AUSTRALIA'S Olympians have long been punching above their weight in the medal stakes.
But when the 480-strong Australian Olympic team dons the green and gold in Beijing, it's the women who are expected to do the heavy lifting.
The Australian Olympic Committee predicts the nation's female athletes will win 14 gold medals -- twice the number expected of the men.
And in many sports it will be Queenslanders leading the charge.
Among those expected to do Australia proud are swim queens Libby Lenton, Leisel Jones and Jessicah Schipper, Hockeyroo Nikki Hudson, long jumper Bronwyn Thompson, cyclists Sara Carrigan and Anna Meares (provided she can recover in time from injury), rower Marguerite Houston, diving's Bree Cole and three-time world triathlon champion Emma Snowsill.
In honour of International Women's Day today, The Courier-Mail asks what it is about the Sunshine State that pushes its athletes to succeed in the international arena.
World champion Schipper, who has been part of the world No. 1 Australian women's swim team since 2003 and boasts a world record in the 200m butterfly, said she believed it was a case of success breeding success.
"We're all just feeding off each other," she said. "We all get all fired up about everyone's successes and we're all very happy for each other.
"You want to do well so you get matched with that kind of success."
In swimming, Schipper said, it also helped to have so many international greats on your doorstep.
"You just go to a local meet, and then you look at who you're racing and they're among the best in the world," she said.
"But the good news is you get to race each other more often, so you're always competing at an elite level."
The 21-year-old Brisbane swimmer, who trains under veteran coach Ken Wood at Redcliffe, said it helped to have 800m and open-water contender Melissa Gorman in her squad to egg her on.
"She's going through exactly what I'm going through at the moment, so it's good to have someone to share that with," Schipper said.
"She has to do a lot more work than I do obviously, but sometimes we do do the same sets.
"So she does freestyle and I do fly; it gives me something to chase."
Two weeks out from the Olympic trials in Sydney, Schipper said her goal was to win an individual medal in Beijing.
"A gold would be fantastic -- but I'd be stoked with an individual one just to better my last (fourth) Olympic performance," she said.
Schipper said she had grown amazingly since Athens in 2004, admitting she was a completely different person from the young girl who first stepped on to the Olympic stage.
"I'm a lot more confident and relaxed," she said.
Striker Hudson, who looks set to be picked for her third Olympics, was the top scorer of the Sydney 2000 Olympics when the Hockeyroos last won gold.
She believes the secret to Queensland's feminine sporting prowess is its sporting programs and support systems.
"I have always received a great deal of support from the people of Queensland, the governments and the academy there," the Gold Coast woman said.
"They really look after you, and that then enables you to be able to concentrate on just being a sportsperson."
Hudson said predicting the women would trounce the men in the medal stakes was "a pretty big call", but the one thing Australia did have was some extremely good female athletes.
"I think it's great that women have the success," she said.
"I just wish they got as much coverage as the men, but you can't go complaining too much.
"You've just got to get on with the job."
Fresh from winning all five matches in a Test series against Great Britain, Hudson said the Hockeyroos, who finished fifth in Athens, were well on their well to matching past glories.
"Things are looking really good," she said. "We're training hard here in Perth at the moment, we're full time and we're doing everything we can to come away with a medal in Beijing."
She admitted that to win a spot in the Olympic team, which will be chosen in June, contenders had to uproot their lives for eight months to train in Perth.
"It's very difficult because I'm very close to my family and obviously my very good friends back at home on the Gold Coast, and that has been very difficult," Hudson said.
She said her partner Ian Jennings had returned to Britain while she was in Perth, so they probably would not see each other during the eight months.
"But if we win, it will all be worth it," she said.
Five-time world champion Lenton is one swimmer who knows the damage the pressure of a nation can do.
She failed to qualify for the 100m freestyle women's final at Athens after heading into the Olympics as the reigning world record-holder.
Lenton, who was only 19 at the time and had the weight of Australia's expectations on her shoulders, has matured considerably since that experience.
She said the pressure of what everyone else wanted aside, she now knew she did not need an Olympic gold medal to define her.
"I think (winning Olympic gold) is a goal all athletes have, but if I walk away from my swimming without an Olympic gold medal I can still say I was a successful swimmer," Lenton said.
"I think it's important to remind myself that having it is not going to make me a more complete person."
"It's obviously a goal of mine, but at the end of the day I can only do the best preparation I can and hope everything comes together, both at trials and the Olympics. In these cases you can either laugh or you can cry and I'm trying to keep laughing."
Top 10 female athletes
Libby Lenton
Five-time 2007 world champion swimmer.
Leisel Jones
Five-time Olympic swimming medallist and 100m and 200m breaststroke world record holder.
Jessicah Schipper
World record holder in the 200m butterfly.
Nikki Hudson
Highest goal scorer in the 2000 Olympic gold medal winning Hockeyroos team.
Bronwyn Thompson
Commonwealth long jump gold medallist.
Sara Carrigan
Athens Olympic road race champion.
Anna Meares
Athens Olympic 500m time trial champion and world record holder.
Marguerite Houston
World champion rower in the lightweight women's double sculls.
Bree Cole
Commonwealth gold medallist in diving.
Emma Snowsill
Three times world champion triathlete.
COURIER MAIL - QLD
Sat 08 Mar 2008
