Ealing swimmer Melako Coker scoops gold (From Ealing Times)

Ealing swimmer Melako Coker scoops gold

11:39am Tuesday 6th July 2010 in

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EALING swimmer Melako Coker admitted he had to turn on the gas to scoop gold in the 50m backstroke at the Balfour Beatty London Youth Games last weekend.

The 16-year-old who represents Ealing swimming club was pitting himself against the capital’s finest talents but held off stiff challenges from Islington and Barnet representatives to take top place on the podium in a time of 28.16seconds.

And Coker admits he was thrilled to join England star Rio Ferdinand and Olympic gold medallist Christine Ohuruogu in making their mark at the largest youth sports event in Europe.

He said: “It wasn’t a bad race for me – I felt comfortable and the minute I got in the water I felt I had a great chance of winning a medal.

“It wasn’t a personal best but it was a good time especially in such a big race – I really felt like I stepped up to the plate.

“During the race I caught a glimpse of the Islington swimmer out of the corner of my eye and I could see he was very close to me.

“But at the end of the day I just had that little bit of extra speed to see me through.

“When I woke up this morning my first thought was to get through the heats and then see what happens and then when I was in the final I just hoped to scrape a medal. It was a brilliant day.”

Coker’s gold helped Ealing to take third place in the male swimming while they came second in the male hockey and first in the male table tennis events.

Those results propelled Ealing to an 11th place finish out of 33 London boroughs who were going head-to-head across 17 different sports at the Crystal Palace National Sports Centre.

Bromley were the stars of the show, taking victory in six sporting categories, turning third place overall last year into the 2010 title with Croydon second and Havering third.

Balfour Beatty is committed to helping raise the aspirations, motivation and attainment levels of young people in the communities in which it operates and has committed at least £1.7 million to help develop the London Youth Games until 2013.