The spirit of inclusivity and the giddy Parisian air deliver a memorable moment in Olympics coverage.

It’s been valiant efforts and what-might-have-been for New Zealand swimmers at the Paris Olympics, but last night an unlikely member of the squad delivered a welcome moment of levity. 

Shortly after 9pm last night, Cameron Gray finished sixth in a tight 100m freestyle heat. A few moments later, Sky TV’s Laura McGoldrick announced from the Auckland studio: “Let’s cross now to Tim Evans, who caught up with Cameron after his race.”

“Take us through how you went in that race,” Evans asked, amid the poolside din. “Ah, it was fun,” replied Gray, dripping and recovering his breath. “I start pretty good and I got a little tired towards the end. But it was a good experience.”

“What was your plan going into it?”

“Take it out fast, and come back. Not too complicated,” said Gray, leaning forward, speaking with an unlikely, enigmatic accent for a young man from the North Shore. 

Evans persevered. “This arena, incredible wall of noise in here?”

“Yeah. Obviously it’s a big thing. But I just use the energy for myself. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience. So I’m just here for fun. And race.”

“All good mate,” said Evans, with the air of a man coming to realise he may have forgotten to turn the iron off. 

After a commercial break, McGoldrick set things straight. “If you have been joining us for most of the evening,” she said, “you’ll be thinking: ‘Hey, I think that guy they spoke to post-race wasn’t Cameron Gray. And you’d be right. It wasn’t Cameron Gray.”

She continued, spiritedly: “We’re not sure who that was. But we do know we have Cameron Gray now, and he’s with Tim Evans at the pool. 

It might not have been on the level of Guy Goma – the man who arrived at the BBC in London for a job interview in 2006 only to be mistaken for a technology commentator and quizzed live on air on News 24 – but it’s one for the annals of great New Zealand Olympic interviews. 

Which leaves just one remaining puzzle. Who was the mysterious not-Gray swimmer? Turned out it was Israeli Tomer Frankel. He’d finished second. That wasn’t fast enough to qualify, either, but he could at least enjoy being sought after by the global media.