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Cameron McEvoy To Drop Rio Olympics 200m Swim For Sake of Team

Team first, personal glory second. Does this guy know it's 2016?
Thumbs up for your sportsmanship, Cam.
AFP/Getty Images
Thumbs up for your sportsmanship, Cam.

What a guy. They just don't make modern sports stars as selfless as Cameron McEvoy. But the 22-year-old freestyle champ and physics student has put team before self, with News Corp reports this Monday that he is expected to sacrifice his swim in the Rio Olympics 200m freestyle to save energy for the 4x100m freestyle relay.

McEvoy had hoped to become the first Australian to win six medals at the one Olympics. His events were the 50m, 100m and 200m freestyle plus three relays. But as mentioned, it's expected the best he'll be able to manage now is five, which would tie the likes of Thorpey.

The men's 4x100m relay is the one event Australia really wants to win at these Games. Victory would symbolise the team's return to form both in and out of the pool. The men had been tipped to win gold in London, but missed the podium amid various behaviour scandals. Meanwhile, the women won the 4x100m freestyle in London, securing our only gold medal at the pool meet. They'll be favourites in Rio.

James Magnussen and friends are no longer on the nose with the Australian public.
Getty Images
James Magnussen and friends are no longer on the nose with the Australian public.

Let's dive into our regular Monday morning weekend sports wrap. You might not have heard much about the British Open golf on the weekend because no Aussies were involved in the finish. But if thrilling duels between calm Scandinavians and portly 40-something-year-old Americans is your thing, then you really ought to have watched Swede Henrik Stenson and Phil Mickelson.

The duo broke clear of the field and battled it out all the way down the final 18 holes at Royal Troon. The Swede prevailed, winning his first Major after many years in and around the world top 10. Stenson, 40, became the first Scandinavian to win one of golf's four Majors, and also shot a Major record with his 20-under. (The leaderboard's here). His putt on the last was a thing of beauty. It wasn't going in. It really wasn't. And then it did.

Meanwhile world number one Jason Day finished 22nd, which broke his run of five straight Majors with a top ten finish.

Speaking of Aussies on the world stage, if you missed it, Mick Fanning won at Jeffreys Bay in South Africa a year after a shark rather ruined his day. What a man. It's his 22nd tour win but surely his most satisfying.

The world of UFC is in chaos this Monday. It's all to do with the positive out-of-competition drugs test recorded on June 28 by man mountain Brock Lesnar, who competes (or should that be "performs") in both the UFC and WWE wrestling.

Lesnar beat Aussie Mark Hunt in UFC 200 earlier this month in Las Vegas, but the hulking heavyweight now says he wants the $US2.5m purse. The legal fight could be better than the one in the cage.

In the AFL, US Veep Joe Biden went to the footy. That's the main thing you need to know from the weekend. Here's Collingwood's US import Mason Cox explaining how it all works.

The ladder's here. Note how far the Kangaroos have fallen, After a 9-0 start to the season, they're now 10-6. At first they were losing to good teams. Now they're losing to mid-table teams like the Port Adelaide Power, and are no longer certainties to make the eight.

Over in the NRL, Parramatta led by plenty, then lost, in what was a metaphor for the last 20 years at this powerful club which has so many natural advantages over its competitors. Highlights here.

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