Quietly Confident Quartet

The Quietly Confident Quartet was the self-given name of the Australian men's 4 × 100 m medley relay swimming team that won the gold medal at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow. The victory is the only time that the United States have not won the event at Olympic competition since its inception in 1960, coming with the Americans absent due to their boycott in protest at the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. The quartet consisted of backstroker Mark Kerry, breaststroker Peter Evans, butterflyer Mark Tonelli and freestyler Neil Brooks. The team was nominally led by its oldest member Tonelli, who was 23 and was also a spokesperson for the Australian athletes in campaigning for their right to compete at the Olympics against the wishes of the Government of Australia. The team was seen as an unlikely prospect of winning; all of the four swimmers had clashed with swimming authorities over disciplinary issues and three experienced suspension or expulsion from the Australian team during their career. Australia had previously won medals in the event, but were not regarded as one of the favourites for the gold medal, with the Soviet Union, Great Britain and Sweden all fielding more decorated swimmers over their component legs of the relay. However, Australia's anchor swimmer Brooks overtook his more fancied Soviet counterpart Sergei Kopliakov in the latter half of his leg to secure a narrow victory. The quartet was disbanded after the Olympics, due to the retirement of Tonelli, although some of the members still continued in the relay with replacement members. By 1986, all of the four swimmers had retired from international competition.

Personnel

The Australian team for the event was quite a young and inexperienced quartet. Mark Tonelli was the oldest at the age of 23, followed by Mark Kerry, who turned 20 a month after the Olympics. Both were attending their second Olympics, while Peter Evans and Neil Brooks were 18 and 17 respectively and had never represented Australia at Commonwealth, World Championship or Olympic level. Evans and Brooks were both from Western Australia, a state that has never been prominent in the Australian swimming scene. The team members had also had contact prior to the Olympics, with Brooks' family having billeted Tonelli in 1976 when the Australian Olympic team had a training camp in Perth. Brooks cited his experience with Tonelli as a motivating factor in his career.Howell, p. 244.]
[
thumb|Australian_Prime_Minister_Malcolm Fraser (pictured) pressured the Australian athletes to boycott the Olympics.] The quartet was also marked by a rebellious and anti-establishment nature among its members. Tonelli and Kerry were both expelled from the 1978 Commonwealth Games team by the Australian Swimming Union for violating a curfew during a training camp in Hawaii before the team's trip to Edmonton, Canada for the competition.Forrest, p. 85.] In 1980 during the lead up to the selection of the Australian Olympic team, Brooks had walked out of a training camp, alleging that the coaches were neglecting him, while Evans had once stopped during a training session and refused to do extra mileage, emphatically proclaiming that "work is a poor substitute for talent". Later in their career, Evans and Brooks continued to have their clashes with swimming officialdom; Evans over his coaches' demands for more training mileage and Brooks over swimmers' rights. Brooks was also later suspended twice in his careering for his clashes with swimming authorities.

The rebel qualities of the groups were on show in the lead up to the Olympics. An obstacle arose with the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, which resulted in a boycott of the Games by a large part of the Western World, led by the United States. The Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser was also the patron of the Australian Olympic Committee, and significant political pressure came to bear on the athletes to boycott the Games. Tonelli realised that only the sportspeople would suffer from a boycott and that trade relations would continue unabated. He took a leadership role among the athletes to fight for their right to compete and publicise their cause among the Australian public.Howell, p. 239.] Gordon, p. 334.] Evans was fully supportive of Tonelli's campaign, reflecting that "We were political tools, and the only ones to suffer would be us."Howell, p. 241.] He rhetorically asked: "Do you really think that if we didn't go someone would come up to us after the Games and pat us on the back for not going?"Howell, p. 242.]

Kerry was equally adamant that he was going to compete, unlike some other swimmers who decided to make personal boycotts. He received offers from Australian officials to boycott the Games in return to financial payments. He said

According to women's captain Lisa Forrest, [Forrest, p. xiv.] Tonelli adopted populist tactics in championing the athlete's cause. He said that Fraser was sending "wheat to feed the Russian army, wool to clothe the army and Australian metal to make Russian guns", saying that this contradicted a proposed boycott in protest against the invasion.Forrest, p. 43.] Tonelli's anti-authoritarian and individualistic style manifested itself during media appearances, including a news interview in which he debated Reverend Lance Shilton, who had referred to the athletes as traitors.Forrest, p. 163–164.] Shilton expressed sympathy to the athletes, which Tonelli interpreted as condescension. He responded by rolling his eyes and twirling his finger, a gaffe that was broadcast on national television. Forrest said that "the damage was done — one of our most prominent anti-boycott lobbyists...looked like a smart alec".

Event history and expectations

The event had always been won by the United States since its inception at the Olympics at the 1960 Games, invariably by large margins, and their boycott had opened up the field in the event. In the five times the event had been contested, Australia's best result had come in the inaugural race in Rome, where the team of David Theile, Terry Gathercole, Neville Hayes and Geoff Shipton out-touched Japan to claim silver. The only other time that Australia had won a medal was in Tokyo in 1964, with a bronze when Peter Reynolds, Ian O'Brien, Kevin Berry and David Dickson finished behind the United States and Germany. The following two Games saw a fourth placing and an elimination in the heats. The previous outing in 1976 in Montreal had seen Australia come sixth.

Australia was regarded as a chance for a medal, but were not seen as the main threats, with Sweden, Great Britain and the Soviet Union being the most heavily fancied teams. The Soviet Union boasted the silver medalists in the 100 m backstroke and breaststroke, Viktor Kuznetsov and Arsen Miskarov respectively, and their butterflyer Yevgeny Seredin and freestyler Sergei Kopliakov had come fifth and fourth in their respective 100 m events. The British boasted Duncan Goodhew, the 100 m breaststroke gold medallist, and Gary Abraham, who had placed fifth in the 100 m backstroke. Sweden's butterflyer Par Arvidsson and backstroker Bengt Baron had won their respective 100 m events and their freestyle swimmer Per Holmertz had come second in the 100 m.Howell, p. 233.] Their weakest swimmer was the breaststroker Peter Berggren, who had come ninth in the 100 m.cite web |url=http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/summer/1980/SWI/mens-100-metres-breaststroke.html |title=Swimming at the 1980 Moskva Summer Games: Men's 100 metres Breaststroke |publisher=Sports Reference |accessdate=2008-09-01] Australia's team paled in comparison on paper. Brooks had come seventh in his 100 m freestyle semifinal and placed 14th overall after having an asthma attack,cite web |url=http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/summer/1980/SWI/mens-100-metres-freestyle.html |title=Swimming at the 1980 Moskva Summer Games: Men's 100 metres Freestyle |publisher=Sports Reference |accessdate=2008-09-01] and Evans was the only individual medallist in the corresponding individual event, winning bronze in the breaststroke.Andrews, p. 148.] Kerry had been eliminated in the 100 m backstroke semifinals, while Tonelli was the Australian champion in the 100 m freestyle and backstroke but was swimming as a makeshift butterflyer because the team did not have one. Adding to the pressure was the fact that Australia won no gold medals at the 1976 Olympics in any sport, so the public were still awaiting their first gold since the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich.Gordon, p. 333.] Coming into the Olympics, Australia were ranked seventh out of the 13 competing countries.Forrest, p. 212.]

Race

The medley relay was scheduled for Thursday, 24 July, the fifth day of swimming competition, with heats in the morning and the final in the evening. Australia's prospects improved after the morning heats when Sweden was disqualified in the first heat.Howell, p. 234.] Australia and the Soviet Union swam in the second heat. With their superior depth, the home team was able to rest their entire first-choice quartet in the heats. On the other hand, Australia was only willing to rest Kerry, with Glenn Patching swimming the backstroke leg in his place. The hosts led the Australians from the start and extended their margin over each of the first three legs. Brooks reclaimed 1.34 s on the freestyle leg, but the Australians fell 0.13 s short to come second in their heat. Nevertheless, the Australians qualified in second place overall, as they and the Soviets were more than 1.5 s faster than the third-placed Hungarians. In any case, the home team, despite resting all of their first-choice quartet, were still faster than the Australians, who had rested only one.

Evans brashly took the opportunity to attempt to regain the psychological ascendancy from Goodhew, confronting him privately and stating that "we will win it", before noting that Goodhew was astounded by his posturing.Howell, p. 242.] Tonelli, the eldest swimmer in the quartet at the age of 23, convened the team as its "de facto" leader. He asked his team-mates to commit to swimming their legs in a certain time; Kerry vowed to swim the backstroke in 57 s, Evans the breaststroke in 63 s flat, Tonelli the butterfly in 54 s and Brooks promised to anchor the team in 49.8 s, even though he had never gone faster than 51 s in his career. Tonelli named the foursome as the "Quietly Confident Quartet", and they exhibited a quiet confidence as they lined up for the race. Whereas most of the other teams were "psyching up" in the marshalling area, the Australians were remaining light-hearted, confident that they could perform in the final.

With fellow Australian Patching having slipped on the starting area earlier in the meet, Kerry decided to rub a sticky red substance onto the soles of his feet. The Soviet hosts had also provided a carpet following the incidents, resulting in Kerry leaving red footprints in the stadium. Kerry led off in a faster time than he had clocked in the individual event, but it was still two seconds slower than his personal best time. Kerry finished in a time of 57.87 s, leaving Australia in fourth place at the end of the first leg. Kuznetsov gave the Soviets the lead with a leadoff leg of 56.81 s with Hungary and Great Britain in second and third place. France was last to reach the 100 m mark, posting a time of 58.84 s. Evans then swam a personal best of 63.01 s, the fastest split among the breaststrokers by 0.63 s. His leg moved Australia into second place at the halfway mark, just 0.45 s behind the hosts and roughly half a second ahead of the British and the Hungarians. The remainder of the teams had been dropped, with a two second gap back to the fifth-placed East Germans. Tonelli then swam his leg in 54.94 s, almost two seconds faster than he had done over the distance. Tonelli began to lose ground in the last 50 m and was a bodylength behind until a late surge brought him to within a metre by the end of his leg. Tonelli's butterfly leg was such that if he had swum the same time in the individual event, he would have claimed the silver medal.Andrews, pp. 440–441.] Although he lost 0.36 s to Seredin, he had minimised his loss and Australia were within 0.81 s going into the final leg. Furthermore, the Australians were now more than a second clear of the third placed Great Britain.cite web |url=http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/summer/1980/SWI/mens-4-x-100-metres-medley-relay.html |title=Swimming at the 1980 Moskva Summer Games: Men's 4 × 100 metres Medley Relay |publisher=Sports Reference |accessdate=2008-09-01]

Brooks then made a powerful, well-timed dive and surfaced almost even with his Soviet counterpart Kopliakov. He had drawn level halfway through his leg and made a superior turn to take the lead as they headed home. The Soviet freestyler pulled level with 25 m to go before Brooks sprinted away again to seal an Australian victory by 0.22 s. He did not breathe in the last ten metres, and claimed to be laughing for the final five metres, confident that his opponent could not pass him.Howell, p. 245.] Brooks had finished his leg in 49.86 s as he had vowed to his team mates.Andrews, p. 63.] In doing so, he recorded the fastest freestyle split in the relay, even faster than the individual 100 m freestyle gold medallist, Jorg Woithe of East Germany.

The time of 3 m 45.70 s sealed Australia's first ever win in a medley relay at the Olympics, for men or women. It remains the only time that the United States has not won the event. The team then made a celebratory dive into the pool and did a poolside interview. Tonelli remarked that "I was totally stunned. After all the hassle, and my being the athletes' mouthpiece, we'd come through and done it".Howell, p. 240.] Forrest hailed the win as "a gold medal that should never have been".

Government reaction

The relations between the Olympians and the Government of the Australia remained tense after months of political struggle over the question of the boycott. In standard situations, a prime minister would send a congratulatory message to Olympic medallists.Forrest, p. 213.] However, the Australian Olympic chef de mission Phil Coles confirmed at the following day's press conference that the quartet had not received a message from Fraser. Australian journalists soon bombarded Fraser's office with phone calls asking why he had not congratulated the athletes. Various members of the government recommended that Fraser congratulate the swimmers, but the prime minister baulked. When questioned in a radio interview, he said "I hope that circumstances do not arise over the next few years which will cause them to have very great regrets about the fact that they've gone". Fraser relented and late in the night, his office sent a congratulatory telegram.cite news| title=Late bravo from PM |publisher=The Age |date=1980-07-26 |pages=p. 1] However, he would not send his message directly to the Olympic village, so the telegram went to the Australian embassy in Moscow. Fraser had ordered the Australian diplomatic mission to close its doors to the Australian Olympians,Forrest, p. 202.] so the embassy staff had to pass the envelopes containing the message through the fence. Fraser's telegram said:Forrest, p. 214.]

Coles reported that relay squad tore up the prime minister's message.

Aftermath

The quartet did not compete again as a unit following the Moscow Olympics. Tonelli retired from swimming immediately after the Games, while Kerry took an extended break. Kerry made an attempted comeback to swimming leading up to the 1982 Commonwealth Games in Brisbane, but his short training period before the selection trials was not enough to see him selected. This left Evans and Brooks as the only two members of the quartet to participate in Australia's victory in the medley event at the Commonwealth Games.Howell, p. 243.] In 1984, Kerry had secured his return to the team as Australia's preferred backstroker,Howell, p. 237.] while Brooks had been eclipsed by Mark Stockwell as the leading freestyler.Howell, p. 246.] Australia came third in the 1984 Olympics in the medley relay as the Americans returned to the Olympic fold, with only Evans and Kerry of the original four swimming in the final, while Brooks swam in the heats. Evans and Kerry both retired after the 1984 Olympics, and Brooks was not the first-choice swimmer in 1986, meaning that a totally different quartet performed the medley relay duties at the 1986 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh. After the 1986 Games, Brooks was suspended and retired, and all four members of the Quietly Confident Quartet had departed the Australian swimming scene.Howell, p. 247.]

Notes

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