The O'Dea Brothers recently united in a bid to bring home gold in Men's beach Volleyball
As New Zealand athlete Ben O'Dea proudly walked through the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games' opening ceremony, a thief in Mount Maunganui was making off with his 4WD truck.
The medal hopeful took to Facebook to ask for help in tracking down his truck, which was taken from his Mount Maunganui property on Wednesday night.
Ben O'Dea (right) and brother Sam. Photo / Supplied
O'Dea posted: "Long shot, but if anyone sees my truck licence plate KUW392 on the roads or in a ditch let me know or give the post a share".
He joins brother Sam O'Dea as the New Zealand representatives competing in men's beach volleyball and they were among the first teams to compete in the Games late last week.
On Thursday morning, O'Dea said his flatmate texted him to say the Nissan Terrano was no longer parked at the front of their home, where O'Dea left it.
NZ beach volleyball athlete Ben O'Dea's 4WD Terrano, rego KUW392, has been stolen from Valley Rd, Mount Maunganui, as he takes part in the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games. Photo / Supplied
O'Dea and his flatmate had only moved into the Valley Rd home a week before he flew out for the Games.
"For a moment I thought maybe it had been towed because, you know, maybe someone got annoyed with it by (us) parking it out the front."
But a ring around to towing companies showed this was not the case. Then he thought a friend must have taken it, as he had offered it to him before flying out.
"But then, I was on the bus on the way to the stadium, and I got this weird feeling. So I messaged mum 'had [my friend] taken it' and she said 'no'.
It's almost laughable - the day before I start playing, my truck goes missing, but yeah. It's unfortunate.
A police spokeswoman confirmed the truck had been reported stolen and was still missing yesterday morning.
O'Dea was disappointed - the truck still had some valuable possessions inside he uses for his solar panel maintenance business. However, he has chosen not to stress about it.
"It's not a huge distraction. It kind of is in a way but I'm pretty good at having the mentality of 'there's not much I can do right now'. I just want to get on with the Games. I've spent a lot of time and hard work to get here. It would be not a good situation for me to be dwelling on that, no matter how frustrating it is," O'Dea said.
Long shot, but if anyone sees my truck licence plate KUW392 on the roads or in a dich let me know or give the post a...
"It's almost laughable - the day before I start playing, my truck goes missing, but yeah. It's unfortunate."
Western Bay of Plenty police Inspector Karl Wright-St Clair said of the 78 arrests made last week, two people were arrested in relation to the theft of cars. Neither were believed to be linked to O'Dea's theft.
"People should be thinking about where they are parking. At night - try to choose busy and well-lit places where possible," Wright-St Clair said.
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