JAKE WIGHTMAN's father was eventually lost for words at his son’s world championship victory – after sticking to his own script in commentating on the race over the loudspeakers at Hayward Field.
Former Scottish Athletics chief executive Geoff Wightman threw his hands up in the air as his son charged across the line to pull off a shock triumph in the men’s 1500m final.
The ex-Great Britain international was immediately hugged by Susan, proud wife and mother, who ran the marathon at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul.
He started out in stadium announcing when their twin sons, Jake and Sam, began to do school races in Edinburgh when Susan was their PE teacher.
Now he is the voice of the sport at multiple Olympic Games but even as his heart was racing, he had to keep his cool.
“At the finish, I was reasonably cold eyed about it, because I had to call the rest of the medallists and keep an eye on the times and there was a job to be done,” Geoff said. “For the medal ceremony, I was concentrating very hard on because I didn't want to mess that up. But the point where I had a bit of a wobbler was when I was talking afterwards about when Mike Johnston gave Jake his first Scottish vest.
“Because, it's been quite a long journey, if you go back that far. That's really when you can trace little progressions. He got his first Scottish cross country vest in Antrim. He didn't do that well. But he was only little then. He hadn't grown. And just getting a Scottish vest was enough encouragement to keep him going on that point.
"All the way to the top of the world with Geoff, who doubles as Jake’s coach, helping him plot a path to glory. Through brutal training reps at their Middlesex base and at a pre-championship camp in Colorado in the company of fellow Scot and women’s 1500m bronze medallist Laura Muir. And via a heart-to-heart by text on Tuesday where he told Jake to seize the moment and not hold back.
“Lots of people said: ‘I've got Jake down for a medal. I think he'll get bronze.’ And the chat we had yesterday, the last exchange of messages was ‘look, you could you could slot in fourth, fifth or sixth, and then on the final charge, get a bronze. But how many times in your life are you ever going to line up for global final in this kind of form, with the possibility that if you take a risk, you could win it?’
“And the plan was cover every break. He did this at the Olympics, and it went wrong. He did it here, and it went right. And it was really just to cover every move, to be in a position where he could almost tap the leader on the shoulder and over the last 150, he could use his 800 metre speed to some effect and hit the front.
“And he pulled it off. And I think when he hits the home straight in front in any event, he tends to be quite hard to overhaul. So it was very pleasing.”
