MandyMcGregor.co.nz

08, Aug, 2009

After a pep talk from the boys last night (thanks Shaun & Tony, I appreciated it immensely) I was keen to be of as much support to them at the finals as I could. They headed down to the stadium early, we got down in time for the first match, the Womens Compound. Russia took the gold and it was well deserved.

The guys were all ready to go, but Steve & Shaun were not feeling very well at all, and it was a case of 'shoot and loo' until their match. Meanwhile we get up into the stands, and grab a refreshing Corona (I waited til I had finished shooting ok!) and eagerly anticipated their match. Anne was their 'agent' and was down in the agents area and as they were just about to go up to their match, they pulled them off the line - the TV crews were there and ready & were scheduled to cover live the recurve finals! How rude! So the guys had to wait another 2 hours almost for their match. By that time one Corona in the heat had turned to several so we were ready to cheer them on.

They're up! New Zealand vs Mexico in the Gold Medal Match. It was close all the way, these guys were battling swirling winds and heat and needless to say it was tough going, but they did us proud. I had a Croatian Compounder beside me and we were cheering on the boys in Kiwi and Croatian, i hope they heard us!

It came down to the last end, and Mexico took out the gold by just one point. I think the guys were a bit disappointed but to have them in the final, to do so well and come away with a medal was just fantastic & it makes you really proud to be a kiwi.  It was great to see them on the podium, they were fantastic.

We all headed back to the hotel for a bit in preparation for the banquet..