When Australian Olympian Dane Bird-Smith was thanking his family in an emotional interview following a bronze medal win, he had no idea that his father was being detained by military police a short distance away.
David Bird-Smith represented Australia in the men’s 20km walking event in the Moscow 1980 and Los Angeles 1984 Olympics, and had been his 24-year-old son’s coach in the lead-up to the Rio 2016 event.
David had accreditation and was manning a water station for Dane when he came in third; as he rushed to the finish line to congratulate and hug his son, however, he was blocked by military police.
While the elder Bird-Smith attempted to explain who he was, the military instead detained him and marched him away; an hour after the conclusion of the event, the AOC were still negotiating to have him released.
Dane, who set a personal best time of 1h 19m 37s, was overcome with emotion when speaking to reporters after the event. In particular, he thanked his father for his support, saying:
“He’s going to be going nuts somewhere. He was on the drinks table. He was going absolutely bananas down there. I’ve got to go find them and catch up. Having the whole crew here. My mum, my dad, my brother, my fiance, by my two best friends, my training partners, everyone came out and they really got me through. I dug deep just for them.”
It was a dramatic day for the 24-year-old athlete, who reportedly vomited on an Olympic transport bus on the way back from the event, blaming too many energy drinks for the unfortunate incident.
“Too much Gatorade and just ended up with a full stomach, and just lost it all on the bus,” he later said.
Photo: Ryan Pierse / Getty.
