That’s just the ticket!
10:14am Wednesday 22nd March 2006 in Latest News By Andy Cryer
COMMONWEALTH GAMES: SHANE Warne, Kylie Minogue, Rolf Harris and Ian Thorpe... your boy took one hell of a hammering!
What a night for Swindon as southpaw Jamie Cox silenced a hostile home crowd to defeat Aussie Todd Kidd and guarantee himself a Commonwealth Games medal.
What colour it will be is yet to be decided but after tonight's win over Kidd, it would be fair to say he is favourite for gold.
Cox's mum Belinda and her partner Tony and children almost missed the fight after finding the evening session booked out.
To travel round the world not to see your son box for a medal would have been a bitter pill to swallow but fortunately it was sorted out at the last minute. In the end Tony wrote boxing tickets needed' on a cardboard sign and stood outside the arena. Sure enough he managed to buy four tickets and got to watch Jamie's finest hour.
In their hotel afterwards, Richie Woodhall made his way over to the happy party and passed on his congratulations as well.
If a month ago someone had told me I would be sitting on the bank of the River Yarra in Melbourne, having lunch with Lord Seb Coe, I would have laughed them out town. But that was what happened this lunchtime as the supremo of the London 2012 bid and his wife came and sat at the table next to me okay having lunch with them may be a slight exaggeration.
I did get the chance though to have a quick word with the former middle distance great and what was clear was his excitement about the Olympics coming home in 2012 He talked about how impressed he was with the organisation of the games in Melbourne and stated that he was confident London could put on a similar show.
It has all been quite a surreal experience for me as one of my favourite lunchtime haunts, a quiet cafe on the Yarra, has become a great spot to celebrity spot.
Just today, Michael Johnson and Colin Jackson, all walked past at different times, an experience I am not used to while reporting on a game at Hunts Copse!
It all kicked off in the media mixed zone at yesterday's boxing apparently as some Australian journalists finally had enough of the home camp's policy on non communication.
As an Aussie boxer walked past without talking some expletives were used, the result? Well lets just say Todd Kidd was talking today.
I am off to my first taste of the athletics at the MCG tomorrow night and will be watching the long jump final with interest after meeting England's Chris Tomlinson on a tram the other day a nice guy who just gets on with his business.
