Griffith graduate Katrin Garfoot (right) has struck gold on the familiar roads of the Gold Coast in the Women’s Individual Time Trial this afternoon.
In a very dominant performance, road cyclist Katrin powered her way to another Commonwealth Games medal, adding to the bronze she won in Glasgow four years ago.
The 36-year-old, who completed a Graduate Diploma in Secondary Education, brings Team Griffith’s haul of gold medals to a round dozen.
Elsewhere on day six of the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games, Bachelor of Public Relations and Communication student Skye Nicolson guaranteed herself a boxing medal after outpointing Cameroon’s Christelle Aurore Ndiang in the Women’s 57kg category. She’ll next face Canadian Sabrina Aubin-Boucher in Friday night’s semi-final.
In the athletics at Carrara Stadium today, emerging Australia sprinter Riley Day finished third in her heat of the 200m to qualify for the semi-finals tomorrow night (Wed).
Sport Management student John Lane’s prospects of a medal tonight in the decathlon were boosted by a judgement error by runaway leader Damian Warner who had three fails in the pole vault, and fell to sixth place as a result. The decathlon reaches its grueling climax tonight with the javelin and 1500m to come.
Tonight also sees Business student Madison de Rozario going for gold in the Women’s T54 (Wheelchair) 1500m Finaljust after 8pm.
The Cook Islands have claimed their first ever medal at a Commonwealth Games after defeating Malta 17-11 in the bronze medal match of the Men’s Pairs in Lawn Bowls.
The historic moment has a special link to Griffith University, a connection which may pave the way to further sporting triumphs for Oceania athletes in the future.
Taiki Paniani, one half of the winning team, has been part of an innovative program developed and rolled out by Griffith University to give athletes from Pacific Commonwealth nations and territories access to sports experts and facilities not readily available in their home land.
Taiki participated in the GAPS (Gather Adjust Prepare Sustain) Program on three occasions in the build up to the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games.
Most recently the 21-year-old was among a group of able-bodied and para-athletes athletes from Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Cook Islands, Samoa, Tonga and Niue to participate in the program at the end of January.
“It is wonderful to see the influence and impact of the GAPS program at work already,” Duncan Free OAM (left), Director of Griffith Sports College, said.
“This result for Taiki and the Cook Islands team will be an inspiration to other talented athletes throughout Oceania to try and emulate their remarkable achievement.”
Through the GAPS Program, individual athletes had the opportunity for self-improvement under the guidance of some leading Griffith researchers in disciplines like exercise science, sport technology, nutrition and sport psychology.
With victories over England, Botswana, Papua New Guinea, Fiji and then South Africa in the quarter-finals, the Cook Islands’ achievement was clearly more than a once-off. Taiki and teammate Aidan Zittersteijn were only knocked out by the eventual gold medal winners, Wales.
The GAPS Program has been a key part of Griffith University’s world-first partnership with the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games, and informed a new Massive Online Open Course (MOOC) called Major Sport Events: Winning through Diversity and Inclusion developed with FutureLearn.
The GAPS program is funded by the Commonwealth Games Federation, Menzies Health Institute Queensland, and City of Gold Coast.
Excitement, fun and the chance to uncover new research opportunities are among the expectations that Griffith lecturer Dr Caroline Riot will bring to her volunteer role at the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games.
Caroline, who teaches sport management at the Department of Tourism, Sport and Hotel Management, will take up a role in Press Operations at the Oxenford Studios where the boxing, squash and table tennis competition will take place.
“I’ll be involved in the mixed zone, where athletes mix with media, which is something completely new for me,” she said.
“I’ll be around the action where Griffith student Skye Nicolson will be competing. I also hope to see some bouts up close which is new and exciting. The atmosphere around the athletes will be electric. I can’t wait.”
Dr Riot sees Griffith’s role as a Tier One Partner of GC2018 as an unprecedented opportunity to engage and draw new knowledge from a major sports event in a way that would not necessarily be possible otherwise.
“I want to bring my first-hand Games experience back to the classroom and share key outcomes with students now and in future trimesters,” she said. “This is a remarkable opportunity to source new material and draw on examples and experience that will inform and create new lessons in the classroom. I will take an enquiring perspective into my role.
“I also hope to discover new avenues for future research that builds on my existing studies around the participation of women and girls in sport and the legacy of the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games. This experience may even spark a whole new innovative project.”
Her focus will not be entirely academic, however, as she also aims to throw herself into the Games atmosphere. “I love getting involved and wanted to be a part of the action – a one off opportunity to be a part of the biggest event to be held in Queensland, Australia this decade. It’s not every year that a Commonwealth Games comes to town.
“I’m looking forward to a lot of new experiences and unknowns, like the late nights on the train to and from Brisbane. I imagine there will probably be a few questions and a lot of interest from the spectators travelling to the Games when they see us in our very bright and colourful Games Shapers uniforms.
“I’m looking forward to the fun of it all.”
Griffith University played a key role in the team behind new research published today inNature Ecology and Evolutionthat describes the discovery of a fossil human finger bone at the site of Al Wusta, an ancient freshwater lake located in what is now the hyper-arid Nefud Desert, in Saudi Arabia.
The fossil has been directly dated to approximately 90,000 years ago, which makes it among the oldest modern human remains found outside Africa and the Levant.
The work, led by Dr Huw Groucutt the University of Oxford and the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, involved an international team from Saudi Arabia, including the Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage and the Saudi Geological Survey, the United Kingdom, Germany, Spain and Australia. Professor Rainer Grün and Drs Julien Louys and Mathieu Duval of the Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution (ARCHE) at Griffith University were key participants in this international effort.
Archaeological surveys and excavations at Al Wusta led to the discovery of numerous animal fossils, including hippopotamus and tiny freshwater snails, associated with abundant lithic tools made by humans.
Among these finds was a well preserved and small fossil human finger bone (AW-1). Further analyses performed in the laboratory showed that the fossil could only come from our species,Homo sapiens.
Using a technique called uranium series dating, this fossil was found to be 90,000 years old, making it the oldest human found in Arabia. The use of other dating methods applied to the sediment and fossil animal teeth were used to confirm this date.
In-depth environmental analyses revealed the site was once a freshwater lake in an ancient grassland environment far removed from today’s desert conditions.
This new discovery is challenging existing notions of modern human dispersal out of Africa, which was thought to have only occurred approximately 60,000 years ago based on genetic data.
However, the Al Wusta finger bone’s age is consistent with other recent discoveries that ARCHE played a role in, including those reported at Misliya (Israel), Lida Ajer (Western Sumatra), and Madjedbebe (Australia), which indicate that the migration and dispersal of Homo sapiens out of Africa happened much earlier than has been previously accepted.
Funding:Aspects of this work have been funded by the Australian Research Council (ARC) Future Fellowships FT160100450 (CI: Julien Louys) and FT150100215 (CI: Mathieu Duval), the ARC Discovery Project DP110101415 (CI: Rainer Grün) and the European Union Marie Curie International Outgoing Fellowship PIOF-GA-2013-626474 (CI: Mathieu Duval).
Reference
Groucutt, H.S., Rainer Grün, Iyad S.A. Zalmout, Nick A. Drake, Simon J. Armitage, Ian Candy, Richard Clark-Wilson, Julien Louys, Paul S. Breeze, M. Duval, Laura T. Buck, Tracy L. Kivell, Emma Pomeroy, Nicholas B. Stephens, Jay T. Stock, Mathew Stewart, Gilbert J. Price, Leslie Kinsley, Wing Wai Sung, Abdullah Alsharekh, Abdulaziz Al-Omari, Muhammad Zahir, Abdullah M. Memesh, Ammar J. Abdulshakoor, Abdu M. Al-Masari, Ahmed A. Bahameem, Khaled S.M. Al Murayyi, Badr Zahrani, Eleanor M.L. Scerri & Michael D. Petraglia. Homo sapiens in Arabia by 85,000 years ago. Nature Ecology & Evolution. DOI: 10.1038/s41559-018-0518-2.
About ARCHE:
The Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution, based in Griffith’s Environmental Futures Research Institute, is the first academic centre specifically focused on gaining a deeper understanding of the scale of ancient human migrations and the full story of the origins of the people in our region. An initiative of Queensland’s Griffith University, ARCHE’s mission is to foster research excellence through multidisciplinary projects that bring together leading Australian and international scholars and institutions in the field of human evolution, with a particular focus on two key regions: Australia and neighbouring Asia.
ARCHE has played a key role in some of the most important recent discoveries associated to the origin of our species, Homo sapiens, with the recent publications on Jebel Irhoud (Morocco), Misliya cave (Israel), Lida Ajer cave (Western Sumatra), Madjedbebe (Australia) and now, Al Wusta (Saudi Arabia).
Whether shaping inquiring minds as Griffith Business School’s Portfolio Director (Engagement) in the Department of Accounting, Finance and Economics or working tirelessly to raise funds for breast cancer research, Dr Robyn Cameron is always putting other people first.
As an organiser of the annual Pink Ribbon Cup Raceday (held in September) and committee member for Women in Super’s yearly Mother’s Day Classic fun run, Dr Cameron — a two-time breast cancer survivor herself — is well-known and well-regarded by people from myriad walks of life, routinely exemplifying Griffith’s value of positive community involvement and influence.
It’s precisely that concern for others that led the distinguished academic and lauded social activist to be nominated, and selected, as a Queen’s Baton bearer ahead of the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games, an honour that Dr Cameron says caught her off-guard when she found out she’d been named early last year.
“I received an email saying I’d been nominated — I had to read it five times!” she recalls.
“Your jaw actually drops; you’re reading it with your mouth open, going, ‘Oh, my god, someone’s nominated me?’”
Multiple someone(s), as it turns out; in fact, Dr Cameron’s breadth of charitable activity meant that she was nominated more than once.
After the initial shock of the news had worn off, the reality set in — bringing with it a whole host of pre-event rules (“You weren’t allowed to wear your uniform before the day, and you weren’t to wash it before the day,” Dr Cameron reveals) and embargoes, disallowing the bearers from telling anyone they’d been selected.
“I didn’t even tell my family, because my daughter, you don’t tell her a secret unless you want it to be known,” Dr Cameron laughs. “So I had a few days where I told no one.
“But there were a couple of people — one I know at the Council, who works on the Comm Games area, and one that works on the Comm Games — and on the day that Comm Games announced it, they put it in the paper, who all the baton bearers and whatnot were, so I got text messages from them both saying congratulations.
“When I messaged back, I said, ‘I’ve known for a couple of days but couldn’t say anything,’ and they said, ‘We knew too, but couldn’t say anything!’ It was really funny.”
As for the moment itself, Dr Cameron says her time carrying a symbol as iconic as the Queen’s baton was nothing shy of “an amazing experience”.
“I’d watched bits of it on TV so I could see, most people, they’re not world-renowned athletes, they’re just everyday people like me, so I think that took away a lot of the nerves,” she admits.
“As we were driving down the circuit where we were going to go, you could see people coming out, and there were stacks of people; it was amazing! They really embraced it, so that made it really exciting.
“I don’t know that any of us were nervous; we were all kind of excited. There were a few young kids on the bus, but the mature ones were the noisiest of the pack, believe me.
“When I got out of the bus, people were there and everyone was just so happy, and I was gobsmacked at the people that’d come to support me. Some people had said they were coming, but there were others that turned up and it was like, ‘Oh, my god!’ — neighbours that moved out of the neighbourhood years ago were there, and parents from my kids’ school; it was just amazing that people wanted to come along and support it.
“I actually thought, who would have ever thought — because my family, when I was young, used to call me Little Robyn-Ann, or Robyn-Ann — who would have thought that Little Robyn-Ann would one day be carrying a Queen’s Baton?”
While carrying the baton, Dr Cameron says she was struck by how much the local community around her circuit area of Ashmore, Bundall and Evandale had embraced the spirit of the Games by turning out to support the bearers in their moment, regardless of their background.
“A number of people have said, in terms of the baton relay, what they’ve liked about it is that it is ordinary people in the community that are doing stuff out in the community that are getting to carry the baton, and not just all famous people,” she explains.
“I’ve actually had a couple of people say that, and that’s why they came. That could be why so many came out for the baton relays, because it’s people that they actually know.
“Of course, we had Dawn Fraser on our team, so she had a stack of people — she was swarmed!”
Aside from the personal satisfaction that came from the experience, Dr Cameron says the wider Games experience is a boon for the Gold Coast, not least because of the fresh hotels and other infrastructural benefits yielded for the city.
“One of our main industries is that of tourism, so hopefully there will be that added value when the Games are over, that people that have come to visit, whether they’ve come from overseas or just from other states, they’ll see what we’ve got here to offer, and they’ll come back,” she posits.
Either way, as time moves on, and Dr Cameron’s attention turns back to her inspiring work as an academic and community activist, her moment in the spotlight is not one that will ever lose its shine.
“This is one of those experiences I’ll never forget,” she says. “If I look at a photo or anything, it instantly brings a smile to my face when I think about how amazing and how much fun it was.
“It was a real honour. It was great; I’d recommend it to anybody [laughs].”
As the curtain comes down on six glorious nights at the Optus Aquatic Centre tonight, there is no shortage of talent vying for the spotlight.
Sprinter Riley Day, boxer Skye Nicolson and para athlete Madison de Rozario all make their first appearance at the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games (GC2018) today, hoping to emulates the achievements of a host of Team Griffith swimmers.
They’ll also happily follow in the footsteps of Bachelor of Business student and Bachelor of Journalism graduate Kelsey Cottrell who was superb in helping Australia to its first Lawn Bowls gold of GC2018 yesterday. The win also took to 11 the number of gold medals won by Team Griffith athletes, with the total haul now 22.
Golden moment
A golden moment reminiscent of Pat Cash’s finest moment at Wimbledon crowned the winning performance in the final of the Lawn Bowls Women’s Fours in Broadbeach when Kelsey headed for the stands immediately after a gripping 18-16 win over South Africa was confirmed.
She was determined to share the moment with her baby Siena who came into the world only last August.
Kelsey (left) was in scintillating form in the lead role for the Jackaroos and now adds a gold to the bronze she claimed at the Delhi Games in 2010 and the silver she won in Glasgow four years ago.
The penultimate night in the Optus Aquatic Pool proved a bumper night Team Griffith swimmers who reeled in a total of five medals.
Bachelor of Criminology and Criminal Justice student, Jessica Ashwood, took out Team Griffith’s only silver of the night in the Women’s 800m Freestyle Final, and was closely followed by Bachelor of Exercise Science student, Kiah Melverton, to claim bronze behind superstar on the rise Ariarne Titmus.
There were also bronze medals for hardworking Public Health students, Georgia Bohl in the Women’s 100m Breaststroke Final and Emma McKeon who collected her fifth medal of the Games in the Women’s 200m Butterfly Final.
Gritty Grant Irvine, a member of Griffith Swim Club , secured his first medal of a busy Games in the Men’s 100m Butterfly Final when he stayed on to take bronze.
Red hot finale
In a scorching hot Women’s 100m Freestyle Final, won by Bronte Campbell, Business student Shayna Jack touched the wall in fourth place.
Leiston Pickett, Bachelor of Commerce student, was another to miss out on a medal finishing sixth in the Women’s 100m Breaststroke Final.
Bachelor of Science (Advanced Honours) student Cameron McEvoy once more put himself in medal contention by qualifying for the Men’s 50m Freestyle tonight.
Jessica Ashwood will also be hoping to be poolside later tonight, provided she can qualify from this morning’s heats of the Women’s 400m Freestyle. On the last night of swimming action, other finals of note include the Men’s and Women’s 4 x 100m Medley Relay and the Men’s 1500m Freestyle.
In athletics, Sport Management student John Lane (left) endured a full-on day of Decathlon action at Carrara Stadium, completing the first five disciplines to try and keep in touch with Canada’s Damian Warner who leads the way. Today will start with the 110m Hurdles at 10.05am followed by the discus, pole vault, javelin and 1500m.
In her fifth Games, Deborah Acason narrowly missed out on another medal in the 90+kg category on the final day of Weightlifting. The double degree graduate finished in fourth place at the Carrara Sports Arena. In the shooting at Belmont, Paul Adams narrowly missed out on last night’s final. The Business student advanced his position from day one but finished seventh, just out of the six qualifying places.
In the hockey, Australia resisted a late onslaught from New Zealand at the Gold Coast Hockey Centre last night in a 0-0 draw, meaning alumnus Jordyn Holzberger and the Hockeyroos will avoid the big guns in the semi-finals with a win over Scotland tonight (9.30pm).
In basketball, postgraduate finance student Jesse Wagstaf and the Boomers booked a semi-final berth with last night’s 97-55 win over Nigeria and will now wait to see who emerges from the qualifying finals.
At the Games today
Two stars of athletics will take to the track at Carrara Stadium today. Griffith University and Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games Scholarship recipient, Riley Day (right), makes her entry in the heats of the Women’s 200m from 12.20pm.Then tonight, in the Women’s T54 (Wheelchair) 1500m Final (8.05pm), it’s the turn of double Rio silver medalist and Griffith business student, Madi de Rozario.
Rising star of boxing Skye Nicolson will make her eagerly awaited first appearance at GC2018 in the Women’s 57kg weight division of the boxing. The Bachelor of Public Relations and Communication student bids for a medal in her quarter-final with Cameroon’s Christelle Aurore Ndiang at Oxenford Studios (12.32pm)
Road worthy
With track action at the Anna Meares Velodrome now complete, the cycling attention next turns to the road where two Griffith graduates are part of a six-strong Australian Women’s Road Race team. Delhi Games bronze medalist Chloe Hosking is a Bachelor of Communication graduate; Katrin Garfoot completed a Graduate Diploma in Secondary Education at Griffith.
The Women’s Individual Time Trial starts at Currumbin Beachfront today at 2.45pm, with the Women’s Road Race to follow on Saturday. Chloe Hosking remains a slight doubt coming into GC2018 after a crash in the Tour of Flanders left her bruised and hospitalised at the start of the month.
At Broadbeach Lawn Bowls, Kelsey Cottrell will be aiming to build on yesterday’s Fours excitement when Australia take on minnows Niue in round two and Malta in round three of the Women’s Pairs. Today is also semi-final day in the Mixed Pairs (vision impaired) where Business graduate Jake Fehlberg will team up with Lynne Seymour and try to reverse yesterday’s defeat to Scotland.
Team Griffith
Current Students: Matthew Hauser (triathlon), Madison de Rozario (wheelchair athletics), Domonic Bedggood (diving), Tejaswinin Williamson (diving), Jesse Wagstaf (basketball), Brandon Wakeling (weightlifting), Stephanie Morton (cycling), Sara Tait (para triathlon), Jessica Ashwood (swimming), Georgia Bohl (swimming), Shayna Jack (swimming), Cameron McEvoy (swimming), Emma McKeon (swimming), Kiah Melverton (swimming), Leiston Pickett (swimming), Zac Stubblety-Cook (swimming), Matthew Denny (athletics), Riley Day (athletics), Liam Hunter (swimming), Skye Nicolson (boxing), John Lane (decathlon), Kelsey Cottrell (lawn bowls), Paul Adams (shooting), Georgina Friedrichs (rugby sevens).
Staff: Andrea Hams (weightlifting), Michael Bohl (swimming, coach).
Griffith Swimming Club: Madeline Groves, Grant Irvine, David McKeon.
A golden moment reminiscent of Pat Cash’s finest moment at Wimbledon crowned Australia’s gold medal winning performance in the final of this afternoon’s Lawn Bowls Women’s Fours at the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games (GC2018).
The moment of magic was delivered by current Bachelor of Business student and Bachelor of Journalism graduate Kelsey Cottrell when she headed for the stands immediately after a gripping 18-16 win over South Africa was confirmed.
She wanted to share the moment with baby Siena who came into the world only last August.
Kelsey was in scintillating form in the lead role for the Jackaroos and now adds a gold to the bronze she claimed at the Delhi Games in 2010 and the silver she won in Glasgow four years ago.
The win takes to 11 the number of gold medals won by members of Team Griffith during the first five days of GC2018.
Elsewhere today, in her fifth Games, Deborah Acason has narrowly missed out on another medal in the 90+kg category on the final day of weightlifting. The double degree graduate has finished in fourth place at the Carrara Sports Arena.
In the Optus Aquatic Pool, Emma McKeon has qualified for tonight’s final of the Women’s 200m Butterfly while Cameron McEvoy advanced to the semi-finals of the Men’s 50m Freestyle.
Bachelor of Sport Management student John Lane has been getting down to business on the first day of the Decathlon, while in shooting Paul Adams has just missed out on tonight’s final of the Men’s Skeet.
Two academics walked into a pub…
One beer coaster-transcribed book proposal and a pre-existing publisher’s meeting later comes 33 tales of trial and tribulation from researchers across Australia, New Zealand, the UK, Republic of Ireland, USA, Malaysia and Europe, in this collection from editors, Associate Professor Keith Townsend (WOW) and Professor Mark Saunders (University of Birmingham).
Associate Professor Keith Townsend
How to Keep your Research Project on Track: Insights from When Things go Wrong, is not, however, just a compilation of complaints. While a cathartic experience for many of its 38 contributors says Keith(pictured left), it is as the title suggests, a book that offers solutions for pressing on when the proverbial hits the fan (refer to the editors’ introduction for more on this…):
“In this work-intensified environment, I think we miss out on conversations about stuff…like the perils of interpreting qualitative data. …Mark and I had done similar books and thought it would be fun and useful…not just for research students and early career researchers, but old-timers that forget just how complicated the research process is when they might now be a step removed, having Research Assistants and Fellows doing their data collection and analysis.”
“This book is about all forms of research and documenting how people solve problems when things go awry, whether it is a qualitative or quantitative project; it draws to mind the classic line from the Blues Brothers movie, ‘Oh, we got both kinds [of music]. We got country and western!’”
While there were many stories to choose from—the book could have been six times longer, adds Keith—there are parables that translate well to other realms:
“The book is not only relevant to academics, but to remind people that not all jobs are easy and straightforward and you need to find ways to solve your problems. There’s one chapter on writers block for example [by Dawn C. Duke, University of Surrey]. This is important for anyone if you take the writer’s block bit out: it’s quite useful for getting back to work when you’re struggling.”
Julia Carins is a Food and Nutrition Scientist who takes a social marketing approach to improving eating behaviours. She co-authored ‘Rolling with the punches’ with Social Marketing@Griffith director, Sharyn Rundle-Thiele, and Christiane Stock, Southern Denmark University. In this chapter the team recommends (paradoxically) planning for things to go wrong even when you don’t know what that will be!
Dr Julia Carins
Speaking about the observational data collection methods she employed during meal service times in a busy workplace cafeteria for her PhD research, Dr Carins(pictured right) reflects on how, despite months of planning with the employer and their caterers:
“The most predictable thing about field work is that it is totally unpredictable! Things can change very quickly when you are outside the controlled laboratoryenvironment. But one of the advantages of observational research is that you are there to record what happens—and if you go prepared to be flexible and adapt, and capture whatactually doeshappen you can be assured that your research objective will be met.”
With a similar collection expected for release in 2020 (Edward Elgar) focusing on the PhD process, the challenge now says Associate Professor Townsend, is finding a way to structure it so as to capture the variety of ways PhDs are done around the world.
In keeping with the theme of keeping projects on track, perhaps the common denominator of this book may be what goes wrong with a PhD…!
How to Keep Your Research Project on Track: Insights from When Things Go Wrong is available from Edward Elgar (2018), ISBN 978 1 78643 575 0.
The fourth day of the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games (GC2018) brought another trio of medals for athletes from the Team Griffith family.
On the last night of high speed action in Brisbane, Bachelor of Criminology and Criminal Justice student, Stephanie Morton, was crowned the queen of the velodrome as she powered to her third gold medal of the Games. Her exciting victory in the Women’s Keirin Final brought to four her overall haul from the past four nights.
As Steph stepped out of the limelight, Business student Matthew Denny stepped in with a silver medal performance in the Men’s Hammer Throw. The 21-year-old captured the imagination of spectators on the opening afternoon of athletics at Carrara Stadium.
He displayed composure and courage in overcoming foul throws with his first two efforts to eventually throw a PB 74.88m, which would only be denied by a Games record winning throw beyond the 80m mark. Matt can now look forward with confidence to a return to Carrara on Thursday for the Men’s Discuss competition.
Madeline in the medals
In the Optus Aquatic Centre last night, it was the turn of Griffith Swim Club’s Madeline Groves to capture the attention in an Australian 1-2-3 in the final of the Women’s 50m Butterfly. She claimed bronze behind superstar Cate Campbell.
Bachelor of Science (Advanced Honours) student Cameron McEvoy narrowly missed out on the medals, finishing fourth in the final of the Men’s 100m Freestyle after an impressive swim.
Team Griffith will be very well represented in tonight’s pool finals following some excellent semi-final showings yesterday, not least from Public Health student Georgia Bohl (right) who was an impressive winner in her semi-final of the Women’s 100m Breaststroke. She will be joined in the final by Commerce student Leiston Pickett who came third in the same semi-final.
Shayna Jack, a Business student, continues to enjoy a wonderful GC2018 and she’ll go into tonight’s final of the Women’s 100m Freestyle with confidence after another excellent swim in the semi-final where she touched the wall second.
Final contenders
Grant Irvine (left), another member of Griffith Swim Club on the Gold Coast campus, is also a medal chance in the final of the Men’s 100m Butterfly after winning his semi-final last night. Bachelor of Software Engineering student, Liam Hunter, swam very competitively in his semi-final of the Men’s 50m Breaststroke only to miss out on a place in the final.
Also contesting a final tonight are Bachelor of Criminology and Criminal Justice student, Jessica Ashwood, and Bachelor of Exercise Science student, Kiah Melverton. Both will line up in the Women’s 800m Freestyle Final after swimming first and third in their respective semi-finals.
There is also the prospect of swimming star, Emma McKeon, lining up in the final of the Women’s 200m Butterfly. The Public Health student will first have to negotiate the heats this morning. Also in action in heats today are Cameron McEvoy and alumnus Samuel Seghers in the Men’s 50m Freestyle.
Today at the Games
At Carrara Stadium on day two of the athletics program, Bachelor of Sport Management student, John Lane (left), will swing into action in the Decathlon. Representing England, John will take on the 100m, long jump, shot put, high jump and 400m on the first day of the grueling discipline. He starts with the sprint at 10.05am.
On the final day of weightlifting at Carrara Sports Arena, it is the turn of double degree graduate Deborah Acason (right) who will compete at her fifth Games. An outstanding sports career has seen her win gold at the Melbourne Games in 2006, three silvers at Manchester in 2002 and a bronze at Delhi in 2010. The Bachelor of Laws/Bachelor of Criminology and Criminal Justice graduate contests the Women’s 90-plus kg category from 2pm.
Also in weightlifting, Physiotherapy lecturer at the School of Applied Health Services, Andrea Hams, yesterday finished in sixth place in the 69kg category. In the Men’s 20km Walk Final, Michael Hosking — who studied a Graduate Diploma in Secondary Education at Griffith — finished in 10th place. In shooting, at the end of the first day of qualification in the Men’s Skeet, Business student Paul Adams is sitting in 10th place.
Medal certainty
Day four already guarantees another medal for Team Griffith after Australia edged out Canada by 10-9 in the semi-finals of the Women’s Fours at the Lawn Bowls yesterday. They will take their place in today’s gold medal final against South Africa (12.15pm).
Team lead and Journalism graduate Kelsey Cottrell will be looking to add a gold to a personal Commonwealth Games medal haul that already includes a silver and a bronze.
She will also be in action today in round one of the Women’s Pairs when Australia take on Zambia. In the Mixed Pairs (vision impaired) Australia overcame Wales 18-6 in round four with Business graduate Jake Fehlberg to the fore.
Day 5 also sees Postgraduate student Jesse Wagstaf in action with the Australian Boomers who take on Nigeria in the basketball (9pm) and alumnus Jordyn Holzberger lining out for the Hockeyroos when they face New Zealand in Pool A of the hockey (9.30pm).
Team Griffith
Current Students: Matthew Hauser (triathlon), Madison de Rozario (wheelchair athletics), Domonic Bedggood (diving), Tejaswinin Williamson (diving), Jesse Wagstaf (basketball), Brandon Wakeling (weightlifting), Stephanie Morton (cycling), Sara Tait (para triathlon), Jessica Ashwood (swimming), Georgia Bohl (swimming), Shayna Jack (swimming), Cameron McEvoy (swimming), Emma McKeon (swimming), Kiah Melverton (swimming), Leiston Pickett (swimming), Zac Stubblety-Cook (swimming), Matthew Denny (athletics), Riley Day (athletics), Liam Hunter (swimming), Skye Nicolson (boxing), John Lane (decathlon), Kelsey Cottrell (lawn bowls), Paul Adams (shooting), Georgina Friedrichs (rugby sevens).
Staff: Andrea Hams (weightlifting), Michael Bohl (swimming, coach).
Griffith Swimming Club: Madeline Groves, Grant Irvine, David McKeon.
Griffith University’s Gold Coast campus will host the Global Coaches House 2018 from Monday, April 9 to Friday, April 13.
Former All Blacks Head Coach, Sir Graham Henry, will deliver the opening keynote address from 9am to 10am on Monday.
The Global Coaches House 2018 brings sport coaches from around the world together for a week of development, education and shared knowledge.
Among world-leading coaching authorities presenting during an extensive five-day programme will be John Atkinson (National Performance director, Swimming Canada); Raylene Bates (Para Athletics coach, New Zealand); Kate Palmer (CEO, Australian Sports Commission); Anna Meares (Olympic and Commonwealth Games gold medallist); Alyson Annan (Head Coach, Women’s Hockey, Netherlands) and Richard Charlesworth (former Head Coach, Hockeyroos and Kookaburras).
Duncan Free OAM, Director, Griffith Sports College, Professor Sheena Reilly, Pro Vice Chancellor (Health) and Associate Professor Clare Minahan from School of Applied Health Services will be among the Griffith experts participating during the week.
The Global Coaches House is presented by the International Council for Coaching Excellence in association with Australian Institute for Sport, Commonwealth Games Federation and Griffith University.
“It is wonderful to see the influence and impact of the GAPS program at work already,” Duncan Free OAM (left), Director of Griffith Sports College, said.
“I’ll be involved in the mixed zone, where athletes mix with media, which is something completely new for me,” she said.
Her focus will not be entirely academic, however, as she also aims to throw herself into the Games atmosphere. “I love getting involved and wanted to be a part of the action – a one off opportunity to be a part of the biggest event to be held in Queensland, Australia this decade. It’s not every year that a Commonwealth Games comes to town.
After the initial shock of the news had worn off, the reality set in — bringing with it a whole host of pre-event rules (“You weren’t allowed to wear your uniform before the day, and you weren’t to wash it before the day,” Dr Cameron reveals) and embargoes, disallowing the bearers from telling anyone they’d been selected.
Kelsey (left) was in scintillating form in the lead role for the Jackaroos and now adds a gold to the bronze she claimed at the Delhi Games in 2010 and the silver she won in Glasgow four years ago.
In athletics, Sport Management student John Lane (left) endured a full-on day of Decathlon action at Carrara Stadium, completing the first five disciplines to try and keep in touch with Canada’s Damian Warner who leads the way. Today will start with the 110m Hurdles at 10.05am followed by the discus, pole vault, javelin and 1500m.
Then tonight, in the Women’s T54 (Wheelchair) 1500m Final (8.05pm), it’s the turn of double Rio silver medalist and Griffith business student, Madi de Rozario.
Team Griffith will be very well represented in tonight’s pool finals following some excellent semi-final showings yesterday, not least from Public Health student Georgia Bohl (right) who was an impressive winner in her semi-final of the Women’s 100m Breaststroke. She will be joined in the final by Commerce student Leiston Pickett who came third in the same semi-final.
Final contenders
At Carrara Stadium on day two of the athletics program, Bachelor of Sport Management student, John Lane (left), will swing into action in the Decathlon. Representing England, John will take on the 100m, long jump, shot put, high jump and 400m on the first day of the grueling discipline. He starts with the sprint at 10.05am.
On the final day of weightlifting at Carrara Sports Arena, it is the turn of double degree graduate Deborah Acason (right) who will compete at her fifth Games. An outstanding sports career has seen her win gold at the Melbourne Games in 2006, three silvers at Manchester in 2002 and a bronze at Delhi in 2010. The Bachelor of Laws/Bachelor of Criminology and Criminal Justice graduate contests the Women’s 90-plus kg category from 2pm.