CYCLING - Positive vibes for Westley's return

ANENDRA SINGH
When Westley Gough arrives home from Beijing next Tuesday a plate of mashed potatoes and sausages will be waiting for him.
"That and he'll be looking forward to his grandmother's [Joy Stephenson] lasagne," his mother, Wendy Gough, of Waipukurau, tells SportToday of Gough, who has been away from home for four months while based in Europe.
Talk of "melting metals and putting them on ribbons" will be way down the agenda, says the Lakeview Kindergarten teacher after her son's New Zealand pursuit team won bronze on Tuesday but only four of the riders - Sam Bewley, Hayden Roulston, Marc Ryan and Jesse Sergent - will return home from the Olympic games with medals around their necks. Gough and reserve rider Peter Latham won't.
Gough, who has been part of the squad for 18 months, rode for the team last Sunday when the Kiwis qualified second for the last eight with their first sub-four minute time over 4000m. Roulston then replaced Gough and the team went on to qualify for the bronze medal ride with a national record time of 3min 57.536sec, before taking out the ride-off against 2004 Olympic champions Australia.
"Everyone has the right to feel the way they do. The wider community out there supported him and some people are angry he didn't get a medal," says Wendy, whose phone has been ringing hot since Tuesday.
"We've had our mixed emotions and we felt for Westley and then also felt that it wasn't fair when swimming, soccer and other team members get medals.
"What do you do? That's the rules and you just get on with it. We're not going to be all doom and gloom for Westley," she says.
The Goughs, she says, are a positive family and have moved on since.
"The whole family is proud of him and he'll be looking forward to his next challenges," says Wendy. Gough will have a well-earned break before clocking up kilometres for the Tour of Southland in October and then the world championship before Christmas.
"In our eyes he's received a medal. He did his job in helping the team qualify." The family had emailed to him to relax and enjoy the atmosphere with his teammates and go shopping in China.
"I'm sure he's gone through the 'this sucks' part of it at some stage but he's only 20 and has a great future ahead of him. Just because he didn't receive a medal doesn't mean he'll chuck it all in."
Wendy says after his ride last Sunday Gough spoke to her for a few minutes, saying he wasn't too impressed with his race.
A young man of few words, Wendy says a motivated Gough knows what he wants and quietly works his way towards achieving goals.
"He'll come out stronger for the experience."
Wendy says the family enjoyed watching him on TV on Tuesday night, wearing Roulston's bronze medal around his neck.
"We thought it was really cool. He was wearing Hayden's medal and they were laughing during the interview and joking about melting down the four medals and making six out of them," she says with a laugh. "I don't know where that was coming from but you can see they are like a family and just one big unit."
Wendy, with the help of crutches, has enjoyed watching the Olympics from home after rupturing her achilles tendon while playing social netball a fortnight ago.