Central Tilba Public School's 4 x 100 metre relay team has had an incredible experience at the NSW Primary School Sports Association Primary Athletics Championships.
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They returned from the state championships, which were held in Sydney October 19-20, with bronze medals.
However, Tania Hextall, the school's principal, got a surprise on Wednesday, November 9.
"We received a phone call from the NSW PSSA Athletics convenor telling us that silver medals were being posted to our school because the team who won silver on the day has been disqualified due to an error in their school qualifying for the Small Schools Austen Relay category," Ms Hextall said.
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It verges on what happened in 2002 when Steven Bradbury won gold at the Winter Olympics.
The Australian was the rank outsider in the five-man short track speed skating final but in the final stretch the four skaters at the front collided.
He skated on past them to become the first person from the Southern Hemisphere to win a Winter Olympics gold medal.
Thought their journey ended in Canberra
The four Tilba Public School students - Tinkabell Hynes (aged 10) and her 12-year old colleagues Zac Jones, Nash Laker Day and George Van Zyl - certainly had no expectations of winning a medal in the state finals.
They won the district competition at Batemans Bay which qualified them for the regional competition in Canberra where they thought they had come fourth.
However Ms Hextell received an email advising them that they had actually won because there was a mix-up in the categories.
Weeks later, they were surprised and happy to find themselves on the bronze podium at Sydney's Olympic Stadium in Homebush.
Good sports
To say they were thrilled at the news of winning silver was an understatement.
Tinkabell said the whole class cheered.
"What a surprise! I'm so excited," she said.
George said his parents "couldn't believe it when I explained what happened."
Zac said he couldn't believe what he was hearing.
"When Mrs Hextell first told us I was like "What! No!"
Nash said "considering we didn't even think we'd made it to the state finals after we went to Canberra, then to get bronze and now silver - unbelievable!"
Ms Hextell said the disqualified team was allowed to keep its medals which her students thought was the right outcome because it wasn't the team's fault that things got mixed up.
"That's Tilba sportsmanship for you."
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