What went wrong for Australia at the Rio Olympics? It started on the top floor

Rio Olympic team chef de mission Kitty Chiller was angry when she heard that the Australian swimming team had pulled down posters of past champions, such as Herb Elliott and Cathy Freeman, from the entrance to their floors in the Australian team block in the athletes' village.

Rio Olympic team chef de mission Kitty Chiller was angry when she heard that the Australian swimming team had pulled down posters of past champions, such as Herb Elliott and Cathy Freeman, from the entrance to their floors in the Australian team block in the athletes' village.Rio Olympic team chef de mission Kitty Chiller was angry when she heard that the Australian swimming team had pulled down posters of past champions, such as Herb Elliott and Cathy Freeman, from the entrance to their floors in the Australian team block in the athletes' village.

But, with a thousand other tasks to deal with, such as blocked sewer pipes, she let it pass.

But, with a thousand other tasks to deal with, such as blocked sewer pipes, she let it pass.But, with a thousand other tasks to deal with, such as blocked sewer pipes, she let it pass.

Along with the posters went the Australian Olympic Committee's "one team" logo, replaced by the swimmers' "our team" logo.

Along with the posters went the Australian Olympic Committee's "one team" logo, replaced by the swimmers' "our team" logo.Along with the posters went the Australian Olympic Committee's "one team" logo, replaced by the swimmers' "our team" logo.

The swimming team, which occupied the higher floors of the Australian tower, had become a team within a team.

The swimming team, which occupied the higher floors of the Australian tower, had become a team within a team.The swimming team, which occupied the higher floors of the Australian tower, had become a team within a team.

When Chiller learnt, a week later, that the Australian team mascot, the yellow boxing kangaroo, had also been replaced by the Australian swimming team's Dolphin logo, she was furious.

When Chiller learnt, a week later, that the Australian team mascot, the yellow boxing kangaroo, had also been replaced by the Australian swimming team's Dolphin logo, she was furious.When Chiller learnt, a week later, that the Australian team mascot, the yellow boxing kangaroo, had also been replaced by the Australian swimming team's Dolphin logo, she was furious.

Chiller had already observed the exclusivity of the swimmers.

Chiller had already observed the exclusivity of the swimmers.Chiller had already observed the exclusivity of the swimmers.

Australian basketballers, such as Andrew Bogut and Patty Mills, earning millions of dollars playing in the US's professional league, had no problem playing table tennis with rowers and hockey players as they waited for the team bus for their competition.

Australian basketballers, such as Andrew Bogut and Patty Mills, earning millions of dollars playing in the US's professional league, had no problem playing table tennis with rowers and hockey players as they waited for the team bus for their competition.Australian basketballers, such as Andrew Bogut and Patty Mills, earning millions of dollars playing in the US's professional league, had no problem playing table tennis with rowers and hockey players as they waited for the team bus for their competition.

But she had never sighted a swimmer mixing in such a way with other team members.

But she had never sighted a swimmer mixing in such a way with other team members.But she had never sighted a swimmer mixing in such a way with other team members.

Admittedly, the swimmers returned to the village about 1am, after competing in a schedule to suit American TV audiences and then had to rise to be drug tested at 6.30am.

Admittedly, the swimmers returned to the village about 1am, after competing in a schedule to suit American TV audiences and then had to rise to be drug tested at 6.30am.Admittedly, the swimmers returned to the village about 1am, after competing in a schedule to suit American TV audiences and then had to rise to be drug tested at 6.30am.

Furthermore, their historic success in driving Australia's medal tally entitled them to some lofty independence.

Furthermore, their historic success in driving Australia's medal tally entitled them to some lofty independence.Furthermore, their historic success in driving Australia's medal tally entitled them to some lofty independence.Winning five gold medals in Sydney, seven in Athens and six in Beijing, Australian swimmers have delivered between 26 per cent and 43 per cent of the country's total medal tally in recent Olympics.However, after two swimming gold medals on the first night of competition, Australia's chance of finishing in the top five in the national medal count sank.On the eve of the last night of competition, Swimming Australia's high-performance director and team leader in Rio, Wayne Lomas, sent out an email intended to jolly up the team.It said, in part: "If there is an issue, it's the behaviour or the action that we confront, not the person.... Whether someone achieves peak performance or they miss their own goal and dream through a sub-optimal performance, the individual's value is retained."His comments were lampooned as management speak gobbledegook, but days later Lomas was still sending out messages about "our team", separating it from "one team".A petty accusation? Perhaps, but longtime Olympic officials believe total team unity drives success, with athletes from disparate sports feeding off the results of others.More importantly, the performance of the swimmers has exposed the vulnerability of the Australian Sports Commission's (ASC) Winning Edge program.Winning Edge, a 10-year program to restore Australia to top-five status in the table of nationsrestore Australia to top-five status in the table of nationsrestore Australia to top-five status in the table of nations

, after our eighth place in London, involves handing sports a bucket of money and placing them in charge of their own destiny.In order to provide more funding for these key sports, such as swimming, rowing, cycling and sailing, at a time when the federal government has cut its funding, ASC chair John Wylie has stripped more than $25m out of the bureaucracy of the ASC and its high-performance arm, the AIS.Its critics argue that it has emasculated the AIS which once had its own coaches, sports science staff, physiotherapists and talent identification experts in these targeted sports.So, Winning Edge stands accused of stripping away the accountability of these sports, with no organisation, such as the AIS, to act as a check on their programs.The ASC argues that it can't be held responsible for the performance of athletes at the Olympic Games.It merely provides the funds. It's up the sports to execute.However, with no strong AIS offering a critical view of the programs, sports are not held to account until after the results are posted at Olympic Games.Of the four engines which traditionally drive Australia's success at Summer Olympics – swimming, rowing, cycling and sailing – swimming, which received $37.9m in the four years leading to Rio, can argue the spread of medals was across more countries than at any previous Games.Furthermore, US swimmers Michael Phelps and Katie Ledecky, in collectively winning five individual gold medals and nine overall, were so dominant they could have competed as a separate nation and still been placed ahead of most countries.Rowing ($32.4m) has a young team under new president Rob Scott, a former silver medallist and top businessman. However, its sole gold medallist, Kim Brennan, 31, is expected to retire.Cycling, which received $34.1m in funding, had results which were extremely disappointing, with the sport depending on ageing champions, such as Anna Meares. Critics say it requires an immediate rebuild.Sailing ($29m) has invested in young talent, such as Jake Lilley, for Tokyo 2020 and will hope that Sydney businessman Anthony Bell can launch an America's Cup syndicate to retain its older sailors.It's highly likely the team sports will be a casualty of the dismal results at the Rio Olympics.They receive 25 per cent of funding but cannot produce a proportionate number of gold, silver and bronze, unless we count the number of medallists, rather than medals.The Boomers basketball team is one of the few team sports, along with women's sevens rugby, to advance past the quarter-finals, a result not seen since 1980.Hockey, which can only produce two medals, is based in Perth, the home of perhaps one or two players. Its critics argue hockey's continuing justification for being based in Western Australia can't simply be because its most celebrated player and coach, Ric Charlesworth, lives there.And his comment that the women's rugby win was a "soft" medal was seen as less than gracious, particularly when hockey receives $28.6m in funding, while sevens rugby is given $6.9m.On Monday, the performance of the swimmers and the team sports produced the comment from AOC president John Coates that "something has seriously gone wrong in Rio".Coates, an IOC vice-president who has been busy in the Olympic city dealing with recalcitrant Russians and the Tokyo 2020 team, has delegated the responsibility for Australian team performances to his subordinates on the AOC.With teams, such as the women's water polo squad leading by five goals and then losing in a penalty shootout, the question has to be asked whether the athletes surrendered to the fear of failure.If so, where were the team psychologists?Significantly, the Australian headquarters' psychologist at the London Olympics was Ruth Anderson, who is now with the invincible Great Britain cycling team.The ASC's Wylie justifiably argues Winning Edge is a 10-year program, not just a four-year cycle leading to Rio. Furthermore, results in world championships and Commonwealth Games also count.The Rio results also obscure the governance reform across many sports, although Wylie's policy of hand-picking top businessmen, such as Qantas's Leigh Clifford to head Equestrian Australia, has drawn a fierce rebuke from Coates.Coates told Fairfax Media that the policy of recruiting businessmen as leaders of Olympic sports had failed. Furthermore, he has withdrawn from an ASC-initiated review of the AIS and Winning Edge, effectively divorcing the AOC from the ASC.Japan has had 400 advisers in Rio ahead of Toyko 2020 and will have learnt what not to do when running an Olympic Games.But the Japanese have already copied a blueprint that has helped their rapid rise in the medal tally in Rio.Ten years ago, they built an institute of sport modelled on Canberra's AIS.

Written by Roy Masters, appearing in the SMH on 20 August, 2016

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