Cate Campbell: ‘Sore Losers’ Remark Not Intended To Be Disrespectful To U.S. Team
Australia’s premier female swimmer Cate Campbell says her “sore losers” remark about the US Swim team last year was “not intended to be disrespectful.”
Campbell, who at 31, is aiming to become one of the first Australians to swim at five Olympic Games in Paris, fuelled the “Duel In The Pool” fire between swimming’s top two nations last year as a debate raged over who was the No 1 team at the 2023 Fukuoka World Championships.
Australia topped the gold medal tally 13 to the USA’s seven while the Americans took the overall medal tally 38-25 – sparking an avalanche of reaction from the Dolphins camp and their media and the US team and NBC who promoted the Americans as No 1.
“I have nothing but the utmost respect for the American swim team and the American swimmers,” Campbell has told Nine Media’s Tom Decent from the Sydney Morning Herald in Australia today.
“I have great friends who are American swimmers. I need to be mindful that not everyone understands the Australian sort of larrikin sense of humour and that people can take things a bit more seriously than what they were intended.
“It’s why our countries are so good because we’ve been pushing each other. I don’t know why rivalries are seen as this bad thing.”
Campbell, who did not race in Fukuoka, was interviewed on the Today Show in Australia, after the meet discussing claims that the US had topped the medal tally.
Out spoken host Karl Stefanovic saying the Americans were, “sore, pathetic losers” before Campbell was asked for her opinion on the issue.
“Such sore losers,” Campbell agreed. “I mean, Australia coming out on top of the world is one thing, but it is just so much sweeter beating America.”
Campbell telling the SMH today that “Everything that was said was said in jest…things were taken out of context and things got a lot bigger than it needed to be.
“Oh man, I want to say something, but I don’t want the Americans to come after me again because it was quite intense.
“Okay, let me just say, I don’t think Americans understand the Australian sense of humour because when you respect someone, you gently take the mickey out of them and that is 100 per cent what I was doing.
“By any stretch of the imagination, you can say that Australia came out of those world championships as the best team in the world…with the greatest number of gold medals.
“We broke five world records and I still stand by the fact that I think that Australia was the best swimming team in the world.
“However, that is not taking away from the incredible performances that the US team put down. We love a rivalry; we love gently ribbing our opposition.
“It got totally blown out of proportion and I realised that Americans do not have the Australian sense of humour, so I’ll just be a little more mindful of that next time.”
Cate Campbell also insisted there was no bad blood with Kaylee McKeown after the Australian backstroke star criticised her senior teammate for the inflammatory remarks that upset a number of US athletes and fans.
“Kaylee and I have never had a problem,” Campbell told the SMH.
“We’ve chatted about it. The things that she said were in jest. She is also very blunt; she has no filter. In no way was there animosity directed at anyone.
“It was just funny because, let’s face it, America does like to be the best, and they do like to make it seem like they’re the best at everything.”
The Australian women were on FIRE! Itʻs DONE! You canʻt take that away and, I am sure they will continue to swim at a higher level in the next Olympics. Get ready World!