Australia's great Olympic swimming hope James Magnussen will not ditch his acts of verbal intimidation at the London Games after finally embracing his nickname "The Missile". Magnussen's manager said on Friday the 20-year-old would keep talking the talk before contesting the 50-metre and 100-metre freestyle events in his Olympic debut. "These are confident athletes and they are brave enough to say what they think," Mark Jones told AFP.
"There is nothing wrong with that. They are all trying to break each other physically but they're also trying to hammer each other mentally. "Psychology is a big part of it. The main thing is that you have to be good enough to walk the walk if you're going to talk it up. James's performances have obviously been very good and he has faith in his ability."
Magnussen backed up his boasts with a freestyle sprint double in the year's fastest times to be the standout performer at Australia's Olympic trials, which finished on Thursday. He is their best hope of gold medals and will spearhead the squad in London as Australia attempt to retain a position among the world's top two swimming nations alongside the United States.
Jones said Magnussen was "a bright guy with a good sense of humour" who understood what he needed to do to get an edge on his rivals. "He knows it is part of the game. In explosive events like sprints in the pool and at the track, you have people like Usain Bolt trying to get any advantage they can," he said. "They have an aura because everyone knows they are good enough to back up what they say. James won't be shy in London." Australia's head coach Leigh Nugent denied Magnussen's confidence could be interpreted as arrogance. "I really don't see arrogance in swimmers, so much," Nugent told reporters. "A guy like James, he just states the facts.