From left: Caitlin Leverenz of the United States, Shiwen Ye of China and Alicia Coutts of Australia compete in the second semifinal heat of the Women's 200m Individual Medley on Day 3 of the London 2012 Olympic Games at the Aquatics Centre on July 30, 2012 in London, England. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images)
Silver medallist Alicia Coutts of Australia competes in the Women's 200m Individual Medley final on Day 4 of the London 2012 Olympic Games at the Aquatics Centre on July 31, 2012 in London, England. (Photo by Adam Pretty/Getty Images)
Silver medallist Alicia Coutts of Australia poses on the podium during the medal ceremony during the medal ceremony in the Women's 200m Individual Medley final on Day 4 of the London 2012 Olympic Games at the Aquatics Centre on July 31, 2012 in London, England. (Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images)
Gold medallist Shiwen Ye (R) of China is congratulated by silver medallist Alicia Coutts of Australia after the Women's 200m Individual Medley final (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)
Alicia Coutts of Australia reacts after she competed in the second semifinal heat of the Women's 200m Individual Medley on Day 3 of the London 2012 Olympic Games at the Aquatics Centre on July 30, 2012 in London, England. (Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)
With her silver medal, Coutts now has one of each colour from these Games. She won gold in the 4x100m freestyle relay, and bronze in the 100m butterfly. She potentially has the chance to win another two medals as a member of the 4x200m freestyle relay team and the 4x100m medley relay team. If she was to do that she would be in rare air, joining Ian Thorpe (three gold and two silver in Sydney) and Shane Gould (three gold, one silver and one bronze in Munich in 1972) with five medals, the most from an Australian at a single Games.
"I haven't thought about it," Coutts said.
She said the medley turned out to be "everything I wanted it to be". Her coach John Fowlie told her to "just go out there and have fun, there's no pressure on you, and that's what I did".
Coutts said she knew it would be difficult holding off Ye when she had a margin of just 0.01s over the Chinese swimmer at the final turn.
"I always knew she was going to be really fast on that last 50m. I knew I had been doing a lot of work on my back end and my freestyle and I knew I had to put my head down and give it everything I had.
"I knew I had to go out there and swim my race and if I was good enough to beat her I was good enough. If I wasn't, so be it.
"I came into these Games saying to myself I know how hard I have worked to get here and how much effort I have put in over the last few years to get to where I am now and if it wasn't good enough to win a gold medal, I have 100 per cent respect for whoever it is that goes out there and beats me because I know how hard I have worked and they have obviously worked extremely hard. A lot of hard work goes into winning an Olympic medal.
"I wasn't expecting to win. My coach said don't expect to go out there and win a gold medal. No one is expecting you to do it. Just go out there and do what you can and I got a massive PB, 0.85s faster than I did last year. I'm just really happy with the result. I can't wipe the smile off my face ... my cheeks are hurting."
A number of Australian swimmers have swum fast in London, but some have swum slower when they reached the pressure cooker environment of the final. Not Coutts.
"I think I just went out there tonight and I just relaxed. I said to my coach before I went out there I'm not nervous and normally I am really nervous. Going out for my 200m IM final at the Commonwealth Games [in 2010] I was so nervous my coach walked me to the marshalling area. I had tears in my eyes, I was pooping my pants. I got here tonight and was like: "I'm not nervous, and I was nervous that I was not nervous."
"I thought there was something wrong with me and my coach said you have no pressure on your back. What ever happens tonight happens."
