Aussie Team Report

(This is the July 19 edition of THE DOLPHIN DAILY, the official newsletter of the Australian World Championship Swim Team.)
By Ian Hanson
FUKUOKA, Japan. July 19.

DOLPHINS BEEF-UP FOR WORLD TITLES
The Telstra Dolphins Australian Swim team were the special guests at an Aussie Beef Luncheon, hosted by Meat and Livestock Australia in Fukuoka on Wednesday. Australia’s Ambassador designate, John McCarthy, was presented with a Dolphins tracksuit by team captain Sarah Ryan, who joined Ian Thorpe and Ashley Callus, head coach Don Talbot and nutritionist, Dr. Louise Burke, on stage for a unique look inside the Australian Swim team. And lunch….Aussie beef at its absolute best of course…and including Michael Klim’s original beef curry dish.

BODY LANGUAGE
One newest member of the Australian team staff was left red faced when he walked into what he thought was his room, only to discover a naked water polo player slipping into her Speedos. Even more embarrassing was when the red-faced staffer bumped into the player, full-dressed in the meal room the next morning….Oops.

AUSSIE SWIM STARS MISS THE BUS
Aussie swimmers Petria Thomas and Lori Munz knew something was wrong when the bus taking them to training started going into the mountain sand, not to the sea and the Marine Messe Pool…. Forty minutes later, with media man Ian Hanson sleeping on board, the girls alighted at the Fukuoka Prefectural Pool, no-where near the Marine Messe Pool. It was actually the Diving Complex and the Aussie girls jumped in alongside the Australian diving team, watched by Olympic bronze medalists Loudy Tourky and Rebecca Gilmore, with Hanson substituting for a miffed coach, Mark Regan – believing the "media" had kidnapped his two stars.

NINE’S NOODLE FEAST FOR DOLPHIN TRIO
Australian men’s team swimmers Leon Dunne, Anthony Matkovich and Phil Rogers had an impromptu tour of the Fukuoka Canal District on Wednesday night, courtesy of host broadcasters Channel Nine and likeable Sydney based journalist Tim Sheridan, who along with one of the best cameramen in the business, Paul Boersma, followed the boys around the Yatai Stalls – in the Nakasu district for some traditional Japanese noodles. The boys will feature in the Nine Network’s half-hour preview to the opening night’s competition, which starts at 7pm Sunday night.

NICOLE THE FACE OF MELBOURNE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP BID
Triple Olympian and the face of the Channel Nine swimming coverage Nicole Stevenson will be the face of the Melbourne bid for the 11th FINA World Swimming Championships in 2005, when FINA meets in Fukuoka on Saturday. Stevenson will head an impressive Melbourne team, which includes 1998 World Championship and 2000 Olympic Competition Manager and Australian Swimming Vice-president Lynn Bates. Melbourne is Stevenson’s hometown and is the city that hosted the first of its three FINA World Cup Meets last year and will again play host to the Telstra FINA World Cup in December. The other bidding cities are Montreal, Long Beach, California and Rio de Janeiro.

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