Little-known swim star Zac Stubblety-Cook wins GOLD in the 200m breaststroke – as Aussies go wild for the loveable heartthrob with a quirky name
Australia’s Zac Stubblety-Cook has won gold and scored an Olympic record in the men’s 200m breaststroke final at the Tokyo Games – as the Aussie swimmers continue to dominate in the pool.
The 22-year-old from Queensland touched the wall in record time at two minutes and 6.38 seconds followed closely behind the Netherlands’ Arno Kamminga and Finnish swimmer Matti Mattsson.
Stubblety-Cook had been a favourite to win after taking out first place in the semis with the fastest time of two minutes and 7.35 seconds.
No Australian had won the 200m breaststroke final at the Olympics since the previous Games in Tokyo in 1964.
Stubblety-Cook had made his debut for the Australian Dolphins in 2018 at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games and took home a silver in the 200m breaststroke a year later in Tokyo at the Pan Pacific Championships.
Zac Stubblety-Cook is seen ahead of his 200ms breaststroke semi final at the Tokyo Olympics
Stubblety-Cook is seen with his girlfriend. The 22-year-old has won gold and broke the Olympic record
The youngster gave an impressive performance at the Olympic selection trials in Adelaide back in June clocking the second fastest time ever at two minutes and 6.28 seconds.
The only swimmer to beat him is Anton Chupkov from the Russian Olympic Committee who was also swimming for the gold during Thursday morning’s final.
Along with his iconic name, Stubblety-Cook has also gained the attention from Aussies watching on from home for his good looks.
‘I am objectifying the male swimmers on my TV. Specifically this dude,’ one woman tweeted with a photo of Stubblety-Cook in his swimmers.
‘And the gold medal for best Olympic name goes to… Zac Stubblety-Cook from the Australian swim team. Congrats Zac!’ another said.
‘Zac Stubblety-Cook sounds like a nursery rhyme,’ tweeted one.
The 22-year-old from Queensland had been a favourite to win after taking out first place in his semis with the fastest time of two minutes and 7.35 seconds
Along with his iconic name, Stubblety-Cook has also gained the attention from Aussies watching on from home for his good looks with one woman tweeting a photo of Zac in his swimmers
‘Apart from having a brilliant name, Zac Stubblety-Cook paces his races as well as anyone in men’s swimming,’ another swimming fan said.
‘There will never be an olympic swimmer with a name that’s more fun to say.’
The 22-year-old joins a long list of other Aussie swimmers taking home the gold from the Tokyo Olympics.
Ariarne Titmus managed to win gold in both the 200m freestyle and 400m freestyle, smashing American champ Katie Ledecky.
Kaylee McKeown also took out the win and an Olympic record in the 100m backstroke final.
Advertisement