most certainly in one where previous obstacles have included jellyfish and the odd floating dead dog.
There was nothing like that on the perfect Serpentine — arguably the most gorgeous of Olympic venues, where visitors could conquer any disappointment by walking off and lying beneath the shade of a tree in Hyde Park with an ice-cream and a good book.
But there were 25 of the toughest women in the world, athletes who have accepted the challenge of one of the Games’ most demanding disciplines.
How to explain the enormity of yesterday’s achievement for winner Eva Risztov of Hungary?
Imagine your local public pool. Now imagine swimming four lengths of it. Now imagine doing so in 70 seconds. Hard, isn’t it? Now imagine doing that 100 times consecutively. This is what Risztov and the chasing pack did yesterday.
And they're off: The women's 10km marathon swim at the Serpentine, Hyde Park was a well-supported event
Don't disturb the wildlife: Swans swim through the race course during the event
Payne was in the leading group but never really near enough. From about the halfway stage it became clear she was in trouble. Payne was, as the saying goes, there or thereabouts, but every knowledgeable source of information said she needed to be leading.
Payne has the tragic flaw of the long-distance athlete: the absence of a truly big finish. She needs to burn off her rivals, she needs to be clear. Some athletes can sit on the shoulder or in the slipstream. Some can idle along in fifth knowing there is a tiger in the tank. Not Payne.
She turned fifth into fourth in a valiant charge to the line, but she did not threaten to improve on, or even match, her silver medal in Beijing. Risztov held off Haley Anderson of the United States to win from the front. She swam the race Payne, and her many supporters at the Royal Park, had been hoping for.
It was always going to be difficult maintaining the euphoria of Super Saturday, or even Tuesday’s feats in the Velodrome, but this has been a miserable Olympics for Britain’s swimmers.
Adlington — a bridesmaid at Payne’s wedding to fellow Olympic swimmer David Carry that follows this summer — may have retained the love of the common people in winning two bronze medals, but it will not go down so well at the offices where beans and baubles are counted. Michael Jamieson’s silver medal in the 200 metres breaststroke is the peak of British performance. So we’re quite good at swimming slowly. And not even gold medal standard at that.
It is a shame that so much rested on Payne, who is a converted pool swimmer and quite outstanding in her achievements to here. Fran Halsall, Hannah Miley, Ellen Gandy, Jemma Lowe, Adlington and Liam Tancock had already swum worse than their season’s best. Britain’s 23-strong team was their biggest at an Olympics and the base target from UK Sport was five medals.
United we stand: Several members of the Team GB women's swimming team including Rebecca Adlington and Fran Halsall were in the stands to cheer on their friend
There, again: David Cameron maintained his staggeringly high attendance rate at the Olympics
Swimming has been taking in the region of £25million from UK Sport, and the same sort of figure has brought enormous returns for cycling and rowing. Athletics outstripped swimming’s medal haul in less than an hour on Saturday.
The only hope that remains for British swimming is that the funders will recognise the potential in some of the younger contenders, but there will be a lot of sports playing that card, and one could sense the panic in the official areas around the Serpentine.
When Densign White, chairman of British Judo, jumped the gun earlier in the Games by lambasting his athletes for squandering a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, before the sport achieved a respectable medal haul, it was the sound of fear that funding would be lost.
As Payne thrashed forlornly in the wake of Risztov in the London sun, her bosses would have experienced that same feeling of impending doom.
This was her perfect race, we were told. The water was warm, conditions were glorious. She could wear a swimming costume not a wetsuit, which she prefers given her background as an indoor competitor. To even challenge is admirable, given the extreme nature of the contest, but those balancing the books needed more.
Keri-Anne will now get married, no doubt with the traditional good- luck charms for the bride as she walks down the aisle: something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue.
She could try her old silver medal, her blue Team GB swim cap, bridesmaid Becky’s borrowed bronze and, as for new, how about next year’s swimming budget?
She could try her old silver medal, her blue Team GB swim cap, bridesmaid Becky’s borrowed bronze and, as for new, how about next year’s swimming budget?
On second thoughts, scratch that. We wouldn’t want to spoil her big day.
Looking good: Hyde Park once again put on an excellent show, and attracted thousands
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/olympics/article-2186028/London-2012-Olympics-Keri-Anne-Payne-comes-fourth-10km-open-water-swim.html#ixzz235LtUYye
