Jack gets gold
Originally published in The Nyngan Weekly
Local boy Jack Hargreaves has added another notch to his belt after winning gold at the Tokyo Olympics yesterday.
The men’s coxless four pulled ahead early, then maintained a steady lead for the rest of the race.
The team were one of the favourites heading into the event, alongside the strong team from Great Britain.
Mr Hargreaves and his team rowed sublimely in their qualifying heat, crossing the line a mammoth 3 seconds before their next competitor.
The team registered a new Olympic record time of 5:42:76, with Romania and Italy taking out silver and bronze respectively.
Their incredible efforts comfortably secured them a fast tracked spot in the final against Romania, the United States,
Great Britain, Italy, and the Netherlands. This was Mr Hargreaves’ Olympic debut, alongside teammate Alex Purnell. They were accompanied by Rio Olympians Alex Hill and Spencer Turrin.
Nyngan locals watched a livestream of the event, waiting to see if Mr Hargreaves could bring home the elusive gold medal in his first Olympic appearance. St Joseph’s Primary School has been celebrating the rower for the past week, who attended the school as a child.
Students were cheering and screaming for Jack as he raced, erupting in a spontaneous “Go Jack” chant that lasted the full nearly six minutes the race took.
The students were incredibly excited to see the local race, however the watch party wasn’t without some confusion, with a few early cheers at the 500m and 1000m marks.
The school displayed a good luck message out the front of the school all week and posted group photos of students with messages of support on their Facebook page.
With international fans unable to attend the 2020 games, the Australian Olympic Team offered Australians to send their messages of support via email to share with athletes in Tokyo.
Friends and family have been flooding Mr Hargreaves parents Facebook page with messages of support.
From Nyngan locals to lockdown Sydney and WA, the support and love for Mr Hargreaves was felt at home and far away as he headed into his first Olympic final.
The men’s coxless four were the second gold medal for Australia in the rowing on Wednesday, with the women’s coxless four also coming out on top.