Nina Kennedy created history for Australia and capped a post-event interview with a quip that’s been labelled “iconic”.
Australia’s latest Olympic hero has won the hearts of the nation with her gold medal in the women’s pole vault – and for her cheeky response in a post-event interview.
Kennedy created history when she won Australia’s 18th gold of the Paris Games on Thursday, and afterwards had the customary trackside chat with Channel 9’s Tony Jones.
The Melbourne-based presenter has long been ribbed with the nickname “Chompers”, a joke about his white teeth that has been a running gag in the AFL media world.
Jones ended the interview by praising Kennedy for her record-breaking win, which took the nation’s tally to a new height of 18 golds in a single Games.
“It’s just been one out of the box for Australia so thank you, thank you, thank you,” Jones said.
Kennedy took a moment before replying “thanks Chompers” before breaking out in laugher.
Jones could be hear laughing along with the quip off-camera.
It was a moment that didn’t go unmissed by those in the AFL world, with former Port Adelaide star turned commentator Kane Cornes chiming in.
“If we didn’t already love her enough,” he wrote on X.
Another X user wrote: “just when you thought the Aus Olympic team couldn’t get any better, Nina Kennedy proceeds to take the piss out of Tony Jones, truly iconic”.
The Channel 9 presenter is known for not particularly liking the nickname referencing changes to his teeth, which was bestowed on him by late AFL great Danny Frawley.
Frawley, known as “Spud”, told the story of the name’s origin in an interview with Triple M in 2016.
“About 10 years ago on the Sunday Footy Show where Brian (Taylor) and I used to work, Tony Jones walked in one day with a magnificent set of brand new chompers and we called him Chomp,” he said.
“He didn’t like it, but then he thought it was a term of endearment. He spent about $50,000 on a new set of teeth and they looked magnificent.
“Leading into the Thursday night Footy Show one of the players would come on the Channel 9 news and they’d say ‘thanks a lot Chomp’ (at the end of the interview).
“Over a five or six week period, Tony Jones started to love it.”
Kennedy was ecstatic with her breakthrough win in Paris, as she became the first Aussie woman to win a gold medal in the field events.
“I’m here, I’m a gold medallist, that is so sick,” she said.
Jones also asked her to reflect on the journey she’d taken to reach the career high point, which has included battles with mental health issues.
“I really had to go places I didn’t think I would have to go,” Kennedy said.
“I had to learn a lot about myself, the way I think, my past and I had to focus on me as a person and focusing on Nina the human has really brought out the best in the athlete.”
