Mosse emotional after success in butterfly

Press, 26 September 1988, Page 23

Mosse emotional after success in butterfly

By

TIM DONOGHUE

of NZPA in Seoul Tears streamed down Anthony Mosse’s face as he clasped his mother, Joy, soon after emerging from the Olympic pool with a bronze medal in the 200 m butterfly late Saturday evening. Nothing was said but their recently deceased father and husband, Peter — a former Hong Kongbased Cathay Pacific pilot — was obviously very much on their minds. The son’s head, body shaking from the dolphinlike lunging he’s practised ad nauseum in his Olympic build-up and final, lay on the mother’s shoulder. This was the woman who had told him two months earlier, along with brother Adrian, not to return to his father’s funeral in Auckland. Stay in Canada and con-

tinue with your training. That is what your father would want you to do, mother and brother advised. The son, a student at Stanford University who had seen his father shortly before his death, agreed. But in his hour of bronze on Saturday evening the son was finally able to give vent to his feelings. He had won an Olympic bronze medal. He had done the job his father wanted him to do — and like the gold medallist, Michael Gross', at the start of the race, he broke. “It’s been a tremendous fight in the last two months to stay focused. “I think Dad would be proud ... we started something off a long time ago and we had to finish it ... I stood up and did the job,” Mosse said.

Indeed, like the 200 m backstroker, Paul Kingsman, he did. The colour of the medal was obviously not entirely to his liking. But his Im, '58.28s swim in the wake of the world record holder, Gross (Im 56.945) and Benny Nielsen (Im 58.245) represented more than an Olympic medal. It symbolised a personal ability to achieve a goal — by training six hours a day — and overcome personal hardship. , Mosse held second place during the first 150 m but in the final 50m was overhauled by Denmark’s Nielsen in the charge for the wall. “Things were looking good until I started to drive for the wall with about 15m to go. I started to tighten up. I held my breath and just put my head down.

“Years and years of coaches saying no breath after the flag made sure I got a medal instead of fourth or fifth.” Gross told the post race press conference he expected either Nielsen or Mosse to swim Im 575. He was pleasantly surprised when they did not. All that remained after the race was the red carpet walk to the medal ceremony. Mosse was accompanied by his Kiwi mascot “Blaz” — a constant companion throughout his swimming career. Mosse intends to finish’ his studies at Stanford University next year. He also has ambitions to compete in the world student games in Sao Paolo next year, the Commonwealth Games in Auckland and the 1990 world swimming championships in Perth.