Waipa girls golden again

MAGIC MEDAL HAUL: New Zealand athletes with the spoils from this country’s most successful single day ever at the Olympics, from left: Hayden Roulston, Mahe Drysdale, Georgina Evers-Swindell, George Bridgewater, Valerie Vili, Nathan Twaddle, Caroline Evers-Swindell. NZ HERALD PHOTO

Repeat of 2004 Waipa Olympic parade possible

BY GRANT JOHNSTON

Rowing twins Georgina and Caroline Evers-Swindell have ensured the billboards ‘Waipa — Home of Champions’ continue to ring true. And after their stunning success in Saturday’s Olympic women’s double sculls, Waipa Mayor Alan Livingston made a call to Rowing NZ chairman, Bill Falconer in Beijing, to offer to host an Olympic parade, similar to the one which was so successful in 2004.

Mr Livingston told the Courier that the parade will depend on the availability of the twins and other Olympians.

‘‘The aim is to celebrate the Olympic successes of the twins and (fellow Cambridge rower) Mahe Drysdale (who was courageous in winning bronze in the men’s singe sculls, despite a debilitating illness), as well as to acknowledge all of Waipa’s Olympic athletes (including Te Awamutu cyclists, Tim Gudsell and Peter Latham, former Te Awamutu rider Julian Dean and equestrian Andrew Nicholson),’’ Mr Livingston says.

Mr Livingston watched Saturday night’s thrilling rowing finals with rowing enthusiasts from throughout the district at Cambridge Raceway.

Mahe Drysdale looked like getting things away to a golden start, much to the crowd’s excitement, when he led with 200 metres to go in the single sculls. But, almost inevitably, the illness that had struck him down during the preceding week took its toll and he was overhauled in the closing stages. His dignity afterwards, refusing to blame his illness despite having to be carried from the course, made him a true champion in many people’s eyes.

While Drysdale, as the world champion for the past three years, was expected to grab gold in the lead-up to the Olympics, previous gold medal winners, the Evers-Swindells, came into the regatta ‘under the radar’. They have been defeated by their Chinese rivals over the past two years, but showed that you can never count out a champion. The only place they had the lead in their 2km race was the place that mattered most — right on the finish line.

At Cambridge Raceway, as in many living rooms around the country, confusion reigned momentarily at the end of the women’s double sculls. The announcement that the twins had ‘done it again’ was greeted with a roar that was half elation and half relief — New Zealand had an Olympic golden glow again.

Shotputter, Valerie Vili added another gold later in the most successful day ever for New Zealand at the Olympics (something
that past Olympic champion, Waipa cyclist Sarah Ulmer had suggested could be on the cards).

If the Olympic parade does go ahead, it is not certain at this stage whether it will include Te Awamutu as well as Cambridge this time around — watch this space!