The Hindu : Sport / Olympic Games : ‘Aunty’ Libby is a favourite

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Wednesday, Jul 23, 2008
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Sport - Olympic Games

‘Aunty’ Libby is a favourite

A. Vinod

In March this year, news broke out that one of Australia’s most popular swimmers of recent times had decided to use her married name (Trickett) instead of her maiden name (Lenton) which had made her famous all the over the world.

There was considerable amusement among swimming lovers all across the smallest continent.

The news had come just a day ahead of the March 22 Australian Olympic trials and once the results started trickling in, people elsewhere, who had missed the news completely, were left guessing: Libby, who?

Now having got used to her new surname the consensus seems that ‘Aunty’ Libby is the favourite to win both the freestyle sprint events and the 100m butterfly at the coming Beijing Olympics.

Leading the chorus is none other than the Australian legend, Shane Gould, who says, “I’ve been watching Libby’s development and I’m impressed with how she’s proceeded and how she’s dealt with her successes and failures.”

Libby was the flavour of the month when she headed for Athens, four years ago, having broken the 100m freestyle World record at the Australian trials then.

However, the first sight of the Olympic pool in Athens had forced Libby to burst into tears so much so that her Games debut was reduced to a bronze in the 50m free and a gold medal in the 400m free relay. Now, a much matured Libby has set her sights on five gold medals in Beijing.Currently, she is the World record holder in both the 50m (23.97s) and 100m (52.88) free apart from having clocked the fastest 100m fly (56.81s) timing this year.

For sure, it is not going to be easy for her, what with a host of swimmers from the United States, Germany, France and Holland, besides her own backyard, fully geared for the challenge. But, if she is to succeed in her mission, the name — Libby Trickett — is certain to rebound on us several times between August 9 and 17.

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