Paris 2024 Olympics - Swimming - Men's 50m Freestyle - Heats - Paris La Defense Arena, Nanterre, France - August 01, 2024. Cameron McEvoy of Australia before the heat. REUTERS/Ueslei Marcelino
PARIS (Reuters) - Cameron McEvoy, Florent Manaudou and Ben Proud led the way for an older generation in the battle to be the fastest man in the Paris Olympic pool on Thursday.
The 30-year-old Australian, 33-year-old Frenchman and 29-year-old Briton respectively finished first, third and fifth overall in the 50 metres 'splash and dash' heats at the La Defense Arena.
Proud said he took inspiration from the continued form of McEvoy, who in 2023 became Australia's oldest world champion when he won the 50 free.
"I think with Cam he's really come up very last minute and done this and suddenly he's opened up a door for a lot of the older guys to say 'OK, now we can go on to 35, 36' which we've seen some people have done in the past," he said.
"Having more people doing this is very nice and it's exciting because it's almost like 'yes, we're 29, 30 but we're just starting our swimming career' and that's a very unique place to be."
Manaudou won 50 free gold at the 2012 London Olympics and silvers at Rio de Janeiro in 2016 and Tokyo in 2021.
The event can be as brutal as it is quick: Years of hard training boiling down to just over 21 seconds where one mistake can be Games over.
Proud would not have it any other way.
"Putting all your eggs in one basket is something that I am very comfortable with," he said, commiserating with teammate Luke Greenbank who was disqualified on Wednesday from the 200m backstroke, his only event.
"If you go wrong within 21 seconds that's it," said Proud, who also has just the one event.
"Four years of career that's over. It's just such a tough place to be in but that makes all the challenge, that makes it more special about why we're here and what we're doing."
Yet to win an Olympic medal, Proud was 50 free world champion in 2022 and took 50 butterfly world gold in 2017. In 2021 he was 50 free short course world champion.
The swimmer has compared his situation to that of a greyhound waiting to be unleashed.
"This morning was very much leave nothing to chance, do what I need to do to make it through. But as soon as I knew I was in control I could switch off a little," he said.
(Additional reporting by Rohith Nair, editing by Toby Davis)
