Home

Aussie Olympic champion Zac Stubblety-Cook not deterred by reports of unpaid prizemoney in ISL

Emma GreenwoodNews Corp Australia Sports Newsroom
Zac Stubblety-Cook in action at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
Camera IconZac Stubblety-Cook in action at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Credit: News Corp Australia

Olympic champion Zac Stubblety-Cook says he would have no hesitation in rejoining his ISL franchise despite reports the competition is in financial trouble.

Stubblety-Cook, who delivered a clinic to aspiring breaststrokers in Rockhampton at the weekend, was set to join the Tokyo Frog Kings from the competition’s playoff stages in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, from November 11, however the team did not make it past the preliminary stages.

Reports emerged at the weekend that swimmers are considering boycotting the playoffs due to unpaid prizemoney from last season.

Stubblety-Cook, who stormed home in the final lap of the 200m breaststroke in Tokyo to win the Olympic title, was invited to join the Frog Kings by general manager and swimming icon Kosuke Kitajima.

Get in front of tomorrow's news for FREE

Journalism for the curious Australian across politics, business, culture and opinion.

READ NOW

Kayo is your ticket to the best local and international sport streaming Live & On-Demand. New to Kayo? Start Your Free Trial >

But the 22-year-old decided to skip the preliminary stages, which ran from late August to late September in Naples, Italy and join the team from the playoffs, something that will now not happen.

The Game AFL 2024

“I was excited for something fresh and something different,” Stubblety-Cook said of joining the competition.

“Now that they didn’t make (the playoffs), it’s disappointing … but at the same time, it’s nice to actually stay home and settle back into a bit of a routine – I really missed this almost rigidity of life and training.”

While reports emerged in Nine Newspapers at the weekend about possible athlete boycotts due to unpaid prizemoney in a competition set up by Ukrainian billionaire Konstantin Grigorishin but looking increasingly financially vulnerable due to unpaid bills, Stubblety-Cook said he would not have had any concerns about joining the Frog Kings.

“I was pretty confident in my ISL team and the management team that were in place in terms of the Tokyo team,” he said.

“They had ticked all the boxes in terms of everything I was looking for and been really clear and transparent in terms of this is all the information they had and very clear-cut.

“I was very comfortable going over in terms of the ISL side, I was probably more concerned about (the prospect of getting Covid) going to a foreign country where it’s kind of open.”

Friday Swim Heats OLY
Camera IconZac Stubblety-Cook in action at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Credit: News Corp Australia

But having received a personal invitation from Kitajima – who won the 100m and 200m breaststroke double at consecutive Olympic Games – Stubblety-Cook is keen to maintain a connection with the Tokyo team.

“He was one of my biggest idols and jumping on a Zoom call and only expecting it to be (Frog Kings) management and then seeing Kitajima, it was very surreal,” he said.

“And then him actually coming out and congratulating me at the Olympics was very, very special.

“He’s someone I’ve always looked up to in the history books as one of the greatest breaststrokers of all time and something I was really excited to do was hopefully learn from him and hear a bit more about his story because I think it’s a bit lot in translation somewhat.

“I hope to get a phone call and say, hey, do you want to come along (to the ISL) and I might say to them I’ll come for the first half next season.”

Meanwhile, the mooted Australian Swimming League also has major question marks over it after Melbourne-based founder David Brandi was convicted of tax fraud and banned from serving as a company director.

Brandi is serving a two-year suspended sentence after being convicted in July on two counts of dishonestly obtaining a gain from the Commonwealth.

The goal that drives Titmus to greatness

Olympic champion Ariarne Titmus hopes Katie Ledecky’s training switch fuels her desire to remain at the elite level so the pair can continue one of the greatest rivalries in swimming history.

Titmus will spend the next week recharging her batteries before heading back to training for a 2022 campaign that will include both the Commonwealth Games and world championships.

And she hopes she is able to resume her rivalry with Ledecky, who last week announced she would switch training programs from Stanford University to the University of Florida ahead of the next Olympics in Paris in 2024.

Monday Swimming Oly Finals
Camera IconKatie Ledecky and Ariarne Titmus with their Olympic 400m freestyle medals in Tokyo. Adam Head Credit: News Corp Australia

Titmus, who beat Ledecky to the wall in both the 200m and 400m freestyle in Tokyo to win gold before a silver medal behind the world record-holder in the 800m, said she had not read too much into the move.

“She’s still going to be there and be a very fierce competitor of mine,” Titmus said of Ledecky, who will link with a top squad of male distance swimmers in Florida, including double Olympic champion Bobby Finke.

“I hope that she stays at the standard that she’s been at because it pushes me and it means that we get to have fun races.

“I wish her all the best. I guess she was in need of a change and I’m happy that hopefully she’s found a place that’s going to be good for her.

“I think it’s the move that maybe she needed to have.”

Titmus was speaking from Rockhampton in central Queensland after conducting a coaching clinic with Swimming Queensland for locals.

“I feel like I have more purpose than just to be a competitor in swimming, I feel like I can really advise and inspire young kids and I want to have that impact,” she said.

It’s a full-circle moment for Titmus, whose dreams of winning Olympic gold were fuelled by a visit from triple Olympic champion Stephanie Rice to her home pool in Tasmania in 2012.

“I distinctly remember Stephanie Rice coming down to Launceston, that was a big deal for us,” Titmus said.

“We didn’t get those big names come down very often … it was a big deal and that’s why it was important for me to come (to Rockhampton). I feel like it’s really important to give back.”

The 50m pool at the Launceston Aquatic Centre – the same one that Rice visited as an Olympic champion almost a decade ago – will be renamed the Ariarne Titmus Competition Pool and she has already been back mentoring the next generation of champions to keep the cycle turning.

The 21-year-old will return to training with coach Dean Boxall next week.

“I have one more week left, so I have to cherish it,” she said.

“I feel like I’ve been running around like a headless chook I’ve had so much stuff on. But I feel like I’m ready to go back.

“When I get back into training I’m going to take it slowly, I don’t have to be at my very best next year – I want to peak again in three years’ time.

“I want to be at a level where I can be really competitive at (world championships and Commonwealth Games next year) but understand that I don’t want to go too hard, too soon, I want to make sure that I can be ready for Paris.”

Originally published as Aussie Olympic champion Zac Stubblety-Cook not deterred by reports of unpaid prizemoney in ISL

Get the latest news from thewest.com.au in your inbox.

Sign up for our emails