Mahe Drysdale had two special supporters accompanying him in London in his successful quest for Olympic gold - mascot puppets hand-made by Parua Bay School student Jack Davies.
Inspired by the puppets they had made as part of a project play, 8-year-old Jack Davies went home and created stick figuresout of ice-block sticks, decorated in New Zealand attire.
The mascots, named Jack and William, are touring the Olympic tournament with Mahe's aunty, Denise Donald, who is a family friend of Room 9 teacher Gail Green.
And the mascots were there when Drysdale won Olympic gold in the single sculls on Friday night (NZ time).
"Jack came to school with these figures and I'd just had dinner with Denise the night before who said she'd like to take a mascot over. The kids picked their names and off they went," Mrs Green said.
Mrs Donald took the mascots with her to London and has documented their trip through a blog called "Flat Jack's Olympic trip" created by the class.
Mrs Green said the class relished the project.
"It's been really amazing - the kids are connecting to the other side of the world, and it's meant that despite being a rural school we're not isolated at all.
"We've also been able to use the blog for writing activities and all sorts of learning curves."
Room 9 log into the blog each day, where they can comment on Jack and William's activities and photos of their adventures uploaded by Mrs Donald.
Mrs Green jokes they've "been up to all sorts of things".
"Jack had his arm broken and it was glued back on but sticks up now. But the kids are having so much fun and are meeting the star athletes through Jack and William."
You can check out the blog at http://flatjacksolympictrip.blogspot.co.nz/
