Maddi Wesche takes silver in the shot put final at the Paris Olympics. Photo: Instagram / thenzteam
- There was confusion after the women's shot put final, with the commentators mistakenly believing that New Zealand's Maddi Wesche had won gold.
- The broadcast missed the landing of her last throw that looked to have gone beyond the 20.00m mark she needed to win gold.
- Wesche's best throw of 19.86m won her the silver medal. Germany's Yemisi Ogunleye became the Olympic champion.
The phrase "blink and you'll miss it" is more synonymous with the 100m final at the Olympics. Not shot put.
But Kiwis across the country were left confused as Maddi Wesche threw for gold with her last attempt in the dramatic women's shot put final at the Paris Games on Saturday morning (NZ time).
They weren't alone. The commentators were puzzled, too, mistakenly believing Wesche had won gold.
The 25-year-old from Auckland finished with silver and was only denied gold by an outstanding final throw, under the greatest pressure, from Germany's Yemisi Ogunleye.
Wesche was leading with a personal best of 19.86m until Ogunleye hit 20.00m with her sixth attempt, leaving the Kiwi thrower with one effort to snatch gold with the last heave of the competition inside the packed Stade de France.
She stepped forward, relaxed as always, and launched the heavy ball, dreaming of gold. The tension was high as New Zealand's early risers eagerly watched via the global feed on Sky Sport, waiting for Wesche.
However, the landing of her last attempt was missed by everyone, from the camera operator to the global feed's commentators and Kiwis watching at home in the early hours.
The broadcast didn't capture that moment. What it did capture was Wesche's ball hitting what seemed like a mark of more than 20m, enough to pinch the gold medal.
It was not the case. She scored only 19.68m with her final throw and the gold belonged to Ogunleye, but the confusion was ignited because the athletics commentators calling the final, John Trower and Andy Bodfish, thought Wesche's sixth effort had won gold.
Trower: "Yes, it's gone over 20m."
Bodfish: "She's done it."
Trower: "It's just over, she gets the white flag."
Bodfish: "And she's done it."
Trower: "Oh my word. It started as a damp squib and has ended alive and hot. What a great response. Now, is it far enough? Just missed the landing, but it looks like it might have crept over that 20m line."
Bodfish: "Well, has it? Has it? 19.68m... and Wesche drops to the silver. It is Yemisi Ogunleye who wins the gold medal."
The confirmation of Wesche's 19.68m mark was the first time the commentators and much of the broadcast's audience would have realised that Ogunleye was winning gold.
Trower and Bodfish paused amid the uncertainty and the replay didn't clear things up. It also didn't capture the landing of Wesche's throw.
The official scores were clear. Ogunleye was first with 20.00m and Wesche second with 19.86m - her sixth throw was 19.68m - and China's Jiayuan Song claimed bronze with 19.32m.
Trower continued: "Well, hold on. That looked to have passed the 20m tape. That looked as though it was further than that, didn't it? Perhaps we're not seeing the ball land and seeing it land and roll on. It looked as though it was around the 20m line."
At that point, the British commentators seemed to understand that Wesche's last throw had simply been missed on the broadcast and was 33cm short of reclaiming first place.
There would probably have been uproar across New Zealand had Wesche gone further than her German counterpart to take gold, only to be missed on camera.
The live blog covering the final on Stuff was inundated with comments from concerned Kiwis suggesting that Wesche's throw looked to have gone more than 20m.
Wesche was first after four throws with 19.58m before Ogunleye landed 19.73m to take the lead for the first time. The Aucklander reclaimed it moments later, with 19.86m, with one round of attempts left.
The excitable Ogunleye responded with her golden throw of 20.00m to become Olympic champion. Wesche had the final say but settled for silver, even though the gold seemed to be hers.
This story was first published by Stuff.