Andrews gets her elusive silver medal
Ellesse Andrews is now the rightful owner of a Commonwealth Games team pursuit silver medal. The star track cyclist had originally forfeited it when she skipped the medal ceremony as she had another event of greater priority to prepare for.
But as it turned out, Andrews did actually receive the medal before she flew home to New Zealand.
She has confirmed her teammates presented it to her at the end of the competition, but she has no idea how they got their hands on it.
‘‘I have no idea how they got it but the girls ended up presenting it to me, so that was really sweet,’’ Andrews said.
‘‘We were just in the hotel and the endurance girls asked me to come to their room and handed me a box.
‘‘I thought it was an empty cardboard box because I was missing a couple for the other medals but it was a bit heavier than I would have expected for a cardboard box.
‘‘I opened it up and a silver medal was inside!’’
Under competition rules, athletes must attend the medal ceremony to receive a medal.
She was also fined CHF 200 (NZ$334) for her no-show.
At the time, Andrews said she knew what the repercussions were if she missed the ceremony, but it was scheduled to take place before the team sprint final, where Andrews went on to win a gold medal alongside Rebecca Petch and Olivia King.
She only started the team pursuit to ensure New Zealand would have the compulsory four riders on the start line after Ally Wollaston suffered an injury on the eve of the competition, leaving them a rider short.
She said there was no way she was going to miss the team sprint. It was one of three gold medals Andrews won at the Commonwealth Games, also taking out the individual sprint and keirin events.
‘‘I knew by not attending that ceremony that we would get that fine and I wasn’t going to receive the medal, but at that point I just had to look at my priorities, and that was the team sprint and I couldn’t let Liv and Rebecca down,’’ she said.
‘‘I’m just happy they were able to do their race too because I know they would have been disappointed if they weren’t. I was in a position to help, and it was a bit of a no-brainer.’’