Hometown hero regrets a scoreboard glance
DOMONIC Bedggood will leave his home Commonwealth Games with one slight regret – and it’s not the missed dive that almost cost him gold in the 10m platform.
Bedggood was furious with himself for “breaking routine” and looking at the scoreboard after his penultimate dive – a back three-and-a-half somersault effort that lost him the lead and left him just adrift of England’s Matthew Dixon heading into the final round.
“I think I got too caught up in the moment and too caught up in expectation and outcome and I did what I never do and I looked at the scoreboard and saw I was 1.4 points behind,” Bedggood said.
“I got fired up for (the last round) but I completely lost sight of the dive and was more focused on what could potentially happen if I nail this or what could happen if I miss this.
“I think that’s why I met in the middle of those two. I did just enough to win it but I did enough that I could have lost it. “I was very lucky to come away with the win.”
So disappointed was Bedggood with his almost losing gold that he didn’t quite soak up the moment — something he was regretting yesterday.
“Waking up (on Sunday), I definitely regretted it a bit, I probably should have soaked it up a bit more,” he said.
“It was beautiful though that I got to see my family and friends after, we went down to a local pub and just had a few drinks and that meant more to me than winning the actual medal – the joy they had for my success just made it all that much sweeter. “Winning is nothing unless you have people to share it with.”
Competing at a pool less than 20km from his home at Burleigh, Bedggood had the home support behind him.