Joke explodes after Aussie’s stunning athletics medal

Kelsey-Lee Barber holds the Australian flag aloft in delight after winning bronze in the javelin at the Tokyo Olympics. Barber had a shocking start to the competition, lacking form and confidence in her heat due to the ‘yips’, before coming good when it mattered. She threw her season-best of 64.56m, trailing only China’s Liu Shiying (66.34) and Maria Andrejczyk of Poland (64.61m). Barber later revealed just how low her confidence had sunk before Tokyo.

“There were moments this year where (husband and coach) Mike and I were sitting and I was crying,” Barber, the 2019 world champion, said afterwards. “I wasn’t sure if I was going to make it here, let alone think I was going to medal … I didn’t want to give it up and I didn’t want to stop fighting for it. This year has challenged me in so many ways, I worked hard for it and we found a way. Tonight it was about the win, I wanted the gold medal, I wanted to walk away an Olympic champion. It was like every throw was my last throw, because I know I can do something special. I’m just so proud of what I achieved tonight.”

A joke was there for the taking after Barber’s result and it got a hammering on social media. Barber has appeared in an Australian Beef ad throughout the Games, in which she loses out on the last bit of roast beef to her misfit brother ‘Greg’ at a family dinner. Thus, tongue-in-cheek Aussies were lamenting the fact that Greg and the lost bit of meat had cost her silver or gold. “Australia now has a beef with Greg,” one of many comments read.