Matthew's Story
Matt Targett blossomed as a freestyle sprinter at Beijing 2008. He finished seventh in the top-class field in the 100 metres. In the 4 x 100 metres freestyle relay he joined with Eamon Sullivan, Ashley Callus and Andrew Lauterstein for the bronze medal, behind the United States and France. The medley relay saw him swim in the heat with Ashley Delaney, Christian Sprenger and Adam Pine before Hayden Stoeckel, Brenton Rickard, Andrew Lauterstein and Eamon Sullivan collected the silver medal, once again behind the Americans, in the final.
Returning to compete at his second Olympic Games in London, Targett added another Olympic medal to his haul. Targett lined up to swim the butterfly alongside James Magnussen, Christian Sprenger and Hayden Stoeckel in the 4 x 100 metres medley relay. With Australia sitting in fifth at the midway point of the race, Targett improved the Australian’s to fourth before Magnussen looked to put his team on the medal dais. Magnussen, having claimed the silver medal in the 100 metres freestyle, managed to overtake the Hungarians and was only 0.32 seconds behind the second finishing Japanese as the Aussies finished third. The USA won the race 2.23 seconds ahead of Australia.
