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Speaker 1: So as always, there have been winners and there have

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Speaker 1: been losers. In the last round of high performance sport

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Speaker 1: funding and the lead up to Alay's Olympics, one hundred

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Speaker 1: and sixty three million dollars is heading to thirty six

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Speaker 1: different sports. High Performance Sport New Zealand director Steve Choose

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Speaker 1: with US Now morning, Steve, Good morning.

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Speaker 2: How are you.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm very well. Thank You had some tough calls

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Speaker 1: in here, didn't you.

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Speaker 2: Well did Yeah, As you said in your intro, there's

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Speaker 2: always sports that are happy at the end of this

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Speaker 2: process and some that are disappointed, and that's that's very unfortunate.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, Now tell me why you're not funding hockey.

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Speaker 2: Well, we are funding hockey, so to be clear, they're

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Speaker 2: still a decent junk of in the end government money

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Speaker 2: and behind hockey. But it's a significant job that we

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Speaker 2: have about half Yeah about that speaking, it's a difficult

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Speaker 2: it's a very difficult decision for hockey. But over a

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Speaker 2: long period of time we haven't had a success that

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Speaker 2: this investment is seeking and we've had to make some

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Speaker 2: tough calls because we had requests for about fifty seven

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Speaker 2: million and we had lest of just another forty one

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Speaker 2: million has distribute well, because the.

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Speaker 1: Thing about hockey is hockey's ever done particularly well, has it?

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Speaker 1: So are you looking at it over as series of

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Speaker 1: events rather than just the last one.

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Speaker 2: Well, we look past performance as an informer of what's

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Speaker 2: going to happen in the future, but we're really looking

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Speaker 2: at what's in front of us now. And we know

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Speaker 2: that New Zealander's got inspired when we went to Paris

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Speaker 2: and we won twenty medals, ten cold we're the day

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Speaker 2: we were won three, which was pretty magic. Those are

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Speaker 2: very high achievements for a country of our sives. We

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Speaker 2: can repeat anything like that. We really need to hone

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Speaker 2: in on those sports, those athletes and teams that are

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Speaker 2: tracking towards top eight and podium in LA and at

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Speaker 2: the moment we don't believe hockey in that category.

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Speaker 1: But what about rugby sevens because and this is the

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Speaker 1: men's not the women. The men had a bit of

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Speaker 1: a bummer, but generally we do quite well in it.

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Speaker 1: So why cut their funding?

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Speaker 2: Well, again, we just don't have enough money to do that.

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Speaker 2: We would like we certainly celebrate what the break provenciers

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Speaker 2: have done. They're our most successful team sport. I think

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Speaker 2: certainly in the Olympic of violent and if not full

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Speaker 2: stop with the new Yond the men, they've won one

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Speaker 2: medal of three Olympics, we believe they're still a medal prospect,

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Speaker 2: which is why we're still left a reasonable amount of

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Speaker 2: support them behind them. Which other sports where we look

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Speaker 2: at it and go, that's quite a big number. But

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Speaker 2: they had to take a cat as well because they

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Speaker 2: didn't achieve in Paris.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and what about tennis, because I see you guys

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Speaker 1: bumped up the funding. What are you seeing there that

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Speaker 1: looks so promising to you?

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Speaker 2: Well, there's a potential woman's double peering there that's very

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Speaker 2: exciting and that's a campaign will monitor as we go through.

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Speaker 1: Which one is that one?

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Speaker 2: Aaron and Sulan?

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Speaker 1: Okay, so possibility. Do you think they're of something actually

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Speaker 1: developing and it becoming a big thing?

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Speaker 2: Well, you've got someone ranked I think number one and

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Speaker 2: one of the doubles and someone ranked them the top

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Speaker 2: Firsially haven't got that information in front of me, Sorry, Heather,

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Speaker 2: but yeah, new pairing and really have money is only

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Speaker 2: to give them a chance to play together more often

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Speaker 2: and to have some individual peering. Coach Steve, is this.

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Speaker 1: The best way to do it, because it feels to

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Speaker 1: me like, you know, if you're having a bit of

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Speaker 1: a like. Let's take the example of the men's rugby,

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Speaker 1: right the sevens, they generally do really well, have a

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Speaker 1: bit of an off period, and then their funding gets cut,

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Speaker 1: which just will make that so much harder to climb

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Speaker 1: out of it. So it almost compounds.

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Speaker 2: Well, and obviously we're always looking at to see if

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Speaker 2: we can do these things better either, and I don't

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Speaker 2: think there's ever a right answer. I mean, we had

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Speaker 2: we had the meetings with over fifty organizations which needed

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Speaker 2: to be moderated, and as I say, you know, we

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Speaker 2: were a number of way way more of what we

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Speaker 2: had to distribute. So our teams went through I think

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Speaker 2: maybe a dozen iterations of what the funding general might

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Speaker 2: look like, and in the end we had to say, actually,

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Speaker 2: there's no perfect answer here either. I mean, in the

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Speaker 2: sense of the delusion means the meaned three Olympics in

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Speaker 2: one one meal. We believe they were a prospects, we're

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Speaker 2: backed them with some funding, not the extent that they

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Speaker 2: got last time, but consequences are not performing.

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Speaker 1: Now let's talk about the sports. Esports is not a

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Speaker 1: sport is it Steve, Well.

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Speaker 2: We categorize it as a sport, but it's not. Actually,

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Speaker 2: Oh that's a matter for you. You can have your

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Speaker 2: own view. I mean certainly more us on there in

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Speaker 2: the group considered esport to be as bot. I mean

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Speaker 2: there are three categories of the sports too. You've got

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Speaker 2: to remember, you know, there's the simulated games, there's traditional gaming,

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Speaker 2: and then there and then there's well we know, I

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Speaker 2: think they you can think about it once were cycling

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Speaker 2: when they're sleek, So you've got people sitting on bikes

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Speaker 2: and the IRGs. Yeah, it's other electronically, that's definitely a

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Speaker 2: physical activity, and you've got those that play the virtual games.

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Speaker 2: So we it's not an issue for us abou whether

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Speaker 2: it's a sport or not. We just don't believe that

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Speaker 2: they are currently tracking towards how does.

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Speaker 1: It be classified as a sport? I mean, why why

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Speaker 1: is that a sport?

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Speaker 2: And I don't know, scrabbles not well that you could

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Speaker 2: ask people of higher authority than mine. The io c

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Speaker 2: are certainly deems it to be a sport. They're holding

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Speaker 2: an Estport Olympics every two years, so we're specified it

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Speaker 2: as a sport and I say, there's the name I

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Speaker 2: was looking for. That to the cycling, you know, people

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Speaker 2: sitting on a wind wheel or on an electronic cycle

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Speaker 2: doing a virtual race. That's most definitely physical activity. Yeah,

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Speaker 2: a couple of other versions that people might question, but

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Speaker 2: that's the something they have to say. We didn't. We

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Speaker 2: didn't make the decision around esport based on their classifications

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Speaker 2: of a sport or not. We love to bear their

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Speaker 2: ethics coming through what we know is going to happen

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Speaker 2: at the Games, which is not very much yet, and

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Speaker 2: decided we didn't have the funds to back them.

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Speaker 1: So in the future, given that we classified as a sport,

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Speaker 1: if they do well in their their esport Olympics or whatever,

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Speaker 1: it is potential for us to actually fund them. Yeah.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, And in fact, we've said to everybody who we

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Speaker 2: haven't been able to fund this time around, we'll get

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Speaker 2: a relationship open because there's a lot of really good

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Speaker 2: work going on here. Esports. Guys are really well organized,

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Speaker 2: they've got a great program, and we're sorry we can't

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Speaker 2: help them at this particular point in time. The things

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Speaker 2: change and on we get some more funding. Then we

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Speaker 2: were very able to a conversation as we were during

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Speaker 2: the last cycle. You know, we made some adjustments between

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Speaker 2: Tokyo and Paris, and many of those paid off for us.

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Speaker 1: Okay, Steve, thanks very much, really appreciate it. Steve Chu,

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Speaker 1: High Performance Sport New Zealand director, hither esports are not

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Speaker 1: a sport. Hither did you know that bridges considered a

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Speaker 1: sport as well? Just wonder about categorization of what is

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Speaker 1: a sport has been perhaps a little bit wide. What

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Speaker 1: do you think. I mean, It's not like I'm trying

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Speaker 1: to figure out I'm trying to figure out why I

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Speaker 1: don't think these things are sports, But I just think

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Speaker 1: it's probably ultimately a lack of understanding of what makes

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Speaker 1: this thing. So I don't understand what makes you very

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Speaker 1: special If you sit with a PlayStation in your hand

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Speaker 1: and toggle it with your thumbs. I mean, I feel

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Speaker 1: like I am a boomer. I know that in my spirit,

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Speaker 1: I know that this is a generational thing. You try

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Speaker 1: and tell a tell one of the young ones whatever

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Speaker 1: that call gen zs or whatever. This They probably disagree

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Speaker 1: with me entirely, but I can see the effort that's

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Speaker 1: being made in order for somebody to do the high

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Speaker 1: jump or run really fast on a raby Ffel can't

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Speaker 1: quite see the effort that's going on when you're doing

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Speaker 1: the e sports. For more from the Mic Asking Breakfast,

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Speaker 1: listen live to news talks that'd be from six am weekdays,

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