New look unveiled for Dolphins

Australian Olympic team boss Kitty Chiller has backed the swimmers to again lead the medal charge at the Rio Games.

They may have unveiled a new look but the Australian swimming team will have the same old job at the Rio Olympics - carrying the bulk of the nation's medal hopes.

Australian Olympic team boss Kitty Chiller hailed their new outfit unveiled on the Gold Coast on Friday before backing the Dolphins to help the country claim an overall top-five medal tally finish at Rio.

She also kept her fingers crossed that predictions of a record 18 gold medals overall by Australia - including eight in the pool - by a respected sports data organisation would ring true.

"I would love to say I agree," Chiller said at the launch that also unveiled new looks for Australia's diving and water polo teams at Rio by Speedo.

"I think we can nudge that top five.

"(But) we always want and need to have the Australian swimming team to get us off to a good start in week one."

According to US-owned sports data company Gracenote, Australia finish fourth on their Rio "virtual table" below only the United States, China and Russia with a total medal count of 18 gold, 13 silver and 10 bronze medals.

Australia's current record Olympic gold haul is 17 at Athens while the Dolphins' greatest Olympic pool tally was eight gold at Melbourne 1956.

The Australian swimming team has won 190 Olympic medals including 59 gold.

That's a fair share of the Australian Olympic team's overall haul of 483 medals including 141 gold.

Australian swimming head coach Jacco Verhaeren was not making any predictions.

"We have a good team but they have to show it on the day," he said.

"Our Olympic experience tells us you really can't predict results.

"We never talk about medals. We talk about peak performance then we will see what it brings us."

Dutch great Verhaeren learned quickly how important swimming was in Australia when he took over the reins following the London Olympic debacle where they won just one gold in the pool - their worst result in 20 years.

"You definitely learn in Australia that swimming is important and that means a lot of pressure," he said.

"But that is great. I am not bothered by it."

Chiller backed the Dolphins to bounce back to their best at Rio where they are tipped to reclaim the world No.1 ranking for the first time since 2001.

"They are going to be confident and dominant," Chiller said.

Speedo - the AOC's longest running sponsor of 60 years - have re-signed and will provide uniforms for the aquatic teams until the 2028 Olympics.


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Source: AAP



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