Adam Peacock: Australian Correspondent talks Australia's success at the Paris Olympic Games

Australia is sitting pretty in third on the medal tally, with a total of 18 Gold medals in the Olympics so far. 

Some across the ditch as describing it as their greatest games ever, including our Australian Correspondent Adam Peacock.  

He joins Piney to discuss the Australian team’s performance at the Paris Olympics. 

Peacock told Piney that anything upwards of sixth on the table is pretty good in his opinion, given their population, so being top six, top five feels really good. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Weekend Sport podcast with Jason Fine
from Newstalk z B.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
At least get across the Tasman where they are swimming
in medals. Adam Peacock's with US forty eight and counting,
you should bring up fifty equaling what you got on
Athens in two thousand and four, fifty eight in Sydney
two thousand. Your home games was your best. You have
to look at this as a pretty successful games for Australia,
don't you.

Speaker 3 (00:32):
Yeah, we're calling it our most successful ever based on
the fact that eighteen goals is a new record. Seventeen
back in Tokyo and Athens two thousand and four was
a record there. But no overall medals. We've got one
guarantee of the water. Polog is not sure what color,
and hopefully we can scratch some one somewhere else, maybe
Jess Hole in the fifteen hundred women's or women's jablin

(00:54):
throwers who go in their final tomorrow. But it is
like everyone's celebrating over here, like they are over there
piny and great games. The kiwis.

Speaker 2 (01:01):
Yeah, it didn't look likely. It didn't look likely. To start.
We got off to a luggish start is probably best
to say a slow worst start. But yeah, I think,
isn't it. What they say is how you finished, not
how you begin.

Speaker 3 (01:13):
Yeah, exactly exactly where the opposite, because we're so many
good swimmers. Yes, although I'm reading in LA in four
years time they're going to flip it because they want
so far the big stadium for both the swimming and
the artmic ceremony and they can't get the pool anytime,
so they're going to have the swimming in the second
week and the athletics in the first which is a
bit funky. But I'm not sure if that's going to hold,
but we'll wait and see there.

Speaker 2 (01:34):
But any great games, yeah, indeed, I look at your
swimming number seven golds, eight silvers, three bronze, eighteen medals
in the pool. But you know other sports as well.
These are fox sisters of yours and the canoe slalom.
Jessica and no Amy gold, gold, gold, they go all right.

Speaker 3 (01:50):
Yeah, superb like a jess was expected with her performances,
but Naomi who only I think she was one of
the last athletes of out four hundred and sixty to
be formally selected, so she had to qualify late and
got in in the new Kaiak cross and when they
drop them down and they race against each other, a
really cool event. I'm glad they bought it in. Yeah,

(02:11):
she managed to get it right on the day and
win a gold and it was one of the images
of the whole, the whole Olympics when just jumped in.
She was happier for her sister than what she was
for herself when she won her two goals. But also
our skateboarders, we won two gold medals in skateboarding. So yeah,
across the board, we've got some We've got some athletes

(02:31):
who performed in not just one or two chosen sports,
but yeah, almost ten or twelve that we're going really
well in.

Speaker 2 (02:39):
Yeah, I look across the range of sports that yeah
that you that Australia has middled, and yeah you land
on the traditional ones like swimming and perhaps to at
least for extent, the likes of canoe slalom. But yeah, skateboarding,
I think you've got some boxing, a couple of boxing bronzes.
Across cycling, you're always pretty strong. High jump Nina Kennedy

(02:59):
winning sorry pole volt, winning pole vault gold. We had
three keywis in this. But Nina Kennedy climb climbing highs
of ordered you catch that.

Speaker 3 (03:07):
Yeah, I call that one. She was probably our best
in an even bunch, our best gold medal chance going
into the athletics. And this looks like it's going to
be our most successful athletics mate at an Olympic Games
for well, going back to the days of Herb Elliott
and the like in the in the sixties and John
Lanny and those that crew, and with our great spin

(03:30):
sprinters in Marjori and Jackson Strickland. But yeah, it's been
it's been fantastic because it is such a worldly event.
I mean you would have seen it that with your
shot putter this morning, for instance, in the women's shot
put nearly winning a gold medal. That it's just such
an even spread. And I think that's what makes it
in fulling that look tomorrow, we've got nine events and

(03:50):
we could well have nine different countries winning gold medals
for the last day of the athletics. So that's how
big this sport is.

Speaker 2 (03:57):
Yeah, it really is. When you look at the table,
I mean, the United States and China are at the
moment likely to be at the top of the field,
but Australia tucked in there in third place. Is that
kind of is third what you aim for is like
the beast of the rest outside the two big superpowers.

Speaker 3 (04:14):
I reckon anything upward of six is pretty good in
my estimation given our population, and you're the same. I'm
guessing top fifteen feels remarkable for New Zealand, and yeah,
top six, maybe top five for Australia feels really good.
So the best is the fact that America probably has
it's in about seven with medals overall medals won. The

(04:35):
Americans for that first week were very quick to point
out that they'd won more medals than everyone is just
they weren't actually winning things at the rate that China was.
But no, I think beyond the medal tally as well,
pointing and you guys will be across this from your
perspective that there's so many Australians that are coming up
with PBS and young, especially in the athletics. Was at

(04:58):
a young team in a sense that they're okay, they're
getting run out in the heats or running out in
the semi finals, but they're actually producing personal best times
and that for me is as important as any metal
that you can get if you can go there and
do your best and maybe improve off that. We had
an eight hundred meter to run Peyton Craig, he's slashed
his time by three seconds in the last year. He's nineteen.

(05:21):
He's got potentially three more Olympics to go to if
he really loves what he's doing. So yeah, it's great
to see that as well. It really brings a smile
on my face when we see that.

Speaker 2 (05:31):
Absolutely, and just looking ahead then because Brisbane of course
will host an eight years time Brisbane twenty thirty two.
People starting to talk about that.

Speaker 3 (05:39):
Yet Yeah, not in a positive sense, opining, because they
haven't actually made decisions about where, what's going to be
where and infrastructure, And I think they're realizing now that
they's got a lot to do and a lot to
build and a lot of decisions to make. They've got
a state government coming a state government election coming up
there in Queensland. As soon as that's done, they're going

(06:01):
to have to start making plans because this is getting
to the ridiculous stage. But you're looking at these great
events and they've got legacy buildings that they're using really well,
like start the trances was already there, built over twenty
five years ago. And Brisbane have one big stadium where
they're having the rugby this afternoon with the wall that
is taken on South Africa, and apart from that there's

(06:21):
not a stack of already built at venue, so they
got some massive decisions to make in the next twelve months.
But yeah, it's if you get it right. Paris is
shown that it can be a magnificent event and it's
just blum me away about how well it's done, how
well it's gone so far.

Speaker 2 (06:38):
Indeed, it's been great. Catching up has always enjoyed the
last couple of days. Hope you can push that metal
Telly even higher. Let's catch up again next Saturday.

Speaker 3 (06:46):
Thanks Scots, Thanks binding sounds good, No thanks mate.

Speaker 2 (06:48):
Adam Pickcock, our Australian correspondent.

Speaker 1 (06:51):
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