Golden Last Day For Australian Youth

Sydney Morning Herald

Monday January 19, 2009

Michael Cowley

THE future of Australian swimming continues to shine bright with the home nation winning eight of the 10 gold medals on offer on the final day of swimming at the Australian Youth Olympic Festival in Sydney.

One of the interesting winners was 14-year-old Bronte Campbell - the younger sister of 16-year-old Olympian Cate Campbell - who won the 50 metres freestyle final in a time of 26.19 seconds.

That time was still a little behind the 24.17 that Cate swam in Beijing when winning bronze in that event but promising nonetheless.

"It would have been a big job for me [to beat the record] so, of course, I was dreaming about it but I wasn't really expecting to," Bronte said.

Also of interest were the two events Australia didn't win gold in, one being the women's 200m breaststroke (the race Leisel Jones has dominated for many years, until finishing second at the Olympics).

The other, the men's 1500m, an event Australia have owned internationally until Grant Hackett also finished second, to Tunisia's Oussama Mellouli in China.

In hockey, Australia's junior men won gold, beating India 2-1 in the final, while Great Britain beat Australia 3-2 in the women's final.

© 2009 Sydney Morning Herald

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