The Australian newspapers have very much a love-hate relationship with their swimmers. On the one hand, the constant press leaves the athletes as very public figures with huge sponsor value. On the other hand, when there is a perceived wrong, the papers hold little back in their attacks. Check out the headlines below from some of Australia's biggest publications.
The headline of the Sydney Morning Herald after the Australians failed to medal in the men's 400 free relay.
The Australian played off of James Magnussen's nickname of “the Missile” as well in its headline criticism.
News.Com.Au kept with the trend. This relay's miss was especially disappointing after the Aussie women won a surprise gold in the same relay on Saturday.
With James “the Rocket” Roberts and James “the Missle” Magnussen, the Australians dubbed themselves the “Weapons of Mass Destruction”. This headline pokes fun at exactly what they're destroying.
Basic and simple; this headline reaches back to a past era, where bombs were the weapons of war-time choice, as compared to more modern “missiles”.
And finally, the West Australian, based out of Perth, took the high road and chose to focus on the French team's success rather than the Australians' lack thereof.