Something must be done. A whip around. A surprise party. Flowers. Nobody wants to see a proud people patronised, but surely Australia deserves better than this. In exchange for the friendliness, the views and the koala bears hadn't they earned a week of unbroken happiness at the pool. Hadn't they?

What do they get, the odd moment of joy and then the knife between the ribs. It's been horrible to watch destiny slap them around. All they wanted was a good time.

Gracious as ever they don't show it, but last night was hard to take. Susie O Neill surrendered her Madame butterfly title to a young American called Misty Hyman (commentators loved that) and then, within the hour, the Australian 4x200-metres women's relay team lost out to the Americans in an epic race.

And finally, just to pour pee in the pool, Michael Klim didn't even make the medal stand in the event of the night, the men's 100-metres freestyle. Alexander Popov, an Aussie by proxy, only took silver.

Cruel and unusual twists here in swimmings twilight zone. Klim actually broke the world 100-metre freestyle record during the relay on Saturday. Last night he couldn't get a medal in the race itself.

Susie O'Neill broke Mary T Meaghers 19-year-old 200-metre butterfly record in May, won gold in her less-favoured freestyle event two days ago and then succumbed to a giggly kid from Phoenix who'd practically retired in May. The relay team led till the final 70 metres and then Jenny Thompson, who almost literally couldn't care less about a seventh relay gold, pulls it out dutifully to win for America.

Of course, the hero of the night was Dutch. Pieter van den Hoogenband did just about enough to win his second freestyle gold medal of these Games.

On the questions of drugs which must inevitably be asked of any fast improving swimmer these days he is nuanced in a neutral Dutch way. "We are swimmers. We have some rules. You must touch one wall and then turn. That's one rule. You mustn't take drugs is a rule."

Explaining the improvements which have brought him from outside the medal zone to the top of the podium he explained: "I trained a lot harder, I have been getting a lot stronger. Four years ago I was 18, I didn't like the Olympic Games. It was over before I knew it."

As for the great Popov, he is as philosophical in decline as he was in his pomp. Had he expected the medal could be won in 48.30?

"You don't expect anything. You get on your blocks and you get off. You see what you can do. It is a bit of a drama tonight that Michael (Klim) hasn't made a medal. That is why they call it the Olympic Games.

"For me, this is the nature of the world. I have already got plenty of medals. I can't win everything. You have to slow . . . it doesn't matter anymore whether I win or lose."

The Dutch revolution had been furthered a little earlier when Inge de Bruijn qualified for tonight's 100-metres freestyle final by setting a new world record of 53.77, lowering her own mark set in Sheffield earlier this year.

Chantal Gibney of Dublin failed to get past the first round of heats in the same event finishing 42nd out of 54 competitors with a time of 58.79, over a second outside her own personal best.

The women's 200-metres butterfly will long be remembered as one of the great Olympic upsets. Misty Hyman won in 2:05:88 (the second best time in history) having never swum better than 2:09:08 before she came to the Games.

Hyman has had an odd career. Her biographical details state that she was named Misty Dawn because she was born on well, a misty dawn. We don't know if she has a sister called Lousy Afternoon, but we know she loves the ocean and dolphins and her biography states that her parents were NOT hippies.

She pioneered an unusual technique which she calls her fish kick which involved basically staying under water for the first 30 metres while kicking sideways. FINA banned the technique in 1998 and Hyman had to rebuild her career.

She swam badly last summer and her Stanford coach Richard Quick looked her in the eye and told her that he believed she could swim 2:05 and that she could be an Olympic gold medallist. Quick, who also trains Jenny Thompson and Dara Torres, is having a good week.

This has been a remarkable few days in the pool for Italy also. Without a gold medal in swimming at any previous Olympics the Italians watched in what might be termed boisterous disbelief as Domenico Fioravanti, a quiet young gentleman of Verona, won his second breaststroke gold last night, becoming the first man in history to win the 100 and 200 breaststroke in the same Games.

It has been a busy week for Fioravanti with relay heats to be competed in also and he said that last night he "wasn't sure that everything was 100 per cent, but out there it just went well".

He was trailed in turn throughout the race by Terence Parkin of South Africa and Ryan Mitchell of Australia, but was never overtaken. His countryman Davide Rummolo finished in third.

The last race of the night brought pride and a little bit more disappointment to the Australians. The 4x200 freestyle team bowed to the might of the Americans, but not without a struggle.

Susie O Neill and Petria Thomas of Australia had been swimming in the butterfly final some 25 minutes previously and, had they been fresher, they might have made up the 0.72 of a second they lost out by.

For Jenny Thompson, who swam the anchor leg on the US team, the race meant a record seventh relay gold in a career spanning three Olympiads. She goes tonight in the 100-metres freestyle final and would swap the relay medals for a gold won on her own.

She'll be one of the stories of the night.