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Commonwealth Games day three on the Gold Coast

Aussie swimming superstar Cate Campbell shocked commentators when she broke down during her gold medal ceremony on Saturday night.

16 min read
April 8, 2018 - 10:00AM
Catching up with cyclists Jordan Kerby and Rebecca Wiasak

Live: Commonwealth Games

Australia picked up more medals on day three of the Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast.

AUSTRALIA’s swimmers took centre stage on Friday night, dominating in the pool.

The Campbell sisters stormed to a one-two finish in the women’s 50m freestyle final before the women’s 4x200m relay team blew the field out of the water on their way to gold.

Plenty of eyes were on the Anna Meares Velodrome as Sam Welsford flew home to claim a miraculous victory in the men’s 15km scratch race.

11.20pm

Campbell breaks down after drama

Aussie golden girl Cate Campbell broke down in tears during the medal ceremony for the women’s 50m freestyle.

Fresh from snapping a series of relay and individual world records and Commonwealth Games records, the 25-year-old delivered another freakish swim to blow the field away in the race for the title of the quickest swimmer in the Commonwealth.

She finished almost half a second quicker than sister Bronte, who took the silver medal.

Campbell revealed after receiving her gold medal she was overcome with emotion after securing her first major meet individual gold medal since she famously failed to deliver on the expectations she would take the gold medal in the women’s 100m freestyle final at the 2016 Rio Olympics.

She finished fifth in the 50m final and sixth in the 100m final, despite being one of the quickest women in the world heading into the 2016 Olympics.

She took a break from the sport after the 2016 event — and has revealed in recent days how much she struggled to deal with the mental drain that followed her Rio campaign.

She has arrived at the Gold Coast a completely different person — and a completely different swimmer.

It was an emotional night for Cate Campbell.
It was an emotional night for Cate Campbell.

She said dark times after the Rio Games has helped shape her into the athlete her fans have seen during this games on the Gold Coast where she has once again proven herself to be one of the greatest swimmers on the planet.

Her first major individual gold since those dark times caused her to break down in tears during the ceremony.

“I didn’t expect it to be so emotional to be honest,” Campbell told Channel 7.

“There was something about knowing the whole crowd would be singing the national anthem with me that got me all teary.

“So many people have supported me through the past two years.

“To be able to share this moment with the rest of Australia was something that was so special.”

10.55pm

Boomers beat New Zealand

The Boomers survived some nervous moments before holding on for a six-point win in another close finish in the trans-Tasman basketball rivalry.

New Zealand missed their final three shots of the game to allow the Boomers to hang on for a 79-73 win – their second straight victory to start the tournament.

Nicholas Kay top-scored with 21 points for the Aussies.

10.15pm

Aussies snatch outrageous gold at the track

Aussie Sam Welsford came from the clouds to swoop on the gold medal in the men’s 15km scratch race at the Anna Meares Aquatic Centre.

The 22-year-old was jostling in the main pack when the bell sounded for the final lap — trailing the race leader by more than a quarter of the track.

He exploded in the final lap to snatch an incredible victory, finishing ahead of Kiwi Campbell Stewart and English rider Cristopher Latham.

“I’m over the moon,” Welsford told Channel 7.

“My second gold for the comp. This race is such a lottery, you know. 60 laps, anyone can get away in the last - it came down to the last couple of laps. I had to hit out with two to go. Lucky enough I caught him the last lap and held on.”

10.05pm

Aussies girls go gold again in women’s 200m freestyle relay

Australia has dominated the 4x200m freestyle relay again to snatch an 11th gold medal at the Gold Cpoast Aquatic Centre this Games.

The team of Emma McKeon, Brianna Throssell, Leah Neale and Ariarne Titmus led from start to finish after a emphatic first leg from McKeon.

McKeon got the Aussies off to a great start with a lead of 1.71 after the first 200m.

Brianna Throssell maintained the lead at the halfway point — with Liah Neale jumping into the pool with a lead of 1.6 seconds over England.

Neale extended Australia’s lead to more than two seconds ahead of Canada when teen sensation Ariarne Titmus jumped in for the anchor leg against Canadian star Taylor Ruck.

The Aussies’ buffer was less than half a second with 100m to swim, but Titmus found another level in the second half of her swim to deliver gold for Australia.

The Aussies finished 1.6 seconds clear of Canada, to give them their 11th gold in the Gold Coast pool and extend Australia’s dominance in the women’s 4x200m relay final.

9.30pm

Australia sweep all medals in SB8 100m breaststroke

Australia delivered a perfect sweep of all three medals in the men’s 100m SB8 breaststroke final.

Timothy Diskin smashed the field to take gold, finishing more than three seconds clear of fellow Aussies Timothy Hodge and Blake Cochrane.

9.25pm

Aussie takes revenge against giant killer

Aussie Jacob Schmidt got revenge for Australia against Malaysian giant killer Muhhamad Sahrom to win bronze in the men’s individual sprint.

Schmid won the first two races to deny Sahrom a medal.

The Malaysian had earlier caused one of the biggest upsets of the Games by knocking out Aussie world Champion Matthew Glaetzer in the round of 16.

9.10pm

McEvoy goes big in men’s 100m semis

Cam McEvoy has qualified fastest for the high-prestige men’s 100m freestyle final on Sunday night.

McEvoy qualified ahead of South African champion Chad Le Clos and swim superstar Kyle Chalmers.

McEvoy won his semi in a time of 48.50 seconds, to finish ahead of Scotland’s Duncan Scott and fellow Aussie Jack Cartwright.

Chalmers will start from lane three after qualifying third fastest.

8.50pm

McCulloch overpowers Morton for gold

Aussie KIaarle McCulloch snatched the gold medal from Aussie favourite Stephanie Morton with the ride of her life in the women’s 500m time trial.

Morton had led the time trial for almost the entire final after a posting a time of 33.61 seconds, but she was pipped by McCullough in dramatic circumstances by just 0.03 seconds.

“That’s a very special one for Kaarle McCullough,” Ausie cycling great Kate Bates told Channel 7.

7.50pm

Is this the world’s worst bus driver?

Commonwealth Games boss Mark Peters says the transport bungle which led to the Grenada women’s beach volleyball team being driven to the wrong venue is simply unacceptable.

The bus transporting Renisha Stafford and Thornia Williams to the beach volleyball venue at Coolangatta on the southern end of the Gold Coast, instead went to the shooting range in south Brisbane, more than 95km away.

The pair were rushed back to the beach volleyball and lost their match to Scotland 21-8 21-11.

Mr Peters says while it was good the delay didn’t disrupt competition, the incident was regrettable.

“This is the worst thing you want as an organising committee, to have athletes being distracted in any way,” he said.

“Even being on a bus for an hour longer than you should is a distraction ... it’s not acceptable.”

In the wake of the bungle, buses taking athletes on long or medium-distance routes or to new venues will now have an additional staff member aboard as well as the driver, Mr Peters said.

The duo made it back just in time for their match.
The duo made it back just in time for their match.

The driver involved, from north Queensland, was “gutted” by the incident and will remain on duties.

Grenada face Australia on Saturday evening and have already made plans to arrive two hours early, officials said.

Mr Peters said organisers had spoken to Grenada officials and the athletes were keen to move on.

“We spoke to them again this morning and they just want to focus on the sport now. They’re playing again tonight and we look forward to supporting them.”

Officials feared the athletes would be stressed and angry upon their late arrival to the Coolangatta venue but weree somewhat surprised when the athletes were more interested in grabbing selfies with their police escort.

7.48pm

Cate Campbell smashes another record in golden history

Cate Campbell became the first athlete to win the women’s 100m and 50m at the same Commonwealth Games.

Campbell set a new Commonwealth Games record as she touched the wall in 23.78 seconds, finishing ahead of sister Bronte, who tied with Canadian sensation Taylor Ruck for the silver medal.

7.45pm

Morgan outgunned in butterfly final

South African champion Chad Le Clos set a new Commonwealth Games record to top Aussie David Morgan in the final of the men’s 200m butterfly final.

Le Clos led from start to finish and held off Morgan to win by more than two seconds.

7.40pm

Godwin takes silver in the gymnastics

Aussie Georgia Godwin produced a massive final flor routine to win silver in the women’s individual all-around gymnastics final.

Godwin pushed Canadian gold medallist Elisabeth Black all the way, but fell short with a score of 53.8 to the new champion’s 54.2 across the four disciplines.

7.10pm

Aussies win bronze in trans-Tasman showdown

Australian pair Brad Henderson and pilot Tom Clarke took out the Bronze medal in their blind and vision impaired sprint showdown with New Zealand.

Henderson and Clarke kept their Kiwi rivals at arms length the entire race and then put the hammer down at the right moment to sprint away to win.

Scotland’s Neil Fachie and pilot Matt Rotherham won gold ahead of the Welsh team.

7.05pm

Aussies get silver at the track

Aussie pair Jessica Gallagher and pilot Madison Gallagher picked up the silver medal in the women’s blind and vision impaired time trial.

The Aussie pair smashed the earlier best time set by Wales by more than half a second when they stopped the clock at 53.60 to set a new Commonwealth Games record.

They then had to wait as England’s Sophie Thornhill and pilot Helen Scott went on to smash a massive new world record – completing the time trial 2.5 seconds quicker than the Aussie team to snatch the gold.

5pm

Roads reopen after body found

A man was found dead inside a car on the side of the road leading Queensland police to close a main road for close to seven hours.

The road led to the Anna Meares Velodrome with fears the closure could cause major delays for specators heading to the arena.

Emergency services responded to calls on Saturday morning where the body was located, police stated there were no suspicious circumstances surrounding the death.

3pm

Aussie nightmare becomes reality

Glaetzer was fighting back tears.
Glaetzer was fighting back tears.

Aussie cyclist Matt Glaetzer’s worst nightmare became a reality in a stunning turn of events.

Fresh from breaking the Commonwealth Games record in the men’s 200m event at the Anna Meares Velodrome, the world champion then suffered the indignity of being beaten by the slowest qualifier — Malaysian Muhammad Sharom — when he next took to the track.

“What a shock,” one Channel Seven commentator said.

It meant Glaetzer’s pursuit of a gold medal in the sprint came to an unexpected end.

“It was a nightmare unfolding with three quarters of a lap to go, I knew I’d stuffed it and had to give it all to fight but the race was gone,” he said.

“The sprint is the big one and it was always going to be tough backing up last night but it was just a tactical mistake.

“I’m gutted, I tried to control it too much and it was my mistake and I’m just devastated.

“It will take a while to get over this one, I was really going for this and it’s just a nightmare.

“It was exactly what I didn’t want to happen. I tried to get through with minimum effort and that cost me, I needed to use my speed and it just wasn’t there and he got the jump on me.

“It’s never easy but worst case scenario for me just then.”

2.30pm

Australia takes team triathlon gold

Australia smashed its way to gold in the mixed triathlon team relay final on Saturday afternoon.

The Aussie team of Gillian Backhouse, Matthew Hauser, Ashleigh Gentle and Jacob Birtwhistle led almost from start to finish to hit the finish line 52 seconds ahead of England and almost two minutes quicker than New Zealand, who picked up bronze.

Hauser said the vocal Gold Coast crowd got his team over the line.

“I would rate my performance 8.5 out of 10, but it was one of the most electric crowds at the end and it helped me keep up with Jonathan (Brownlee),” he said.

1.10pm

Aussie defends Kiwi ‘disrespect’

Aussie cyclist Jordan Kerby has dismissed an accusation Kiwi rival Dylan Kennett produced an act of “disrespect” during their bronze medal showdown in the men’s individual pursuit.

Kerby was criticised by Aussie cycling champion Kate Bates for standing up on the final lap and cruising to victory.

Kerby said on Saturday he wad not offended by the gesture.

“Actually I didn’t know about it until this morning,” he said. “In the car on the way here I saw the video on Twitter and I think it’s been blown a bit out of proportion to be honest with you.

“I know Dylan, he’s a good guy. He knew he’d beaten me and he sat up before the line. He probably has another race today or tomorrow so he’s probably saving his energy for that.

“Maybe taking his hands out of the aerobars made it look worse than it was but he had clearly won by that point. I’ve never seen it before. It’s down to how you interpret it.

“He’s also a guy who came up to me after the race, said, ‘That was awesome, good race mate, and I wish I could’ve raced you at tip-top individual pursuiting form.’

“He’s come up to me and acknowledged that so I don’t think he’s shown bad sportsmanship at all.”

— Tyson Otto on the Gold Coast

12.10pm

Chalmers fastest in 100m freestyle qualifying, worries for McEvoy

Kyle Chalmers was the quickest of the pack.
Kyle Chalmers was the quickest of the pack.

Kyle Chalmers’ push to become just the third reigning Olympic and Commonwealth champion in the men’s 100m freestyle was given a boost on Saturday morning when he qualified fastest for the semi-finals on Saturday night.

The superfish qualified fastest ahead of fellow Aussie Jack Cartwright.

“This boy can race. Kyle Chalmers, he might be one of the best Australian racers we have ever seen,” Channel Seven commentator Basil Zempilas said.

Chalmers swum in the final heat and was slow out of the blocks before recovering to post the quickest time heading into the semi-finals.

Aussie 4x100m relay gold medallist Cartwright finished first in heat six ahead of South African Chad Le Clos with a quick time of 48.85 seconds — just 0.15 seconds behind Chalmers — to briefly put him at the top of the qualifying sheets.

Cam McEvoy was only able to finish third in his heat with a time of 49.20 as he qualified eighth fastest for the semi-finals.

McEvoy was the face of Australia’s Rio Olympics aquatic assault, but his form since has left Aussie swimming legend Ian Thorpe concerned.

He finished fourth in the 100m final at last year’s world championships and failed to qualify for the final of the men’s 50m freestyle.

He finished third in the 100m freestyle at the recent Aussie swimming trials.

Thorpe said he didn’t like what he saw, but admitted McEvoy didn’t need to deliver his best performance until the final.

“Cam McEvoy, I’m a little worried about that,” Thorpe told Channel 7. “That’s probably why he is standing around watching, waiting to see if he qualified through to the semi-final, of course.

“Qualifies in eighth place. There are 16 going through to these semi-finals, but I think it was something Cam would expect to be up into the top four.”

— Tyson Otto on the Gold Coast

12pm

Aussie’s dramatic injury

Ouch.
Ouch.

Aussie weightlifter Francois Etoundi successfully lifted 169kg but did some damage in the process.

He dropped the bar after his third attempt then immediately clutched his left shoulder and fell backwards in agony.

Officials came running out to cover Etoundi with a screen so the crowd couldn’t see him writhing on the ground.

Thankfully it was Etoundi’s final lift and the pain will have gone away once he was confirmed as the bronze medallist — or so he thought.

Despite wearing a sling on the podium, the man presenting Etoundi with his medal decided it would be a good idea to put him on the arm that had caused him so much trouble.

After he received his medal, Etoundi revealed the stunning story behind his performance, saying he seriously injured himself a couple of months ago and things only got worse when he arrived on the Gold Coast and his ailment prevented him from doing any training at all.

“I tore my bicep, my tendon maybe eight weeks ago,” he told Channel Seven.

“When I came into the village it was very hard for me to start training, I couldn’t train.

“One week before the competition, my bicep dropped down to my elbow — it was too hard for me.

“Very, very, very painful at the moment ... at the second attempt when I went to the platform, when I missed the second attempt (at 168kg), I tore the bicep a little bit at the back, it was very painful but I didn’t want to show that to the coaches.”

Etoundi clearly broke through the pain barrier and was bullish, saying had it not been for his injury, he would have walked away with gold.

11.50am

Official chucks a runner

The Mauritian official charged with sexually assaulting a young female team member in the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games athletes village has left the county.

Police today revealed the 52-year-old left overnight after he was yesterday charged with assaulting the 26-year-old athlete.

He had been bailed to appear in Southport Magistrates Court on April 17, two days after the Games finish.

Police said there were no travel restrictions placed on the man, who is accused of inappropriately touching the woman during a photo shoot.

Games police commander, Deputy Commissioner Steve Gollschewski, said a warrant could be issued for the man’s arrest if he failed to appear in court but it was unlikely police would try to extradite him back to the Gold Coast.

— Greg Stolz, Courier Mail

10.50am

Aussies scoop up more medals

England claimed gold in the women’s and men’s para-triathlon on Saturday morning with Australia taking both silver and both bronze medals.

England’s Jade Jones was a comfortable winner in the women’s event, finishing one minute, 49 seconds ahead of Aussie silver medallist Emily Tapp.

Bronze medallist Lauren Parker crashed within sight of the finish line when she cut a corner too fine and got thrown onto her side after clipping a fence.

She needed help to get back up, but finished her race strongly in front of a loud crowd on the Gold Coast.

— Tyson Otto on the Gold Coast

10.30am

‘Heartbreak’ after crash

Aussie para-triathlon favourite Bill Chaffey’s Commonwealth Games campaign was dramatically turned on its head by a nasty crash into a fence during the bike section of the men’s event on Saturday morning.

Chaffey, a five-time world champion, was the favourite in the event, but his race was ruined as he left the transition area heading into the bike leg of the race.

Turning a sharp corner, Chaffey went up on one wheel and smashed into the railing on the side of the course with parts of his bike snapping off.

The impact was so severe, Chaffey was thrown out of his seat onto the bitumen.

The chain on his bike also became dislodged — costing him significant time as he tried to get the machinery back in working order.

The 42-year-old recovered to finish third in the event behind Aussie silver medallist Nic Beveridge and England’s gold medal-winner Joseph Townsend.

— Tyson Otto on the Gold Coast

9.45am

Channel Seven interview divides fans

Channel Seven has divided Australia with some fans upset at the network for interviewing Aussie swimmer Clyde Lewis after a spirited performance in the pool that saw him unable to stand after his race.

Lewis won gold in the men’s 400m individual medley final on Friday and was so drained after the greatest performance of his life he needed help getting out of the pool and wasn’t able to stand during his poolside interview with Channel 7’s Nathan Templeton.

The normally plucky character appeared light-headed and was in such a bad state that the Channel 7 presenter was concerned the swim star was about to faint on live, national television.

Lewis was unable to respond with more than one word answers to Templeton’s questions and was eventually told to leave the interview early to catch his breath and potentially seek medical treatment.

However, amid the criticism, some praised Templeton for stopping the interview when it became Lewis was not in a good way.

Lewis came back to talk to Templeton after he recovered, laughing as he said he “just needed a drink”.

9.30am

Games’ ugly ‘Mike Tyson’ moment

New Zealand boxer David Nyika alleged that his opponent bit him twice in an “ugly” fight as he launched his bid for a second Commonwealth Games gold on Friday.

The 22-year-old heavyweight defeated Yakita Aska of Antigua and Barbuda 5-0 on Australia’s Gold Coast, but said the 91kg bout was far tougher than the scores suggested.

“It’s probably the closest fight I’ve had. A little bit rugged, but a perfect start to a long tournament,” said Nyika, who won 81kg gold at Glasgow 2014 as a teenager.

“When they don’t want to win, they want to survive, it’s tough. I copped a couple of bite marks, a couple of low blows.

“It’s a tough fight. He bit me in the end, but that’s the sport we’re in. “Fair play to him: it’s kill or be killed.”

There was no immediate response from Aska to the allegation, but the 28-year-old said: “He is one of the best. He won gold at the last Commonwealth Games so it was a bad draw for me.

“He is a very strong kid.”

Nyika, who will face Cameroon’s Christian Ndzie Tsoye in Tuesday’s quarter-finals, repeated the biting claim later on Instagram, when he joked: “Don’t worry guys, I’ve had my tetanus shots.”

— AFP

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