Heroes of Beijing

Reporter: Michael Usher

INTRODUCTION TARA BROWN: What can we say that hasn't already been said? All the superlatives, all the adjectives have been done to death over the last two weeks. Millions of words have been written, all the experts have had their say. But as usual, the people who really know what's going on, the ones you really want to hear from, have said the least. Well, now it's their turn. Tonight, our Olympic champions get together and have their say, reliving some of the great heart-stopping moments from the Games. So let the celebrations begin. Here is Michael Usher in Beijing.

STORY MICHAEL USHER: It has been an incredible two weeks for our Olympic superstars. In the land of the Rising Dragon records have been smashed, and legends made. Eamon, how good does it feel?

EAMON SULLIVAN: Bloody amazing to be Australian, yeah.

MICHAEL USHER: Today, for once, they can relax, and watch someone else perform here at Beijing's ancient Temple of Heaven.

STEPHANIE RICE: Some definite relief and just really great to see all the hard I work put into that preparation pay off.

LEISEL JONES: It's four years, five years preparation for this moment so it's definitely nice to have it all over and done with all the intense emotions are over and we can start moving ahead and really enjoying it.

MICHAEL USHER: And that is just what they are doing - taking in the sights, basking in the glory and slowly unwinding after the intense pressure of these Olympics.

STEPHANIE RICE: We sacrifice so much, I love to actually get out and do my hair and make up and sort of feel like a normal person again that is something I really look forward to.

MICHAEL USHER: Tonight we'll hear all the stories behind the triumphs of our heroes of Beijing. Well, Australian Olympians, give each other a round of applause if you don't mind, well done. For those of you with a few of the medals around your neck, you want to give us a jingle, it's a great sound - all these medals clinking together. How does that feel, Andrew?

ANDREW LAUTERSTEIN: It's pretty cool. This is the first time I've actually had all three on at the same time and it's a strange feeling.

MICHAEL USHER: It's probably a good feeling.

ANDREW LAUTERSTEIN: It's a great feeling. I'm living the dream.

MICHAEL USHER: Leisel Jones down the front here, I think I heard you coming before I saw you there, with all those medals around your neck.

LEISEL JONES: Oh, I thought you meant I was being loud.

MICHAEL USHER: Only the medals. They're fantastic aren't they.

LEISEL JONES: Thank you, yes. No, it is fantastic. It's nice to be over now, I've probably done better than what I expected.

MICHAEL USHER: Eamon Sullivan, how are you feeling? Has it all sunk in? Have you chilled out yet?

EAMON SULLIVAN: Yeah, it is. It's good to step outside the bubble and just get to drink and something that...

JAMES TOMKINS: Try and teach these young guys some responsibility.

MICHAEL USHER: Some advice from James, what should they do?

JAMES TOMKINS: Just got to pace yourself.

EAMON SULLIVAN: It's been a been a long time between drinks for a lot of us and just getting out there and being able to enjoy ourselves and not have to wake up to an alarm the next morning is a big thing that we rarely get to enjoy.

MICHAEL USHER: So you you're probably coming home at times you'd normally be waking up to get to the pool and start training, is that right?

EAMON SULLIVAN: Yeah, yeah. That's right But we still have breakfast, so it's all right.

MICHAEL USHER: Let's go to the softball girls. You know how to enjoy the moment I think, don't you? Late night?

MELANIE ROCHE: On and off the field. We were dancing with each other and dancing with anyone, so it was pretty good.

MICHAEL USHER: Well deserved. What an epic effort that was.

TANYA HARDING: Not quite the result we wanted. bronze seems such a long way from gold but for us, you know its right there for the taking and we certainly gave it all that we've got.

MICHAEL USHER: That moment of being so close to something and having to fight so hard for it, what is it like? For people like myself who have no idea of understanding that?

TANYA HARDING: That's the sort of stuff that makes you keep coming back. We were pretty close, but not quite close enough.

MICHAEL USHER: Libby Lenton... Libby Trickett, there you go, it's still sinking in. Tell me, you came to these games to prove something, didn't you, after Athens?

LIBBY TRICKETT: Yeah, definitely. I think most athletes dream about not only getting to an Olympics but getting a medal and obviously the gold is the one that most people are after and to actually put it together on the day... ..it's 56 seconds and to to do that was very special definitely.

MICHAEL USHER: Tell you what though, you gave us all a fright again, almost not qualifying.

LIBBY TRICKETT: Yes.

MICHAEL USHER: What happened?

LIBBY TRICKETT: Oh look, it was just a mistake. I made a mistake. Unlike someone like Michael Phelps who can't seem to put a foot wrong I'm very human and I make mistakes and to come up with the silver medal... second sounds a lot better than ninth place, that's for sure.

MICHAEL USHER: And what's it like being in the water up against this human dolphin, the machine of Michael Phelps?

EAMON SULLIVAN: Claim to fame - I was the only one that beat him in a final in the 4x1 relay which got overshadowed because he broke a world record and and they won a gold.

MICHAEL USHER: Brenton Rickard, up against Phelps, what's it like?

BRENTON RICKARD: You put so much emotional energy into each race and I know after winning a silver in the 200 breaststroke I was still shaking 6 hours later that night and for him to do that for eight different events and then get up the next day and still be able to swim so well, you don't know how he does it. It's just a phenomenal performance in so many ways.

MICHAEL USHER: Anna Meares, though yours is one of those stories that has really caught a lot of attention. You really shouldn't have been here should you?

ANNA MEARES: No, I've had a definitely a tough journey. Seven months ago, I fell in the Kieran event in the Los Angeles world cup at about 65km/hour and fractured my neck, dislocated my right shoulder and had a number of other injuries as well. At that stage I was 2 millimetres away from quadriplegia and luckily for me it was all okay, and the Olympic dream pretty much went out the window at that stage and it was a battle to actually qualify for the Olympics and then get fit for the Olympics and I'm here with a silver medal around my neck, so I'm really happy.

MICHAEL USHER: I reckon that deserves a round of applause, as well. How do some of you react to a story like Anna's? I mean, it's extraordinary, you know all what it takes to get here and then you hear someone, like Anna's story.

EMMA MOFFATT: Well, gees, I guess I feel I don't really deserve this as much. The worst thing that happened to me in my lead up was a little cold I guess get over that and get a bronze, I'm so excited, so I could imagine how much she appreciates the silver.

MICHAEL USHER: Extraordinary.

JAMES TOMKINS: It is extraordinary. It is an incredible experience, you know the Olympic Games and that's why you try and keep coming back for them cause they are so enjoyable.

MICHAEL USHER: James Tomkins, you're in slightly unfamiliar territory after six Olympics, sitting there without a medal round your neck.

JAMES TOMKINS: Yeah, well, I'm the only one here so.

MICHAEL USHER: Could you leave. No, don't.

JAMES TOMKINS: I'm not worthy.

MICHAEL USHER: It's extraordinary what you've done at this point, to do six Olympics, but have you any level of disappointment about the race?

JAMES TOMKINS: Oh, you know, obviously you want to go out and give it your absolute best shot and whilst we did give it our best shot but at the end of the day, I sit in a boat and row down a river, for goodness' sake. I mean, it's just a sport, and there's so many more important things in life.

MICHAEL USHER: Eamon Sullivan, you know about being so close, when it comes down to fractions of a second that you couldn't even think you could measure. It's tough, isn't it?

EAMON SULLIVAN: Obviously going in there with world records and other expectations I had personally it was a bit disappointing not to achieve them but and individual silver and the two relay medals was fantastic.

MICHAEL USHER: We've all been blown away about the extraordinary speed of swimming at these Games. What was it like in the water?

EAMON SULLIVAN: Oh, it was fast. It was ridiculous. I've never seen a meet of that calibre, and how can you keep up with it? It definitely took its toll on me. I was exhausted by the end of the meet. It was just an amazing thing to be a part of.

MICHAEL USHER: Brenton Rickard - I'll tell you what's another phenomenal performance, your mum and dad, Colette and Mark. We follow a lot of the parents around and see them, they've got to be the proudest, most supportive Australian parents on the scene.

BRENTON RICKARD: Yeah, that's one way to describe them. we all appreciate having our families there. They've been through all the tough times, the hard times, and it's great that they can come and share and enjoy some of our more successful and enjoyable times with us as well.

MICHAEL USHER: Leisel Jones - in terms of moving forward, do you start thinking more about family or training for the four years ahead?

LEISEL JONES: It's a little bit difficult going into this next four Olympics. I'm taking off as much time as I want, so family is very important to me, as you can tell by my Mum standing in the stands every night, so it is a very emotional time and throughout this time you don't want to be making any rash decisions.

LIBBY TRICKETT: It is really important not to make decisions at this moment because either you're on a massive high or on a massive low and you're not going to be thinking clearly.

MICHAEL USHER: But you're going to take a big holiday first, aren't you?

LIBBY TRICKETT: Three months.

MICHAEL USHER: And you can't wait.

LIBBY TRICKETT: Yeah - I can't wait. It's going to be absolutely awesome. The longest time in six years that I've been on a break is three weeks and Luke and I have only been away for five nights in the whole six years that we've been together.

MICHAEL USHER: Eamon you're single, unless things have changed.

EAMON SULLIVAN: No, no. Still single.

MICHAEL USHER: You can confirm that.

EAMON SULLIVAN: Yeah, yeah. Nothing's changed.

MICHAEL USHER: Was it interesting to deal with that sort of publicity leading into the Olympics, the focus on your relationship and split - the big split.

EAMON SULLIVAN: It's funny when your private life isn't private any more. Luckily I wasn't at home to see any of it, I just stayed away from it all, I let them say what they wanted to say and just took a step back and just, obviously, focusing on the Olympics and that was the main thing for both of us.

MICHAEL USHER: Tell me, who flatted together in the village? Anyone in the same room together at all? Over here? Ah - the 16-year-olds.

CATE CAMPBELL: Yeah, double trouble.

MICHAEL USHER: Are you better friends or worse friends?

EMILY SEEBOHM: We can handle each other. Hang on, I'll ask you individually. Cate?

CATE CAMPBELL: We haven't been able to get up to too much mischief because we're also rooming with the managers. So we've been pretty good, kind of bonded, which is great.

MICHAEL USHER: Emily, yourself?

EMILY SEEBOHM: Well as you can tell Cate's worse than me with her voice, so, I haven't done anything wrong the whole trip.

CATE CAMPBELL: What have I done?

MICHAEL USHER: You're 16-years-old, both of you - back to school next week, week after. When is it?

EMILY SEEBOHM: Maybe well hold off for a little bit, just so I can get my head around it.

CATE CAMPBELL: I reckon I'm going to go head back pretty quickly. I've got so much work to catch up on 'cause I didn't bring any away with me.

MICHAEL USHER: Too much homework to catch up on.

CATE CAMPBELL: The teachers were like, do you want to take any work? I was like, what kind of question is that? Of course I don't. So yeah, I've got a fair bit of work to catch up on.

MICHAEL USHER: Felicity - away from the pool, you've been running into some interesting people in the village, is that right?

FELICITY GALVEZ: So there we were, waiting, and George Bush walks out of the lift and we're like, oh it's George Bush, it's George Bush. So we're backed up against the wall all excited and then he just came up and shook our hands and just said Australia's done a great job in the pool and we both got back in the pool and we're like, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God. So we were pretty excited.

MICHAEL USHER: Yeah. Kylie, what did you say to him?

KYLIE PALMER: I didn't actually do a lot of the talking.

MICHAEL USHER: You did all the talking?

KYLIE PALMER: I was like I was so nervous. We actually saw Senior George Bush after it as well, and we both didn't know who he was. He said hi to us, but we didn't realise it was him till we got back to the village and one of the coaches told us so I Googled it to make sure it was actually him.

MICHAEL USHER: You had to Google George Bush Sr?

KYLIE PALMER: I wouldn't have a clue what he looks like.

MICHAEL USHER: James, the rise of China - they're extraordinary aren't they?

JAMES TOMKINS: It's just been phenomenal, seeing how Beijing the city has developed and China has developed. I mean, when they put their minds to something not much is going to get in the way of them, the Chinese, trying to achieve that.

MICHAEL USHER: James, the drugs issue - do you think these have been a clean Games?

JAMES TOMKINS: Well, people have been testing positive, so you'd say no. All you want to do is sit on the start line knowing that it's a fair competition and that's what everyone wants. Some really stupid people are trying to trying to get past that. I don't know how you'd actually live with yourself down the track if you went down that path.

MICHAEL USHER: Okay let's try and pin you down. Is it going to be Olympics number 7?

JAMES TOMKINS: At the moment I'm going, don't worry about that.

MICHAEL USHER: Alright, hands up here - who's going to join James in London if they can go all the way? You're gone, that's it?

ASHLEY CALLUS: Some people are retiring and that's pretty much me at this point. I had a great time in Sydney in the 4x1 where we won. I had a bit of a disaster in Athens and I decided after that I'd give it one more shot and I have finished with a bronze medal in 4x1 and fourth in the 50 freestyle which to me is a gold medal, and from where I've come from to where I am now, I'm rapt and I'm just going to savour this moment and leave it at that.

MICHAEL USHER: Good luck for everything post-swimming and post-Olympics.

ASHLEY CALLUS: Yeah, thanks. Real estate, Gold Coast.

MICHAEL USHER: Quick plug?

ASHLEY CALLUS: Colwell Packer, by the way.

MICHAEL USHER: Well look, it's been my honour to be in all of your company, you've given all of us just terrific memories and moments, we're all so very proud of you. Thank you very much for making the time today. Thank you.