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Magnussen: I Made Mistakes

Oct 21, 2012

Australian 100m freestyle world champion James Magnussen told Sunday Nine TV Down Under today that he made mistakes at the London Olympics but that those had made him stronger.

In his first public comments since the Games, Magnussen said, in hindsight, there were many things he would have done differently had he the chance to approach the Games again. He took silver in the 100m just behind Nathan Adrian (USA) and led Australia to 4th place in a 4x100m freestyle final that the Dolphins had been heavily tipped to win.

Magnussen, 20, confessed to making "behavioural" mistakes. "We learned things at those Olympics. I learned things and there are things I'd do differently looking back on it," he told the Nine television network.

Magnussen said he was mainly happy with his behaviour at the Games but believed he took a naive approach going into the Games.

Magnussen sat slumped in his chair after his leg of the relay with James Roberts, Eamon Sullivan and Matt Targett. He out that down to shock.

"At the time, my world had just changed in a heartbeat in front of the whole world and it was a whirlwind inside my head," he said of his relatively poor effort, one in which he found himself swamped by American Nathan Adrian at the turn.

"I can barely remember the swim itself let alone what happened after. As far as it being a bad look, it may have been and if I had my time again I'd do it differently but hindsight is a wonderful thing," said the Aussie sprinter.

Magnussen mentioned the need to bond for the relay but acknowledged that some of the roads the men went down were "mistakes".

He concluded: "As a result of that failure - well, I say failure but I still got a silver medal which I'm very proud of - at the Olympics my coach and I are ready for anything now."