The gold rush for New Zealand athletes continues at the Commonwealth Games, with more in the pool and on the track.
In the tiny Coromandel town of Colville, a lot of eyes were on hometown boy Andrew Jeffcoat, as he took gold in the 50-metre backstroke final.
His dad Carl was one of them. Glass charged and ready to go – he was convinced it was in the bag even before the starter’s gun.
“It’s a game of seconds, hundreds of seconds,” he told Checkpoint.
“You haven’t got 40 minutes to fix it up, only a short time.”
He is “pretty proud” of his son, a “young fella from Colville,” after the early morning (NZ time) win.
“He’s worked hard and stuck to it. He’s had some ups and downs. He’s bloody good. We’re proud.”
And from what he has seen online, Carl thinks the whole Colville community were watching.
He managed to have a chat with Andrew after the win, before he got ready for the 200m heats this evening.
New Zealand’s Andrew Jeffcoat taking the gold medal in the men’s 50m backstroke swimming final at the Commonwealth Games.
Photo: AFP
At the end of the 50m race, Andrew made a mysterious hand gesture. His dad reckons it is a reference to a time when Andrew was an underdog.
“I think it was when they were back training in Spain in between the World Champs and [the Commonwealth Games], there were some people giving them a hard time about something. They said they were turkeys. So I think making the turkey sign.”
There are a lot of years and little financial reward behind Andrew’s win, his dad says.
“They’re bloody dedicated… The whole team’s done good.
“It’s their livelihood, it’s their full-time job. They’re training 60 hours a week, and no money for it, so they’ve got to make money elsewhere.”
And is Carl a good swimmer?
“In a spa bath probably, yeah.”
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