Commonwealth Games watch

Bronze booster

Australian woman marathoner Jess Trenglove was running fifth when a spectator yelled out to her at Glasgow Green that her compatriot Michael Shelley had won the men’s marathon.

“Someone yelled it out in the park … and it really spurred me on,’’ Trengrove said, after finishing third for the bronze medal.

“I think it is part of the reason that I have a medal around my neck ... hearing that made me realise I could do it.”

The medal was all the sweeter as her brother, Jack Trenglove of the Melbourne Demons Aussie Rules team, was in Glasgow to watch his sibling’s podium finish. AP

Silver for wife, gold for husband

Judoka Gemma Gibbons’ disappointment after losing in the final of the -78kg event to Wales’ Natalie Powell did not last long. Just 20 minutes later, the English athlete was weeping with joy as her husband Euan Burton won gold for Scotland in the -100kg division. Rarely can a Scottish victory have been as emotionally greeted by an English competitor as this one was.

“We spent some time together and said good luck in the back room,” she said of a relationship which crosses the sporting divide. “We both had jobs to do today. We were hoping to meet up with two golds — at least he made it one.”

And for the second Games in succession, Gibbons has served up an image to savour. At the 2012 Olympics in London, after securing a semi-final win to guarantee a silver medal, she slumped to her knees, before standing, looking to the sky and mouthing: “I love you, mum.”

That was for her mother Jeannette, who had introduced the young Gemma to the sport when she was only six, and who died from leukaemia in 2004. THE DAILY TELEGRAPH

SHUTTING UP HER CRITICS

As “Jerusalem” rang out to celebrate her victory on Saturday, English weightlifter Zoe Smith could not quite work out whether to smile or to cry. After all, the 20-year-old had successfully defended the 58kg weightlifting gold she’d surprisingly won as a 16-year-old at the last edition. Just months after that Delhi success, she suffered the ignominy of British Weight Lifting cutting her funding for being “overweight”.

“I was labelled the fat cow of weightlifting for a while,” Smith said. “It was a bit insulting, because they were all basically sat there calling me fat. I was only 16.”

Now an eloquent, confident and strong-minded woman, Smith is being hailed as an inspiration to women throughout Britain. “Being called an inspiration is such a wonderful thing for me,” she said. “I’m a bit of a feminist and I believe in the strength of women so to be an inspiration to other women to lift and be who they want to be is really amazing for me. I’m just glad I can be that person.”

And after lifting 118kg in the clean and jerk to take a winning lead, she showed she knew how to celebrate. The backflip on stage was perfect. AGENCIES