Murky dam to silver lining: Woolies ad swimmer scoops medal after ‘rough couple of days’

Paris: Col Pearse is the first to admit he was feeling rough these past few days.

The 21-year-old swimmer narrowly missed a spot on the podium on Tuesday after he hit the wall in the 100-metre butterfly less than a second after his Australian teammate Alex Saffy, who won bronze.

Col Pearse celebrates his silver medal.Credit: Getty Images

He has now bounced back to seize a silver medal in the 200-metre individual medley (S10) on Saturday (Paris time), during the very last swimming session at the Paralympics.

“I’m stoked. It’s taken me seven years to win a silver medal so it feels bloody awesome,” he said

Pearse shot to fame when his story was told in a Woolworths ad that started airing during the Olympics.

It shows him training at his family farm in Echuca in a murky dam, with lane markers fashioned out of old milk bottles.

It’s a habit he took up out of necessity during COVID-19 lockdowns before he took bronze at his first Games in Tokyo. The set-up earned the dam the nickname the “Pearse Aquatic Centre”.

Pearse qualified fastest for the 200-metre medley final with a time of 2 minutes, 16.19 seconds.

He then beat his own time, finishing the final in 2 minutes, 12.79 seconds.

Italy’s Stefano Raimondi was 2.55 seconds quicker.

“I’ll never say I wasn’t going to walk into that race not thinking I was going to win, but at the end of the day Stefano was faster than I was, but I still walked away second in the world, so I can’t complain,” he said.

Col Pearse after seizing second place in the 200-metre individual medley.Credit: Getty Images for PNZ

Pearse said while he had been happy for Saffy, it hurt to come fourth in the 100-metre butterfly earlier in the week.

“Just missing out on a medal like that always sucks,” he said.

“It’s been a rough couple of days but I think just being able to compose myself and go back to the drawing board on what went wrong in that first race, to implement what I could do and what I will do right for the second race.”

He said the result drove him to “let it rip” on his next race.

“That’s who we are as Australians. We love to compete, regardless of our teammates or not. So it’s definitely been at the back of my mind, thinking … ‘I’ve got nothing to lose’,” he said.

Pearse said he had dedicated everything to making it as a Paralympian.

“I moved away at the age of 14 to pursue a Paralympic career, to pursue something that’s not guaranteed. So to be able to get on the big stage, perform and walk away with silverware, it means everything.”

Pearse’s right foot was amputated after an accident when he was two years old. His father, unaware his toddler had snuck out of the house, drove into Pearse’s foot on a ride-on mower.

Pearse said the exposure that has come out of the Woolworths ad has changed his and his family’s life.

“Everything you see on that ad is from the community. Everyone in it is part of my story. So it’s not just changed my life, it’s changed our whole Pearse life.”

He added that it meant a lot for his story to be aired during both the Olympics and Paralympics.

“People are realising that Paralympians can just be as inspiring as Olympic athletes… it’s the beginning of something special,” he said.

Pearse’s was the first of two silver medals in the pool on Saturday, with another won by Australia’s 4 x 100-metre mixed relay team – featuring Alexa Leary, Callum Simpson, Chloe Osborn and Rowan Crothers.

Crothers chased down Italy’s Simone Barlaam in a thrilling sprint finish but couldn’t quite close the gap enough for gold. Australia came second by 0.36 seconds.

Meanwhile at the Stade de France, James Turner – who broke a world record to win the 400-metre race on Tuesday – scored a second gold medal, this time in the 100-metre (T36).

Turner said the win was “redemption” after he was beaten for silver in Tokyo by 0.15 seconds by Chinese sprinter Deng Peicheng.

James Turner celebrates a second gold medal at the Paris Games.Credit: AP

“I’ve been working really hard to fix up my start. That’s where I lost it in Tokyo when someone moved beside me and I almost fell over,” he said.

Turner crossed the finish line first by 0.03 seconds in Paris on Saturday.

“It was looking a bit doubtful there for a minute. But the key today was just following my own race plan, not thinking about what the other athletes are doing,” Turner said.

“This was the hardest of my four Paralympic medals overall after having glandular fever this year.”

Canoeist Curtis McGrath also brought home another gold for Australia, defending his Tokyo title in the men’s 200-metre kayak final.

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