Panic over. ParalympicsGB’s Jonnie Peacock has been reunited with the precious lucky charms he lost in the aftermath of his triumph in the T44 100m final on Friday night.
Having defended his title with a scintillating sprint in the Olympic Stadium, Peacock was talking about the personal significance of the two mementos that he wears during his races when he realised that they had disappeared. One was a St Christopher necklace given to him by his mum and step-dad, the other a badge that belonged to his grandfather. He always keeps them close by.
However, when he was asked to show them during an interview with the British media, he could not find them. After looking in his tracksuit bottoms, jacket and bag, Peacock found himself leading a search party of journalists around the track where he had won Paralympic gold with a time of 10.81sec earlier in the evening. He left empty-handed, fretting about losing two items that were so close to his heart. The assumption is that he dropped them after leaving the podium; rarely has a medal ceremony proved so costly.
British Athletics officials returned to the stadium early on Saturday morning to have another look. Their efforts went unrewarded until much later in the day. But there was a happy ending for the 23-year-old, who is heading to Paris for a holiday with his girlfriend.
The mementos were found on the track, handed into the technical information and returned to the grateful sprinter. Some people have all the luck.
