Australia’s Commonwealth Games chef de mission Petria Thomas has shut down suggestions the nation’s dominance doesn’t bode well for the event after a mixed reaction to the Diamonds’ upset. This comes as cyclist Tara Neyland broke her second world record to cap off an incredible effort from the Aussie team to finish with 70 medals across the 11 days.
Newland broke the world record in the 4,000m individual pursuit a couple of days ago and backed it up with the same feat on the final day of the Games in the C4-C5 time trial. The 32-year-old cyclist powered to an adjusted record time of 1:08.761 to finish ahead of second-place by more than a second.
Tara Neyland (pictured right) won gold with a world record time as Australia’s chef de mission has shut down suggestions the nation’s dominance doesn’t bode well for the event. (Images: Getty Images)
Newland’s story is incredible having only made her professional debut in Para cycling last year. She won five titles across road and track at the world championships in her debut season and has backed it up with two gold and two records at the Commonwealth Games.
Neyland was behind on the splits halfway through the track, but she was able to power home with an incredible record. The 32-year-old has taken the sport by storm since becoming professional last year and the Aussie cycling team left the Commonwealth Games with a record 28 medals.
Australia finished with 10 gold, 10 silver and eight bronze. While it is the most medals overall, only the 2010 Games saw Australia win more gold. Leigh Hoffman led the charge with three gold and a silver. He is the first Aussie cyclist to win four medals at one Games.
Tara Neyland (pictured middle) won two gold medals at the Commonwealth Games. (Photo by Rob Casey/SNS Group via Getty Images)
Petria Thomas shuts down Aussie ‘bully’ claims
Overall, Australia won 171 medals across the 11 days, which included 70 gold. This was 61 more medals than traditional rivals England. Australia won 29 more gold than England.
Although the scenes after the Diamonds lost to Jamaica in the netball has raised eyebrows. The all-conquering Aussie netballers didn’t reach the gold medal match for the first time ever at the Commonwealth Games and went on to beat England to win bronze.
Australia celebrate winning the bronze medal in netball. (Photo by James Fearn/Getty Images)
Although the scenes in the semi-final after Jamaica suggested fans were thrilled to see Australia go down as favourites. This was put to Aussie chef de mission Thomas on the final day of events and whether the response from the fans was because of Australia’s dominance across many sports at the games.
“Oh, I wouldn’t categorise us as bullies,” she said. “We’re just good at our sport, and there’s been a lot of investment in this team. Everyone likes an underdog. We’re the same in Australia, we like underdogs as well. Our netball team did great. They obviously got up (to beat England) for the bronze medal and after a disappointing loss, we’re really proud of them.”
When asked about whether Australia’s dominance doesn’t look good for competition at the Games, Thomas responded. “Oh look, some may say that,” she said.
“You can only compete against who turns up. So I’m sure this has been a different Games in that respect (with a truncated schedule) but I’m sure with an increased program in 2030 in Ahmedabad, everything will be back up at full strength, and we’re really looking forward to it.”
