CLANCY OVERELL | Editor | CONTACT
Despite the awful time zone difference, it seems nothing could stop the Olympic Spirit from infecting one Betoota Heights family over the weekend.
Like thousands of households around the country, the Huxley family are up at 4am every morning and glued to their TV, as Australia takes to the pool.
But in the midst of all the coffee and excitement, local dad Graham Huxley (67) demands absolute silence while the swimming events are underway.
As was expected, Australia has resumed their usual spot at the top of the medal tally for the first week of the games – with 4 gold and 2 silver at the Paris 2024 Olympics so far.
Cyclist Grace Brown kicked things off in the women’s time trial, our first-ever gold medal in the event, before the girls started making waves in the pool.
This was followed closely by Arnie Titmus bringing home some more cheese in the 400m, with the Launceston Swordfish becoming the first Australian woman to defend an individual Olympic title since Dawn Fraser in 1964.
The Australian women’s 4x100m freestyle relay then won gold medal with a new Olympic record time of 3:28.92.
And despite all of these victorious Olympic moments, the entire Huxley household still cannot cheer like they want to.
Because dad needs to hear what the supreme authority on competitive swimming, Ian ‘Thorpie’ Thorpe reckons about all of this.
World champion at 15, Thorpie has long been a favourite of the Australian mums and dads, after a lifetime of inspiring kids to to strive to do their best and eat their breakfast cereal – all while maintaining his charming nonchalant grin, usually crowned with the latest trendy hairdo.
His recent pivot into Olympic swimming commentary has been very well received by the Australian public – who have long craved actual expert insights into what’s happening in the pool.
“Shut the hell up you lot” roars dad, as the Australians begin the peel away in the second last 50 metre lap and Thorpie begins offering softly-spoken summations of their swim plan.
“Listen to Thorpie. He’ll know what’s happening here”
