ion Inspirat and ak heartbre
ECSTASY and total despair were always so, so close. Fighting bedfellows which defined our Games. For Claire Tallent, the distance between was just 2km. The race walker had been sure it was her day.
With baby son Harvey in the crowd, she wanted to prove mothers could do anything and had a feeling she was destined for that cherished gold medal.
But, leading with just one lap to go, an official stepped forward and with the wave of a red paddle, broke Tallent’s heart. Disqualified, she crumbled and wept on the roadside as teammate Jemima Montag powered through to win.
The distance between the pure agony and bittersweet elation was 10 days for weightlifter TiaClair Toomey.
When her teenage cousin Jade, a picture of youth and vitality, was killed in a car crash just before the Games, a grief-stricken Toomey thought about pulling out.
Would it be disrespectful to compete? But she forged on, and, with her Jade in her heart, struck our most emotional gold medal of the event.
For gymnast Chris Remkes one remarkable moment in the Games was two decades in the making. Abandoned as a baby in his native Philippines, he was adopted from an orphanage by Aussies Mike and Dora Remkes as a twoyear-old.
With the couple in the crowd, Remkes won gold on the vault – and the hearts of his nation.
He stands at just 147cm but proved he is a tower of inspiration, attributing his success to the parents and the life they gave him.