Olympics 2021: Why Cedric Dubler’s a bigger hero than decathlon bronze medallist Ash Moloney

Ash Moloney made history when he claimed Australia’s first-ever decathlon medal, but it was teammate Cedric Dubler who sent an Olympic message bigger than sport.

Go you good thing! Cedric Dubler willed Ash Moloney home. Picture: Getty Images

This has been an Olympics with a heart. An Olympics with a message. The message is this: Hang in there.

Some of the biggest winners in Tokyo have been the losers. They’re more recognisable than they used to be.

We’re in a world of broken-down businesses, loss of income, loss of freedom, illness, death, loneliness, just plain being up against it in one way or another.

Perhaps we feel a deeper kinship to someone who’s struggling.

Winning? What is that?

Go you good thing! Cedric Dubler willed Ash Moloney home. Picture: Getty Images

Pat Tiernan’s message: feeling stuffed? Get up.

Jess Fox’s message: you’re so worried it’s making you puke? Stare it down. It’ll be right.

Emily Seebohm’s message: you think your best days are behind you? They don’t have to be.

Stick to your guns.

More athletes than ever have been good and gracious in defeat.

Cate Campbell has raised Emma McKeon’s arm in salute. Runners have broken down at the National Stadium then walked arm-in-arm across the finishing line.

Four swimmers have come together in one lane for a group hug with gold medallist Tatjana Schoenmaker. One of her rivals has kept telling here: “Amazing! You did it!”

Teenage skateboarders have lifted in the air a devastated world champion who’s blown the gold medal.

Belgium’s Claire Michel was sitting on the ground and bawling after finishing last in the triathlon. Norway’s Lotte Miller has walked over and said: “You’re a f**king fighter.”

Olympic critics say it’s just a big old soulless money-making machine. Tokyo has proved that wrong.

Dubler was ecstatic for Moloney after the race. Picture: Getty Images

Dubler supports Moloney as he realises he’s won bronze. Picture: Getty Images

The fat cats are still nice and fat and it’s still a big old money-making machine.

But it’s far from soulless.

These athletes have covered themselves in glory and, at the top of the pile, is Cedric Dubler.

How interesting that he’s become a bigger hero than Ash Moloney when he hasn’t won jack.

On Thursday night, Moloney became the first Australian to reach the podium in an Olympic decathlon, cementing his bronze medal with a personal best 4:39.19 in the 1500m, the final event in the multi-discipline competition.

But he owes a debt of gratitude to his mate Dubler, who defied a hamstring injury to run beside him shouting encouragement and guidance.

“He was screaming as loud as he could,” Moloney said.

“I can’t repeat what he said. I could feel his voice bouncing in my cranium like a bat out of hell.”

Cedric Dubler is Ash Moloney’s biggest cheerleader. Picture: Getty Images

Moloney is an out-and-out superstar who’s leapt to a high significance in Australian sport.

The decathlon is the gladiator event of the Olympics and he’s our first medallist. But we’ve gone gaga for Dubler instead. His message: help out a mate.

It resonates more than ever. Because we all know someone who’s struggling. Someone who can barely put one foot in front of the other. Money’s running out. Business has gone kaput. Job’s disappeared. They’re stranded overseas. They’re stuck interstate. They’re wobbling at the end of their own 1500m.

Perhaps Dubler has captured the imagination even more than Moloney, for now, because the real heroes of today’s world are people like him. The selfless. The motivating. The doctors. The nurses. The Dublers.

But Moloney had a message, too.

If you’re gasping for breath, if you don’t think you can take another step, if it’s all too hard, lean on anyone you can.

Let someone help pull you through. Life and 1500s are easier when you’re not on your own.

Sometimes we all just need a Cedric Dubler in our ear.