Youth Olympic Games Day 1 Update
A nervous triathlete Maddie Dillon was pleased with her history-making performance as the first New Zealander in action in the first ever Youth Olympic Games in Singapore.
Dillon, 16, finished an encouraging eighth place in the junior women’s triathlon after being forced to come from near the rear of the field out of the swim.
“It was pretty overwhelming and pretty scary but it was a really great experience and one that I will cherish forever. It’s kind of made history in my life,” Dillon said.
“To finish in the top 10 was much better than I expected. That was the biggest race of my life and I didn’t know how I was going to go. I told myself to just have fun.”
Dillon was the first Kiwi in a medal sport at the Youth Olympics, although two swimmers will get their chance tonight (local time) after winning through to finals.
North Shore’s Chloe Francis was third fastest in heats of the 200m individual medley and Matt Stanley (Matamata) was seventh fastest in the 400m freestyle with both finals to be decided tonight.
New Zealand was edged out in their opening 3-on-3 basketball match losing 22-19 to Greece following a controversial refereeing call in extra time.
The scores were locked 17-17 in regular time after the Kiwis led 11-8 period on the back of a 7-0 run in the first stanza. The Greek combination fought back with a 9-0 run at the start of the second period with the lead changing five times.
Coach Anthony Corban said that one of the Greek players grabbed the ball after a crucial bucket late in extra time, not allowing the kiwis possession with time running out. One of the New Zealanders grabbed the ball but was penalised for unsportsmanlike behaviour with the call upheld despite a lengthy discussion between the two referees.
Meanwhile world junior champion rowers Beatrix Heaphy-Hall and Eve MacFarlane will be forced to go through the repechage after finishing fourth in their heat in the women’s pairs when the rowing competition got underway.
Southland sculler Hayden Cohen will also need to go through the repechage, also fourth in his heat of the single sculls.
Manukau’s Victoria Cheng had a successful start to her campaign in badminton with a 2-0 win over Indonesia’s Renna Suwarno 21-15 21-5 with three rounds of preliminary matches scheduled for the first day.
The early attention was at the East Coast Park course for the triathlon this morning run in overcast and humid conditions after early morning rain which made the bike course hazardous for the junior women’s race over the sprint distance of 750m swim 20km bike and 5km run.
Dillon emerged from the swim in 24th place, nearly a minute down on the leaders and was forced to use her cycling prowess, working with American Kelly Whitley to ride up to a select lead group by the second of three laps.
She narrowly avoided a crash to emerge mid-pack in transition, fighting her way up to eighth with a solid run although she paid for her endeavours playing catch-up on the bike.
“I was actually really disappointed with my swim because I have been working really hard on it,” Dillon said.
“I don’t know what happened. It was just a bad swim. But I had to work my bum off to get to the front bunch and that cost me a bit in terms of having some legs left for the run. They were pretty much gone.”
Japan’s Yuka Sato, who has been competing on the World Cup elite circuit, powered through the field to take the win ahead of Australian Ellie Salthouse with Whitley third.
Dillon said she tried not to let the nerves get to her after deciding to bypass the spectacular opening ceremony last night.
“The aim of not going to the opening ceremony was to have an early night but I didn’t get much sleep in any case because I was so nervous.”
The experience has set her up well for her next major aim, leaving later this week after the mixed relay for Europe to compete in the world championships.
“This will really help me to handle another big race like the worlds and I think I will be concentrating on my swimming until then.”
The 57-strong New Zealand team is among 3600 athletes aged 14 to 18 from 205 nations to contest the first Youth Olympic Games which is the brainchild of IOC President Jacques Rogge aimed “to give young people the chance to participate in a multi-nation environment in sport, education and culture.”
CAPTION: New Zealand triathlete Maddie Dillon in action on the opening day of the Youth Olympic Games in Singapore today.
Credit: Delly Carr-ITU