BRITAIN'S highly-rated women's 4x200 metres freestyle relay team yesterday missed out on a place in the final after a gamble to rest Caitlin McClatchey backfired spectacularly.
The British team had been expected to challenge for a medal in this morning's final, especially given the success of Joanne Jackson and golden girl Rebecca Adlington in the 400m freestyle earlier in the week. But a sixth-place finish in their heat i
n a time of 7 minutes 56.16 secs saw the British squad of Jackson, Mel Marshall, Hannah Miley and Fran Halsall come ninth overall, more than half a second behind eighth-placed Japan.
Performance director Michael Scott and women's coach Ben Titley had decided to rest Scotland's McClatchey to allow her to rest for an expected appearance in the final, but it was a risk that didn't pay off.
"We were a medal prospect but we are very, very, very disappointed," said Marshall. "It's been a great few days but that's a big slap in the face.
"We are absolutely gutted. We're disappointed for everyone at home who supported us but that's sport, that's why everyone watches it."
The usually upbeat mood of the GB swimming team had also faltered earlier in the day. The men's 4x200m had been identified as a realistic chance for glory. Not gold, Michael Phelps had pinpointed that one for himself but silver was a possibility. In the end they had to settle for devastation.
Despite breaking the GB record to qualify through the heats in second place behind the USA, and shaving a further two seconds off their time in the final, they finished sixth. It was a blow no-one in the team had prepared themselves for.
"I'm devastated, absolutely devastated," said David Carry, the elder statesman of the quartet and one of three Scots. "Coming into this meet I honestly didn't think there was any other outcome other than us winning a medal. We were all swimming so well and it's just such a horrible feeling."
Carry was the lead-off man, handing over to fellow Scots Andrew Hunter, Robbie Renwick and Englishman Ross Davenport and while they blistered through the race, they never handed over in anything better than fourth position throughout. It was far from expected and as everyone else left the arena, Davenport sat at the end of the pool, shell-shocked and inconsolable. "Ross was devastated," added Carry. "He was just sitting there but there's not much I could say to him. We are all so disappointed. I have trained with Ross every single day for the last four years and we both know how much work we've put into this. It's been a wonderful journey and I've loved every minute of it but not getting a medal is horrible."
It is a result which simply offers Carry another Olympic heartbreak. Four years ago he helped the team reach the same final only to be dropped. The hurt etched on his face yesterday was comparable.
"Four years ago it was just a horrible decision by management and couldn't be justified, but that was something which was out of my hands and they ended up missing out on a medal by 0.8 of a second. But this time we had everything settled, who was in the race, and it was a far more upbeat team and it was far better to go down fighting than be sitting in the stands. But we haven't swam badly, that's the thing we have to remember."
In the women's 200m individual freestyle there was more Scottish disappointment when McClatchey finished sixth in the final, well behind Federica Pellegrini, of Italy, Katie Hoff, of USA, and China's Jiaying Pang.
The full article contains 631 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
