Great expectations


Hits and misses ... (from top) Australia's Cathy Freeman, Dutch swim
sensations Inge de Bruijn and Pieter van den Hoogenband, pool revelation
Leisel Jones, Russian gymnast Svetlana Khorkina and the disappointing
Matt Shirvington. SMH photos.



10:10PM, Oct 02

Some athletes surpassed everything that was expected of them at the
Sydney Games, others fell well short, writes Ian Cockerill.

The look on Matt Shirvington's face after the 100 metres semi-finals
said it all. This was not the way it was meant to be (eyes widen). This
was not my Olympic dream (mouth trembles). This sucks.

Expectations came in many forms at these Sydney Olympics. Foremost were
those of the athletes themselves. Where did they believe they could
finish when the last second, the last shot, the last whistle, the last
pitch was done? With a gold medal around their necks, a bouquet in their
hand and an anthem in their throats? Or was it about making a final, or
simply recording a personal best?

If the athletes' hopes were paramount, it didn't stop others harbouring
expectations on their behalf. Families, coaches and sponsors set their
own targets. And there was public expectation, too. Each, in its way, as
real as the athletes'.

That said, who surpassed all expectations at these Games? And who fell
short, left to rue an opportunity missed after turning the scene over in
their heads for at least four years?

In the tradition of top-10 lists, and with an unapologetically personal
view, we present five overachievers and five underachievers.

Winners first ...

Inge de Bruijn/Pieter van den Hoogenband

We'd heard their names before, even if we struggled to master the
pronunciation. We'd noted reports of world records from Europe. But we
had no idea how good the Dutch pair was until they threatened to upstage
Ian Thorpe and Co during a stunning week in the pool. Late bloomer
''Inky'' de Bruijn kicked off the two-pronged campaign with a world
record to win the 100m butterfly, her ninth world record in five months.
The next night, van den Hoogenband outstripped Ian Thorpe to win the
200m freestyle in world record time, delivering Holland's first male
Olympic gold in the pool. By the time they'd finished they had five gold
between them, a swag of world records and our undivided attention.

Liesel Jones

Brisbane schoolgirl Liesel ''The Weasel'' Jones was 10 when she watched
Samantha Riley swim in Atlanta. Less than four years later she shunted
her idol from the Australian swim team by winning the 100m breaststroke
at May's Olympic trials. She arrived in Sydney after her 15th birthday
with relatively modest expectations of making the final. Wise heads
waited to see whether she'd turn to jelly against seasoned campaigners
in front of feverish crowds. But these Olympics seemed to be made for
Jones girls. Liesel swam the race of her life to take silver behind
American Megan Quann and in front of defending champion Penny Heyns,
bettering Riley's Australian record for good measure. ''Oh my God!''
exclaimed Liesel afterwards. Oh my, we say.

The Opals

Some hours before the Hockeyroos won another Olympic title, the
Australian women's basketball team stepped on court against Brazil
looking to strike a blow for their own sport by progressing to the gold
medal play-off. In 17 attempts, no Australian basketball team had been
that far before. Inspired by retiring captain Michele Timms, the Opals
beat the Atlanta silver medallists to earn a showdown with Olympic
heavyweights the United States. They fell 76-54, but succeed in raising
the bar for Australian hoops. Now it's over to the men.

Cathy Freeman

It isn't so much that she won the 400m final to secure Australia's first
track gold since 1988. In isolation, that pretty much met with
expectations. But Cathy didn't do it in isolation. She did it despite
what might have proved for many an unbearable weight of public goodwill.
She did it despite taking on the responsibility of lighting the Olympic
flame, no easy task for someone naturally shy. She did it despite having
to find the path between the often-conflicting agendas of her Aboriginal
people and middle Australia. And she did it despite the giant
distraction of her Atlanta nemesis, Marie-Jose Perec, until her farcical
flight back to France. To have withstood all that and still win so
convincingly - in that, she has exceeded everyone's expectations.

The Cameroon football team

There's something about watching one of the world's less privileged
nations win its first Olympic gold medal. And the Cameroon footballers
did it in the most dramatic fashion possible, beating Spain 5-4 on
penalties after scores were level 2-2 after extra time. The unfancied
Africans pulled the fat out of the fire in Saturday's gold medal game at
the Olympic stadium, recovering from 2-0 down at half-time to force the
game to 120 minutes against a flagging Spain reduced to nine men.
Earlier, the Indomitable Lions had won games with nine men themselves
(against Brazil, no less) and with last-minute penalties (against the
classy Chileans). They'll be dancing in Yaounde for weeks.

Honorable mention ...

Simon Fairweather (archery gold), Lauren Burns (taekwondo gold), Kerri
Pottharst and Natalie Cook (beach volleyball gold), Scott McGrory and
Brett Aitken (track cycling gold), Jai Taurima (long jump silver),
Tatiana Grigorieva (pole vault silver), Maria Pekli (judo bronze),
Annemarie Forder (10m air pistol bronze). And on the international
front, Kenya's Noah Ngeny (we didn't think anyone could beat Hicham El
Guerrouj over 1,500m), Misty Hyman (America's 200m butterfly gold
medallist, deposer of Susie O'Neill), British rower Steven Redgrave (can
one man really win five golds at five Olympics?), Swede Lars Froelander
(for upstaging Michael Klim and Geoff Huegill in the 100m butterfly) and
Iranian super-heavyweight Hossein Rezazadeh (a bolter who set three
world records to snatch gold).

And at the other end of the spectrum ...

The Olyroos

So much build-up, so much anticipation, but not a single point from
three games. It was always going to be tough in a group containing the
pedigreed Italians, defending champions Nigeria and central American
surprise packets Honduras. It wasn't made easier when stars Harry Kewell
and Paul Okon were ruled out with injuries. But we did have Mark Viduka,
and home-ground advantage, beginning with 90,000 at the MCG for the
tournament opener against the Azzuri. But it all went sour on Raul
Blanco's boys. Defender Hayden Foxe got the ball rolling with a suicidal
play to gift the Italians the decisive goal, then Simon Colosimo
followed his lead to give the Nigerians a 3-2 win at the SFS. Then came
a 2-1 loss to Honduras. Ouch.

Emma George

We knew the woman who had set multiple world records was struggling.
We'd heard about her waning confidence since missing a mat and injuring
herself. We knew the competition was getting tougher. But we could not
have imagined that George would be swamped by her opposition, the
25-year-old from Perth failing to make the final after missing three
times at 4.30m. George offered no excuses. The tears in her eyes when
asked what her future held spoke volumes.

Matt Shirvington

Shirvington surprised even himself with his progress towards breaking
the 10-second mark over 100m. It was two years ago at the Commonwealth
Games in Kuala Lumpur when he ran 10.03. In August he ran 10.11 at the
Olympic trials. Anything near those times would have got him a ticket to
the big gig, the 100m men's final. Instead, Shirvo's campaign came to a
grinding halt in the semi-finals when he ran 10.26 to finish fifth, one
place away from the final. If anything, he looked even more distraught
afterwards than he was at last year's world championships, where he was
disqualified in the semis for breaking. He is young. He is entitled to
have off days. Bring on Athens.

Svetlana Khorkina

We were led to believe the 21-year-old Russian gymnast represented the
apex of her sport - four world championships, Olympic gold from Atlanta,
a lovely smile and an acting career on hold. But everything went awry
when she twice fell during her routines, torpedoing Russia's hopes of
team gold and her own chances in the individual all-around final. She
wasn't helped by the vault being set five centimetres too low. Things
didn't improve when she withdrew from the vault final, nor when she was
pipped for the floor exercise gold by compatriot Elena Zamolodtchikova.
Some pride was finally restored when she won gold on the uneven bars.

Naim Suleymanoglu

Bulgarian-turned-Turk Suleymanoglu arrived in Sydney looking for an
unprecedented fourth weightlifting Olympic gold medal in the 62kg class.
The 33-year-old, owner of more than 80 world records, predicted he could
win gold ''more easily than in Atlanta ... silver or bronze is nothing
to me''. Where does that leave failing to even register a lift? For that
is what the shocked spectators at Darling Harbour saw when he came out
for his first lift in the snatch, having asked for the bar to be set
with an Olympic-record 145kg. When he failed to get his third attempt
square to his shoulder it was over. Perhaps the answer lay in his wry
smile afterwards - he had arrived with limited preparation, agreeing to
compete only after being pressured by Juan Antonio Samaranch.

Regretful mention goes to ...

The Australian rowers (no golds after leading the world in Atlanta), the
Australian baseballers (just two wins from seven games), the Australian
men's hockey team (breaking hearts again after a penalty shoot-out loss
in the semi-final).

On the international front, Donovan Bailey (the defending 100m champion
failed to make the final), the English swimming team (no medals for the
first time since 1936), and the Brazilian and Italian football teams,
both gone by the semi-finals.