Great Britain’s Jake Wightman celebrated his World Championship 1500m silver by singing Spandau Ballet hit Gold as he “butchered songs” into the early hours of the morning in a karaoke bar.
The 31-year-old went agonisingly close to a second World Championship title but was pipped on the line by Portugal’s Isaac Nader in Tokyo.
Despite missing gold by two hundredths of a second, Wightman views the silver as vindication for the bold decisions he took after missing the 2024 Olympics through injury – including sacking his dad Geoff as his coach.
“In true Japanese style we went to a karaoke bar to celebrate,” the Scotsman told BBC Sport.
“We raced really late and then had anti-doping, so I don’t think we started the night until quite late… so finished quite late.
“I’ve been to karaoke bars in the UK, and this was like that on steroids. It was not just microphones. It was a full band set. There were drums, guitars, bass and piano.
“There were about 12 of us butchering songs. It wasn’t solos – more a group sing-song. The first one was Gold by Spandau Ballet, which I thought wasn’t really appropriate because I got silver, but it was a nice gesture.
“I wanted Erasure’s A Little Respect. They didn’t have that, but there was a lot of Oasis, some Billy Joel… We had it all to ourselves and went on until the early hours.”
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