Final report from Hobart:
8K Cross Country
W35 3. Amanda Walker 39:00 bronze
W40 3. Katie Forestier 34:20 bronze
M45 6. Colin Farlow 30:13
400m heats
Shisei Oya 1:09.05 qualified for the final
400m final
M60 3. Kevin Chamberlain 1:04.11 bronze
M55 7. Shisei Oya 1:10.07 Shisei did a Bradbury on John Lamb. John fell while in second place (trying to catch his twin brother, who won) and finished 8th in 1:11. Shisei’s first, but surely not last, victory over John.
M50 2. Ken White 1:04.98 silver
4x400 relay
4. ACT 'A' 4:30.21 (Shisei Oya 57, Ken White 53, Kevin Chamberlain 60, John Lamb 57). Interestingly, the results as published on the Tasmanian website have them fourth in the “Women’s W200+” division. Some of us are surprised at that. But I’m not at all surprised. Why? Because I suspect some athletics officials are getting a bit old, so that after four days of tiring athletics their eyes can no longer focus properly on big strapping ACT lads when they see them run. What did you think I was going to say?
A Most Admirable Speedy Geese Medal Tally
Gold 2: (Kevin, Colin)
Silver 2: (Kevin, Ken)
Bronze 6: (Amanda (3), Kevin, Ken, Katie)
Total Ten.
"Steven Bradbury" (from Wikipedia):
Bradbury is most well known for his memorable and unlikely gold medal win in the men's short track 1000 metres at the Salt Lake City 2002 Winter Olympic Games, due to three unlikely events occurring.
In the quarterfinals, Bradbury thought himself eliminated. He finished third (only the top two advance), but Marc Gagnon was disqualified, thus allowing Bradbury to advance to the semifinals.
In his semifinal, Bradbury was in last place, well off the pace of the medal favourites. However, three of the other competitors in the semifinal crashed into each other, leaving to him the second place and thus allowing him through to the final.
Again well off the pace in the final, once again all four of Bradbury's competitors (Apolo Ohno, Ahn Hyun-Soo, Li Jiajun and Mathieu Turcotte) crashed out at the final corner, leaving a shocked Bradbury to take the gold medal, the first for Australia or any Southern Hemisphere country in an Olympic Winter Games event.
In an interview after winning his gold, he said: "Obviously I wasn't the fastest skater. I don't think I'll take the medal as the minute and half of the race I actually won. I'll take it as the last decade of the hard slog I put in."
The "hard slog" included surviving two life-threatening accidents. During a 1994 race in Norway, he had another skater's blade slice through his leg after a collision; he lost 4 litres of blood, and had to have 111 stitches to close the wound. In 2000, he broke his neck in a training accident, and spent the next six weeks in a halo brace.
Bradbury was acutely aware of the possibility of collisions after his semi-final race. In an interview after the race he said: "I was the oldest bloke in the field and I knew that skating four races back to back, I wasn't going to have any petrol left in the tank. So there was no point in getting there and mixing it up because I was going to be in last place anyway. So I might as well stay out of the way and be in last place and hope that some people get tangled up." In the same interview he acknowledged that he never imagined a scenario in which all four of his competitors would fall.
Bradbury had been the favourite going into the 1000m short track speed skating event at the 1994 Winter Olympics at Lillehammer, Norway but fell after colliding with a competitor. Bradbury later won a bronze medal at those Olympics as part of an Australian four-man short track relay team.
Bradbury's triumph was celebrated by Australia post issuing a 45 cent stamp of him, which followed on from them issuing stamps of Australian gold medallists at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Bradbury's stamp was issued on 20 February, four days after his victory. He received $20,000 for the use of his image. He said "Should get me a car. I haven’t had a car for a long time." and later described having a stamp issued as "a great honour".
"Doing a Bradbury"
Bradbury's Olympic feat has entered the Australian vernacular in the phrase "doing a Bradbury", and meaning an accidental win or unexpected or unusual success.
Thus disclosing my one and only strategy for winning the marathon.
8K Cross Country
W35 3. Amanda Walker 39:00 bronze
W40 3. Katie Forestier 34:20 bronze
M45 6. Colin Farlow 30:13
400m heats
Shisei Oya 1:09.05 qualified for the final
400m final
M60 3. Kevin Chamberlain 1:04.11 bronze
M55 7. Shisei Oya 1:10.07 Shisei did a Bradbury on John Lamb. John fell while in second place (trying to catch his twin brother, who won) and finished 8th in 1:11. Shisei’s first, but surely not last, victory over John.
M50 2. Ken White 1:04.98 silver
4x400 relay
4. ACT 'A' 4:30.21 (Shisei Oya 57, Ken White 53, Kevin Chamberlain 60, John Lamb 57). Interestingly, the results as published on the Tasmanian website have them fourth in the “Women’s W200+” division. Some of us are surprised at that. But I’m not at all surprised. Why? Because I suspect some athletics officials are getting a bit old, so that after four days of tiring athletics their eyes can no longer focus properly on big strapping ACT lads when they see them run. What did you think I was going to say?
A Most Admirable Speedy Geese Medal Tally
Gold 2: (Kevin, Colin)
Silver 2: (Kevin, Ken)
Bronze 6: (Amanda (3), Kevin, Ken, Katie)
Total Ten.
"Steven Bradbury" (from Wikipedia):
Bradbury is most well known for his memorable and unlikely gold medal win in the men's short track 1000 metres at the Salt Lake City 2002 Winter Olympic Games, due to three unlikely events occurring.
In the quarterfinals, Bradbury thought himself eliminated. He finished third (only the top two advance), but Marc Gagnon was disqualified, thus allowing Bradbury to advance to the semifinals.
In his semifinal, Bradbury was in last place, well off the pace of the medal favourites. However, three of the other competitors in the semifinal crashed into each other, leaving to him the second place and thus allowing him through to the final.
Again well off the pace in the final, once again all four of Bradbury's competitors (Apolo Ohno, Ahn Hyun-Soo, Li Jiajun and Mathieu Turcotte) crashed out at the final corner, leaving a shocked Bradbury to take the gold medal, the first for Australia or any Southern Hemisphere country in an Olympic Winter Games event.
In an interview after winning his gold, he said: "Obviously I wasn't the fastest skater. I don't think I'll take the medal as the minute and half of the race I actually won. I'll take it as the last decade of the hard slog I put in."
The "hard slog" included surviving two life-threatening accidents. During a 1994 race in Norway, he had another skater's blade slice through his leg after a collision; he lost 4 litres of blood, and had to have 111 stitches to close the wound. In 2000, he broke his neck in a training accident, and spent the next six weeks in a halo brace.
Bradbury was acutely aware of the possibility of collisions after his semi-final race. In an interview after the race he said: "I was the oldest bloke in the field and I knew that skating four races back to back, I wasn't going to have any petrol left in the tank. So there was no point in getting there and mixing it up because I was going to be in last place anyway. So I might as well stay out of the way and be in last place and hope that some people get tangled up." In the same interview he acknowledged that he never imagined a scenario in which all four of his competitors would fall.
Bradbury had been the favourite going into the 1000m short track speed skating event at the 1994 Winter Olympics at Lillehammer, Norway but fell after colliding with a competitor. Bradbury later won a bronze medal at those Olympics as part of an Australian four-man short track relay team.
Bradbury's triumph was celebrated by Australia post issuing a 45 cent stamp of him, which followed on from them issuing stamps of Australian gold medallists at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Bradbury's stamp was issued on 20 February, four days after his victory. He received $20,000 for the use of his image. He said "Should get me a car. I haven’t had a car for a long time." and later described having a stamp issued as "a great honour".
"Doing a Bradbury"
Bradbury's Olympic feat has entered the Australian vernacular in the phrase "doing a Bradbury", and meaning an accidental win or unexpected or unusual success.
Thus disclosing my one and only strategy for winning the marathon.
