To this day Brian Tink remains Dubbo’s only Olympian.
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As a 17-year-old, Tink stepped into the ring at Montreal in the 1976 Olympic Games in a competition featuring some of the world’s greatest boxers.
That remains a career highlight today, as does his World Championship win in Jakarta in 1979 and lighting the cauldron at Dubbo in 2000 as part of the Olympic Torch Relay.
But also right up there in terms of memorable moments for one of Dubbo’s greatest athletes is boxing his way to a bronze medal in front of a parochial home crowd at the Brisbane Commonwealth Games in 1982.
The Games are set to return to Australian shores next April when the Gold Coast plays host to an estimated 6,600 athletes and team officials from 70 Commonwealth countries and territories.
And Tink knows as well as anyone what it will be like for the Australian athletes who compete.
“Brisbane was unreal. I went to Montreal and (Commonwealth Games in) Edmonton but in Brisbane, everywhere you went in the Australian tracksuit there was people everywhere and they couldn’t do enough for you,” he said
“They all love it. That’s half the reason you go and put all the hours in.
You can’t gather what it feels like when all those people are singing out.
- Brian Tink
“Looking back now, I think the biggest thrill I ever had was lighting the cauldron in Dubbo.
“And then you’ve got the Commonwealth Games … and walking into the stadium you can’t gather what it feels like when all those people are singing out. It’s just unreal.”
Tink’s journey to the top started in 1967 at the former RAAF Barracks off Tamworth Street but in time a Police Boys Club was formed. There Tink began to work under Col Kirkness, someone he says he owes “99% of his success” to.
He and Tink’s father took a troupe of Dubbo boxers all over the state and it was that commitment which allowed a young pugilist to go from hometown hitter to Olympic contender.
“I reckon he (Kirkness) is one of best trainers I’ve ever seen in my life and I’ve been all over the world with boxing and he knew more than anyone,” Tink said.
These days Tink still steps into the ring now and then when offering his time to coach youngsters at the Dubbo PCYC.
And what’s the secret to success in the ring from a man who claims to have had 468 amateur fights and only one black eye?
“Don’t get hit,” he said.
“As Col Kirkness used to say to me, it’s easy to go out and smack someone in the mouth but not getting hit, that’s the big one.”