Swimming at the Tokyo Olympics came to a close on Sunday, August 1. However, the sport provided one of the most entertaining races in the women’s 4x100m medley relay to close out the sport. Attempting to avenge their loss in the 2016 Rio Olympics, Australia edged out Team USA in a closely fought battle to strike gold.

However, their victory sparked reactions from American fans across the world as they believed Australia cheated during the race.

Australia’s victory in Tokyo Olympics marred by speculations of cheating

Kaylee McKeown, Chelsea Hodges, Emma McKeon, and Cate Campbell represented Australia in the event on Sunday. In fact, Hodges is the only swimmer on this team who didn’t compete in Rio five years ago.

Their main challenge came from Team USA, comprising Regan Smith, Lydia Jacoby, Torri Huske, and Abbey Weitzeil. Three quarters into the race, the USA led Australia by just 0.25s. However, Campbell’s effort in the finish proved to be the difference between both teams.

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The Australian leaped into the pool with a lightning-quick reaction time of 0.04s compared to Weitzeil’s 0.38s. This led the Australians to clinch gold by a mere 0.13s, while also setting a new Olympic record with a time of 3:51.60.

Although her reaction time falls within the rules, it sparked Team USA fans to engage in debates about the legality of her dive. In fact, some of them resorted to claiming that Campbell cheated when she dived for the last leg of the race.

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Campbell revealed she was unsure of the result right after finishing the race

While the entire Australian team put in a solid effort, Campbell’s final push ultimately proved to be the difference. After the race, the 29-year-old admitted she was unsure whether her switchover cost them gold.

She said, “I saw a number one next to our names and I thought, ‘oh, my goodness, that’s incredible’. I looked up and the girls were celebrating and I thought ‘my changeover was very quick, we’ve either just won an Olympic gold medal or we’ve just been disqualified’.

“So I was like we have to wait until the results are official. And they were official and we are Olympic gold medallists.”

With this result, Australia capped off one of their most successful Olympics in swimming. They ended with a tally of nine gold medals, three silver medals, and eight bronze medals in Tokyo.

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