Win will stay with me forever, says blade hero Peacock
After beating his hero and mentor Oscar Pistorius, Jonnie Peacock celebrated his Paralympic gold with a feast at McDonald’s. He tells Channel 4 News the win could “take a lifetime to sink in”.
Just 19 years old, Jonnie Peacock had no idea what a blade was until he saw South Africa’s Oscar Pistorius on the television.
He told Channel 4 News previously: “I was just in my room one night after school flicking through the channels, as you do, I just saw this guy with these two cool blade things and I didn’t even know what this really was – I just thought it was amazing that someone like us could actually race with able bodied people so I wanted to see if I could sort of follow in his footsteps.”
Yet Peacock has risen to overtake Pistorius’s footsteps and claim victory over his friend, mentor and hero. Yesterday’s Thrilling Thursday saw Peacock securing gold in the T33 100m sprint, setting a new Paralympic record and fending off his sporting hero Oscar Pistorius.
Today Peacock said: “It’s going to be an experience that lives with me forever definitely – and it’s probably going to take a lifetime to sink in.”
For Peacock, Pistorius is “the biggest thing in Paralypmics and is always the man to beat”.
The teenager used to watch the 25-year-old South African’s races and interviews on YouTube.
He also considers Pistorius a mentor – as the athlete who offered the young Brit the best advice he had ever been given.
“Oscar once said: ‘Don’t forget to enjoy running. It can’t be a job, you have to love it’.”
Just hours after beating Pistorius, Peacock tweeted a photo of his McDonald’s meal: 12 chicken nuggets, a chicken burger and an ice cream sundae. “Ohhhh yeahhh!!!!! Been waiting for this!!!”, he wrote alongside the photo.
A humble end to a victorious night for the teenager from Cambridge who was discovered when he took part in a 60m sprint at a British Paralympics Athletics event at the Mile End Athletics Stadium.
Born in May 1993, Peacock is a lower-limb amputee after he contracted meningitis when he was just five years old.
Counting his mother and stepfather as his biggest supporters, Peacock previously told Channel 4: “I wouldn’t be where I am today without them. And my coach, Hayley Ginn.”.
But sporting prowess runs in the Peacock family – his grandfather played for Liverpool and Everton Football Club.
Peacock, who himself supports Liverpool FC, said: “I always wear a bracelet with a St Christopher charm on it and an army badge that belonged to my granddad. He passed away before I was born.”
