PARIS (Reuters) – After crashing out of the 400 metres freestyle final at Tokyo and falling into a mental tail-spin, Australia’s Elijah Winnington found peace on Saturday as he secured silver in the event at the Paris Games.
The former world champion came into Tokyo as top seed and favourite but finished seventh in the final, with Tunisia’s Ahmed Hafnaoui taking a shock gold from lane eight.
Winnington would later take bronze in the 4×200 metres relay as a heat swimmer at Tokyo but it was not much consolation.
He struggled through what he called a “semi-state of depression” for a time after those Games, but worked through it and returned to form at the Doha world championships in February where he was runnerup behind South Korea’s Kim Woo-min.
Winning his first individual Olympic medal behind Germany’s winner Lukas Maertens on Saturday made up for plenty of the lows, Winnington said.
“Unbelievable. Three years ago I was in the exact same lane, lane six, and I bombed out and came seventh,” he told reporters.
“I was fortunate enough to win a medal in the 4x200m heat (at Tokyo).
“I haven’t ever told anybody this, but I’ve never actually looked at that medal because I didn’t think I’d earned it, so having a medal around my neck tonight on the dais is going to be really, really special for me.”
And so it was.
The former world champion had to dig deep for the medal, coming from well back to overtake Kim, who was holding stubbornly in second place behind Maertens for nearly the entire race.
The 24-year-old Winnington had little idea where he had put his world championship medals but said he would keep the Olympic silver close at hand.
“I’ll give it to my mum or my fiancé and they can deal with it then,” he said.
“But for right now it’s going to stay draped around my neck.”
(Reporting by Ian Ransom; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
