As for England, their medal charge began with bronze in the 100m backstroke for Melanie Marshall, who then proceeded to anchor the women’s 4 x 200m team to silver. Gold for Chris Cook in the 100m breaststroke, with his England team-mate James Gibson in the bronze medal position, had a poignant, bitter-sweet ring to it.”A year and a half ago I was thinking of jacking it in,” the City of Newcastle swimmer confided, after surging from fourth to snatch victory by 0.12sec “I was in the shadow of the other guys and dropping away I lost a good friend of mine That made me realise there’s more to life than this It’s just two lengths of a pool. Scotland having previously never won more than two swimming golds at a single Games, it was fitting that Jack McConnell, the country’s First Minister, was on hand to present the historic prize.There was also a silver for Scotland’s 200m breaststroker Kirsty Balfour. “It’s immensely satisfying to beat Australia in their own back yard,” Davenport reflected, his second gold around his neck.

“They’ve stuffed a lot of us over the years around the globe.”The Anglo-Scottish gold rush on day three started in the opening event, the men’s 200m backstroke, Gregor Tait following in the wake of Caitlin McClatchey and David Carry to claim Scottish victory No 3. If the inspired Robbie Renwick had not been edged out by Ross Davenport, Scotland would have had four golds to England’s three.As it is, England take the 4-3 lead into the last three days, courtesy of Simon Burnett, Alex Scotcher, Dean Milwain and Davenport, winner of the individual 200m freestyle on Friday. Indeed, at the wall in the gripping roller-coaster of a men’s 4 x 200m they were a mere 0.26sec behind. The loss of the coveted Splashes could be judged as a measure of both how far the Aussies have sunk and how far the British nations have risen.If England’s swimmers have been a revelation in Australia’s second city, Scotland have not been far behind. Until yesterday, the men’s 4 x 200m had been a proud Australian possession since 1954, the Games in which Jim Peters fell within sight of the marathon finish and in which John Landy and Roger Bannister ran their “Miracle Mile”. The raising of the flag of St George for the final ceremony yesterday brought the gold tally to Australia seven, England and Scotland seven.A white flag might have been appropriate for the relay bronze medallists.

The female Dolphins have won eight out of nine finals, four of them with clean medal sweeps such as the one achieved by Libby Lenton, Jody Henry and Alice Mills in the 100m freestyle yesterday.The combined Australian team, the men and the women, would not even be clear at the top of the medal table if the swimmers of the United Kingdom were not divided for the quadrennial Commonwealth meet. In home water, with Thorpe ill and Hackett injured, they have won none out of nine contested so far. The glass of Australian swimming would be embarrassingly bare were it not for their wonder women making it up to the half-full, or half-empty, mark. In fact, halfway through the swimming programme, it is in grave danger of sinking without a trace.
In Manchester four years ago, the male Dolphins, led by Ian Thorpe and Grant Hackett, won 14 of 17 events. The place was already in a state of near desertion when the medallists from the last event, the final of the men’s 4 x 200m freestyle relay, stepped down from the rostrum and headed towards the exit. As they disappeared from view, frozen on the scoreboard was the legend: 1 England, 2 Scotland, 3 Australia. Australia’s male sporting pride has taken some batterings of late – the loss of the Ashes, the failure to convert a world record one-day cricket score into a victory but in Melbourne’s Commonwealth Games pool it has been sinking to an all-time low.

It did not take long for the Melbourne Aquatics Centre to empty yesterday. Her make-up was apparently running, and her glasses – which she had put on for the ceremony – were smudged.. “Mum gets so nervous about me racing she can’t bear to watch,” Pendleton said. “I’ve told her that I’ll ring her and then she can watch it on TV when she knows the outcome.”And as the Cross of St George rose to the strains of Land of Hope and Glory, she appeared to be wiping away tears Not so. Her feelings at the end she described as “less emotion, more relief”.Victoria’s victory in Victoria was not watched by her mum, Pauline – at least, not live.