Nina Kennedy's 'iconic' dig at Tony Jones after beautiful scenes with Matt Denny at Olympics
The Aussie gold medalist delivered two brilliant moments in one night.
Nina Kennedy has delivered two memorable moments in one night for Australia after a cheeky interview with Tony Jones following a historic gold medal in the pole vault. Australia enjoyed one its most successful days ever at the Olympics on Wednesday after Kennedy became the first Aussie woman in history to win a field athletics event.
Kennedy stumbled with an early miss at 4.70m on day 12. However, she never looked back having nailed her next three heights of 4.80, 4.85 and 4.90 all on the first attempt. While Kennedy couldn't climb 4.95m, American rival Katie Moon failed to clear 4.90 and the Aussie celebrated when realising she was an Olympic champion.
While Australia rejoiced with Kennedy after her historic feat in the athletics, she also had viewers in stitches having delivered another golden moment in her interview with Channel 9 sports presenter Jones. The Channel 9 personality - nicknamed 'Chompers' despite the fact he despises it - is in Paris and has been interviewing athletes following their events.
Jones has been involved in a number of hilarious moments across the years as he is dragged into the thick of Aussie celebrations during live crosses. And Kennedy couldn't help but follow in the footsteps of a number of Aussies in the past to thank the TV personality by using his hated nickname.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you," Jones said as he celebrated Kennedy's success in an interview with the champion. And the pole vault gold medalist smiled when she said: "Thanks Chompers".
Kennedy couldn't contain her own laughter as she giggled her way off camera after the cheeky moment. Aussie viewers were already lauding Kennedy's Olympics feat, but her cheeky sign-off to the interview has won her over even more fans - including AFL great and commentator Kane Cornes. Jones has publicly declared in the past how much he hates when people call him 'Chompers', and Kennedy appeared to know exactly what she was doing.
If we didn’t already love her enough https://t.co/VIQoUcEakL
— Kane Cornes (@kanecornes) August 7, 2024
Gold medallist Nina Kennedy just gave Tony Jones the “thanks Chompers” and it was absolutely perfect #Olympics
— Darren Murphy 🏏 (@MrDMurphy) August 7, 2024
@FootyonNine
Thanks Chompers 🤣
Brilliant work Tony pic.twitter.com/youp1fxnsd— Ashley Fraser (@hazzassassin) August 7, 2024
just when you thought the aus olympic team couldn’t get any better, nina kennedy proceeds to take the piss out of tony jones, truly iconic https://t.co/0AYleaaVDn
— liam (@liamwly) August 7, 2024
Nina Kennedy - “Thanks Chompers” 😂🤣
A very hilarious way to end the night for our Aussies #Olympics #Olympics2024 #Paris2024 #ParisOlympics2024 pic.twitter.com/zUijM8ZgiQ— JAKE FLAGPIES23 🏆🖤🤍 (@IncrediblyBozza) August 7, 2024
Nina Kennedy and Matt Denny celebrate in beautiful moment
Kennedy's championship jump officially pushed Australia to its 18th gold medal and helped the nation achieve the country's most successful Olympic Games in history. On the same night, Matt Denny finally won a well deserved bronze medal in the discus.
Having finished fourth in Tokyo, Denny managed to throw 69.31m to achieve his first Olympics medal. The last time an Australian won a medal in the discus was Daniela Costian in 1992. Denny is the first male for Australia to ever win a medal in the event.
And in a beautiful moment, Denny ran up to Kennedy after she secured her gold medal. The duo embraced and were all smiles having achieved history for themselves and the nation. The athletics teammates celebrates on one Australia's greatest ever nights at the Olympics.
Extremely underrated moment from this evening. Matt Denny and Nina Kennedy hugging and celebrating together. Pure joy! pic.twitter.com/9HXMxwfNUb
— Marissa Lordanic (@marissalordanic) August 7, 2024
Nina Kennedy ends pole vault drama at Olympics
Kennedy won gold in Paris, while Moon took silver on a countback ad Alysha Newman of Canada won the bronze. Kennedy broke down in tears as she celebrated her historic feat, and posed for photos alongside Moon and Newman.
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Kennedy's individual gold was a special moment for the Aussie after she copped a storm that erupted at the athletics world championships last August. Kennedy and Moon copped backlash for deciding to share the gold medal. On that occasion, both athletes cleared 4.90 but couldn't hit 4.95 after three unsuccessful attempts. This time around, Kennedy didn't need to worry about sharing as Moon wasn't able to surpass the 4.90 mark in Paris.
Conor Leahy embraces partner after velodrome gold medal
Kennedy and Denny were not the only two Aussie medalists to be involved in lovely scenes after their triumph. Earlier on Wednesday night, Australia scored a thrilling win in the men's team pursuit final over fierce rivals Great Britain. The Australian combination of Sam Welsford, Kelland O'Brien, Oliver Bleddyn and Conor Leahy clocked three minutes 42.067 seconds to win Wednesday night's decider.
The Aussie quartet celebrated in emphatic style with Conor Leahy running into the crowd to embrace his partner. Welsford, O'Brien, Bleddyn and Leahy were ecstatic having helped Australia achieve yet another remarkable gold in the team pursuit.