Aussies eye more glory after golden haul

Australia’s triumphant swimmers set their sights on further glory after wrapping up the Commonwealth Games with another six gold medals yesterday.

The mighty Australians bid farewell to the Manchester Aquatics Centre in stunning style as they scooped all but one of the golds handed out on the final night’s competition.

Their men’s and women’s 4x100metres medley both set new Games records as they stormed to victory and there were also individual successes for Petria Thomas, Jim Piper, Jennifer Reilly and Grant Hackett.

They now move on to the Pan Pacific Championships in Japan and Thomas is hoping for more golden nights.

Thomas, whose victories in the team medley and 200m butterfly took her Manchester gold tally to five, said: ‘‘I think this has been a wonderful meeting. The crowd has been great and there’s been heaps of Aussies out there wearing green and gold and cheering us on.

‘‘It was a fantastic way to end the Games and we’ll take back many wonderful memories.

‘‘We have got a lot to reflect on to help us get ready for the next challenge. We’re all looking forward to swimming again.’’

South Africa’s Roland Schoeman prevented an Australian clean sweep of all seven finals held last night with victory by just one hundredth of a second in the men’s 50m freestyle.

Naturally, Australia’s Brett Hawke was the man who took the silver, the pair both ending bronze medallist Mark Foster’s bid for a third successive title.

Hackett’s victory was by far the most emphatic as he, as expected, won the men’s 1500m freestyle by almost 13 seconds from Scotland’s Graeme Smith.

Piper claimed the 200m breaststroke title with Reilly winning the 400m individual medley.

Geoff Huegill, part of the men’s medley squad which won in 3:36.05 along with Piper, Matt Welsh and Ian Thorpe, said: ‘‘To come to a meeting for the first time and come away with a couple of medals is really good for me.

‘‘It has been a brilliant experience but there is still a lot we can work on and hopefully we can get close to that world record mark.’’

Fittingly, the Australian relay side were led home by indomitable freestyler Thorpe.

The victory was the 19-year-old sensation’s sixth gold of the Games, and he also won a silver in the 100m backstroke.

Thorpe said: ‘‘It has been a fantastic games, not only for me personally and Australia but for everyone here.

‘‘I’m really glad to have had the opportunity to compete here.’’