Article 62NV0 Duel in the Pool begins with Bondi beach battle as swimmers enter unknown | Kieran Pender

Duel in the Pool begins with Bondi beach battle as swimmers enter unknown | Kieran Pender

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Kieran Pender at Bondi Beach
from World news | The Guardian on (#62NV0)

The competition between swimming powerhouses Australia and the US returned to Sydney after a 15-year absence with a new twist

Iconic" was the word of the day. As Australian and American swim stars gathered at Bondi Icebergs to observe the opening event of the three-day Duel in the Pool - an open water relay - adjectives flowed freely. It was an iconic" event, said one swimming executive, at the iconic" Bondi beach. No more appropriate location than Bondi," offered the state tourism minister, Ben Franklin. Iconic."

Sport is prone to hyperbole, but this was probably fair enough. Australia v the United States, the two heavyweight swimming nations, head-to-head. Not at the Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre (that comes this weekend), but at Bondi beach - the spiritual home of Australia's aquatic culture, the nation's very own swimming mecca. Not a duel in the pool but a battle from one end of Bondi beach to the other and back, and then out and back again - four by almost 800 metres," one event organiser quipped, noting the difficulties of setting up an exact course" in the middle of the ocean.

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