Australian 4x100m Relay Men Suffer Shock Loss

The much fancied Australian men’s 4x100m relay team has failed to live up to the pre-Olympic hype, after finishing fourth in the final overnight.

The Australian quartet of; James Magnussen, Matt Targett, Eamon Sullivan and James Roberts were attempting to emulate the girls, who won the same race the previous night, a double Australia has never managed at the same Olympics – still.

But from the moment Magnussen swum a disappointing 48.03 to trail American Nathan Adrian in the first leg, they never looked like it and slipped back to fourth behind France, the USA and Russia, which also gave American superstar Michael Phelps a second major setback.

The Australians clocked 3:11.63, well adrift of the 3:09.93 of the Frenchmen Amaury Levaux, Fabien Gilot, Clement Lefert and Yannick Agnel.

It was a reality check for Magnussen, who was shattered.

“Words can’t describe that how I feel. I’m really disappointed,” he said.

“It’s not the way we envisioned it at all. We thought we were prepared for everything, but I don’t think anyone was prepared for that scenario,” Targett added

Earlier in the morning heats, Australia had set the fastest qualifying time, which included a scorching third leg performance from Western Australian swimmer Tommaso D’Orsogna, who moved the Aussies up from sixth to second when he touched the wall to send in relay anchor James Roberts.

Australia qualified five swimmers for last night’s finals – Leisel Jones in the 100m breaststroke, Hayden Stoeckel 100m backstroke, Thomas Fraser-Holmes 200m freestyle and 100m backstrokers Emily Seebohm and Belinda Hocking. Seebohm is the fastest qualifier.