Speaker 1: Kyoda.
Speaker 2: I'm Chelsea Daniels and this is the Front Page, a
Speaker 2: daily podcast presented by The New Zealand Herald.
Speaker 1: The twenty twenty.
Speaker 2: Four Paris Olympics have come to an end, and what
Speaker 2: a fortnight it's been for the New Zealand team. With
Speaker 2: ten gold's, seven silver and three bronze, our athletes are
Speaker 2: bringing home the most gold medals ever won in a
Speaker 2: single Olympics and have.
Speaker 1: Equalled our record set in Tokyo.
Speaker 2: With the likes of Dame Lisa Carrington and Lydia Coe ensuring.
Speaker 1: Their place in the history books.
Speaker 2: To rising stars like Hamish Kerr, Elise Andrews and Finn Butcher,
Speaker 2: there were plenty of Kiwi sporting stars in action. With
Speaker 2: the Games now over and the four year journey to
Speaker 2: Los Angeles twenty twenty eight already beginning for some.
Speaker 1: We're recapping the Olympic highs and lows today on the front.
Speaker 2: Page with Newstalk zb's sports reporter and gold sport commentator
Speaker 2: Elliott Smith.
Speaker 1: Elliott, let's start with the highlights.
Speaker 2: If you had to pick just one kei we medal
Speaker 2: to celebrate, which one would it be?
Speaker 3: Well? Goodness, Chelsea coming in hot early on look, I
Speaker 3: think for me it'd be the high jump of Hamish Kerr.
Speaker 3: I think he overcame some issues in the qualifying and
Speaker 3: then in the final just brought her out and was
Speaker 3: so so good in that and the drama that came
Speaker 3: in that with the jump off and everything like that.
Speaker 3: You know, New Zealand's medals in the track and field
Speaker 3: have been few and far between. You think of Valerie
Speaker 3: Adams in recent times, Tom Walsh. But to win a
Speaker 3: gold medal in something like the high jump I thought
Speaker 3: was exceptional. And just the celebration, racing around Star de France,
Speaker 3: around the turf and celebrating in that manner, that one
Speaker 3: stands out to me. But trying to narrow it down
Speaker 3: very very difficult. But I thought that was a pretty
Speaker 3: special one from a New Zealand perspective.
Speaker 2: And it's interesting, hey, because they both decided to the
Speaker 2: jump off in the end, And I've seen some American
Speaker 2: reports giving the American competitor some slack for being selfish,
Speaker 2: whereas in Tokyo didn't they share the medal and then
Speaker 2: got the same amount of slack.
Speaker 3: That's right, I don't think you're gonna win. I think
Speaker 3: that's always going to be a difficult conversation because some
Speaker 3: people will go and like in Tokyo, oh, you know,
Speaker 3: it's not really in the what is in the Olympic spirit,
Speaker 3: but it isn't to have a shared gold medal. This
Speaker 3: time around they didn't share it and there was a
Speaker 3: distinct gold, distinct silver. I think for me, I thought
Speaker 3: that was probably the way to go about it. You've
Speaker 3: come this far, you're going to get the least silver anyway,
Speaker 3: why not try and split it and go for the gold.
Speaker 3: I thought it added extra drama, extra tension. Look, I'm
Speaker 3: sure order being special for Hamish Cure if he shared
Speaker 3: the gold medal, But in some ways sharing the gold's
Speaker 3: almost like sharing a silver. It's not quite as distinct
Speaker 3: as the two. Whereas with Hamish curR now he knows
Speaker 3: he is the best high jumper in the world. He's
Speaker 3: won the Olympic gold medal, He's not sharing it with
Speaker 3: anyone and he gets there on his own.
Speaker 2: So Dame Lisa Carrington the goat in the boat with
Speaker 2: eight golds. Now she's now ranked sixteenth of all time,
Speaker 2: ahead of Usain Bolt.
Speaker 1: The only New Zealander in the top one hundred.
Speaker 4: Ready to race in the women's kayak for if they
Speaker 4: can't see the finish line.
Speaker 2: It is gold for.
Speaker 4: New Zealand and the sixth Golden moment for Dame Lisa.
Speaker 4: New Zealand's supposed to decorate an Olympian, Lisa Carrington strikes
Speaker 4: gold again.
Speaker 1: Are we ever going to see another one like her?
Speaker 3: I don't know that we will, and we should treasure
Speaker 3: it for as long as her career lasts. Whether she
Speaker 3: decides to go again for LA in four years time
Speaker 3: or decides that that's enough, you wouldn't blame her either way.
Speaker 3: If she decides that her eight gold medals is enough,
Speaker 3: then ghepsolutely good on her. But the success that she's
Speaker 3: had in not only the individual by but what she's
Speaker 3: brought to the K two and the K four has
Speaker 3: been immense for New Zealand and I think obviously she's
Speaker 3: our greatest Olympian, but just looking at the way that
Speaker 3: she brings others up to her skill level in the
Speaker 3: K two and the K four, they wouldn't win without her.
Speaker 3: She's like the motor right at the front of the boat.
Speaker 3: She's so metronomic in the way that she gets in
Speaker 3: the kayak. Obviously she's got incredible strength, but there's something
Speaker 3: that she just seems to have a symbiotic relationship with
Speaker 3: the boat and the water and the paddle that when
Speaker 3: she gets on the water, she is completely unstoppable. She
Speaker 3: knows the beats that she has to hit, she knows
Speaker 3: where she needs to be to win a race, and
Speaker 3: she pulls along the other person in the boat in
Speaker 3: the cave, so the other three in the K four
Speaker 3: without wanting to diminish their success as well. But she's
Speaker 3: so integral to that, so we need to absolutely treasure
Speaker 3: it while at last. And to think that she's been
Speaker 3: at the top of her game in a number of
Speaker 3: boats right from London twenty twelve through to this Olympics
Speaker 3: in twenty twenty four, now at thirty five years of
Speaker 3: age through twelve years of success and no one has
Speaker 3: really got close to her, especially in the individual events,
Speaker 3: is remarkable. Look, I wouldn't roll her out going to
Speaker 3: Los Angeles in four years time. She doesn't look like
Speaker 3: she is being close to being court yet, especially in
Speaker 3: the individual boats. So hey, we might see her extend
Speaker 3: on that success as in New Zealander and maybe try
Speaker 3: and catch some of those others that are at the
Speaker 3: top of the all timetable for the world.
Speaker 2: Well, after she did her races, it looked like she
Speaker 2: could go and do them again.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's it. She definitely seems to FaZe that she's
Speaker 3: done the race, and everyone else looks like they're about
Speaker 3: to vomit on the block once they get out, and
Speaker 3: she's like fresh as a daisy. It's remarkable that she
Speaker 3: can do that. And you know, thirty five, she's still young.
Speaker 3: A lot of the competitors around and the clerking seem
Speaker 3: to go to their to late thirty. So it's probably
Speaker 3: a fifty to fifty call as to whether she competes again.
Speaker 3: And LA certainly didn't close the door on that necessarily,
Speaker 3: so I imagine she'll take some time now to figure
Speaker 3: out whether she does want to go out to LA
Speaker 3: and whether that competitive energy still burns bright. And already
Speaker 3: what she's done as Schlsea has been remarkable. If she
Speaker 3: was able to build on that in LA, it would
Speaker 3: be quite incredible.
Speaker 2: And I can see her hanging around the Olympics as
Speaker 2: well and really building up the younger generations like she
Speaker 2: already kind of has that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's right, I mean the competitors or the teammates
Speaker 3: rather she had in the K two and the K
Speaker 3: four are still very very young and her experience is invaluable.
Speaker 3: It was the flag bearer at the closing ceremony along
Speaker 3: with Finn Butcher, so that is remarkable. I imagine she's
Speaker 3: got a great future in the sport, whether it's as
Speaker 3: a coach or a mentor whatever it might be. As
Speaker 3: I mentioned before, that relationship that she seems to have
Speaker 3: with the boats is intrinsic. It seems to be in
Speaker 3: her soul. But if she can pass down some of
Speaker 3: those tips, so the next generation there might be another
Speaker 3: someone who can come close to Lisa Carrington or maybe
Speaker 3: replicate some of those eforts on the water and the Olympics.
Speaker 2: To come so Lydia Coe's gold gives her a complete
Speaker 2: set of medals, a first for a golfer of any
Speaker 2: gender at the Olympics, and qualifies.
Speaker 1: Her for the LGPA Hall of Fame.
Speaker 2: Is there anything else for her to do or she
Speaker 2: basically just clocked her sport at twenty seven.
Speaker 3: She's long talked about wanting to retire at the age
Speaker 3: of thirty, even back when she was a teenager she
Speaker 3: sort of said she's not in golf for life. This
Speaker 3: isn't going to be everything. She's obviously very very good
Speaker 3: at it, but has other things that she wants to
Speaker 3: do once she has thirty. And I spoke to her
Speaker 3: before the Olympics and she was still quite set on that,
Speaker 3: saying it would be her last Olympic Games. I mean,
Speaker 3: you can look at her career and go she was
Speaker 3: absolute prodigy, very very young, switched to being a pro
Speaker 3: one major's, you know, when she was still very young.
Speaker 3: Hasn't had a major win in a while in terms
Speaker 3: of those events every year, but completed the Olympics the
Speaker 3: best Olympic golfer as it stands in history with the
Speaker 3: three different medals. Maybe she would like more majors, but
Speaker 3: she seems to rise when the Olympics come on. It
Speaker 3: just seems to be an event that she can play
Speaker 3: a best golf at. And whether it's just different sort
Speaker 3: of the majors where she has had some success, but
Speaker 3: maybe not as much as she would like. She seems
Speaker 3: to target the Olympics. And while we don't see her
Speaker 3: down in New Zealand very long, she's very proud in
Speaker 3: New Zealand. It always talks about how proud she is
Speaker 3: to represent New Zealand on the LPGA tour. But also
Speaker 3: when you're doing it at the Olympics, wearing the silver fern,
Speaker 3: you're hearing the national anthem at the end, there's something
Speaker 3: clearly very special about that. And look, I know she
Speaker 3: said it's her last Olympics. Maybe she might get her
Speaker 3: arm twisted. You know, she plays a lot of her
Speaker 3: golf in America and has a residency there as well.
Speaker 3: Whether there is a prospect she might play in LA
Speaker 3: twenty twenty eight at the stage, no, but similar Lisa
Speaker 3: Carrington wouldn't rule it out.
Speaker 5: Co kept her calm and finished in style with a
Speaker 5: birdie the woman in all black on the final green,
Speaker 5: enjoying the adulation.
Speaker 2: And obviously we can't shout out absolutely everyone, but who
Speaker 2: else caught your eye?
Speaker 3: Oh look Alexandres was phenomenal and what a way to
Speaker 3: finish the Olympic Games with a couple of gold medals.
Speaker 3: I know her on the track and the kreen and
Speaker 3: then in the sprint. She is absolutely remarkable what she
Speaker 3: can do and still so very young. She's got a
Speaker 3: couple more Olympic cycles left in her and I really
Speaker 3: love the way that nothing seems to FaZe Alexandrews. She's
Speaker 3: got an eye for the finish line or eye for
Speaker 3: the valodrome. She just absolutely puts her head down and
Speaker 3: just peddles her heart out and at times it doesn't
Speaker 3: look like as any other competitors out in the valodrome.
Speaker 3: That's the kind of the way that she races. She's
Speaker 3: just doing it knowing that if she hits her marks,
Speaker 3: similar to Lisa Carrington, if she does what she needs
Speaker 3: to do, she's confident that she will get the gold medal.
Speaker 3: Success so'd win in the sprint, in the Kerran, two
Speaker 3: big events in the track. Cycling was absolutely special. So
Speaker 3: for me that's the other heart of the Games, at
Speaker 3: least Andrews winning those gold medals.
Speaker 2: Now, if we look into nationally, who were the standout
Speaker 2: athletes from other countries?
Speaker 3: In your view, oh, I think you look at someone
Speaker 3: Biles and the way that she came back from the
Speaker 3: twisties as she calls them, in twenty twenty one, the
Speaker 3: mental health issues she had there and there was so
Speaker 3: much pressure on her in twenty twenty one, and obviously
Speaker 3: all eyes were on her again when she came back
Speaker 3: this time around. But to do that, and I know
Speaker 3: she's remarked around, you know the fact that gymnastics is
Speaker 3: a young person sport and she's only in her late twenties.
Speaker 3: But for a gymnast that's pretty late in their career
Speaker 3: or very very late in their career. But to come
Speaker 3: back and do it and prove that she is the
Speaker 3: greatest gymnast of all time at the Paris Olympics, and look,
Speaker 3: I know that the La will be standing there. She's
Speaker 3: already had to say towards the end of her career,
Speaker 3: but that home Olympics might be something that draws her back.
Speaker 3: But it was great to see her back out and
Speaker 3: winning gold medals at the back end of her career.
Speaker 3: The swimming I thought was excellent, especially in the female class.
Speaker 3: We had eric A fee Weather they're from a New
Speaker 3: Zealand perspective, who went close in the women's four hundred meters,
Speaker 3: but Arion Tipmas, some of Macintosh and Katie Ladecki dominated
Speaker 3: the pool from an international perspective in the women's event,
Speaker 3: I thought that was outstanding. In the track and field
Speaker 3: again had some surprises. You know, Noah La was winning
Speaker 3: the men's one hundred meters then getting COVID and still
Speaker 3: managing at bronze was outrageous. We had the Dutch winning
Speaker 3: the for by four hundred meter women's relay, So I
Speaker 3: always love those track and field events to put some
Speaker 3: surprises up and I think we saw the cream rise
Speaker 3: to the top once again around that. And if I
Speaker 3: was to signal out a favorite similar Tolexa Carrington, Katie
Speaker 3: Ladecki from America. She started in twenty twelve, light Lisa
Speaker 3: Carrington continuing at twenty twenty four, and she's got a
Speaker 3: home Olympics potentially in twenty three eight that I'm sure
Speaker 3: she's probably targeting as well. But watching her in the
Speaker 3: pool is watching Lisa Carrington in the boat. No one
Speaker 3: can touch you.
Speaker 2: And the Refugee Olympic team won their first medal as well.
Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely, what a special moment for them.
Speaker 6: Box, Cindy and Gamba made history by winning a first
Speaker 6: ever medal for the Refugee Olympic team. Gamba was born
Speaker 6: in Cameroon and moved to the UK at the age
Speaker 6: of eleven, but has been unable to obtain citizenship. The
Speaker 6: Olympic Refugee team has made up of thirty seven athletes
Speaker 6: from eleven different countries, all.
Speaker 3: The harrowing things that the refugee group have been through.
Speaker 3: To go through that and not only compete at the Olympics,
Speaker 3: but to do it on their own terms, wearing the
Speaker 3: not the colors of the nation, but the adopted colors
Speaker 3: of the refugee status, and to win a medal is
Speaker 3: incredible because they are deserving of being there. They win
Speaker 3: medals and I thought that was absolutely fantastic to see
Speaker 3: them there once again.
Speaker 2: This Olympics saw the return of surfing, skateboarding, and sport
Speaker 2: climbing and an attempt to bring in breaking or break
Speaker 2: dancing on those first three, which are now core Olympic sports.
Speaker 1: Do you think do you think worries on all.
Speaker 3: Three of them still? To be honest, I think surfing
Speaker 3: this time felt a little bit isolated. It was held
Speaker 3: in Tahiti. Obviously, you know there's a French connection there,
Speaker 3: but it just felt like the tyranny of distance was
Speaker 3: so great between that it just didn't feel connected to
Speaker 3: the Olympics. I think that was an issue. I'm still
Speaker 3: not sure. It's rarely hit its straps in the Olympics yet.
Speaker 3: Skateboarding I think is worthy of being there. I think
Speaker 3: it's a real sport that can connect with young people.
Speaker 3: The Olympics is trying to shed this image of being
Speaker 3: a little too fuddy duddy, and I think events like skateboarding,
Speaker 3: you know, they really belong. It connects with the youth
Speaker 3: and the talent that's on display there is very, very impressive.
Speaker 3: And I really like the sport climbing. I think that's
Speaker 3: a great event. It's rapid, it's fast. Seeing the New
Speaker 3: Zealander is involved there, but just seeing how quickly they
Speaker 3: can go up the war on the straight speed climbing
Speaker 3: is five seconds to race up a wall. Those the
Speaker 3: kind of events the Olympics should be looking at to
Speaker 3: try and innovate. There are popular events on their own,
Speaker 3: bring them into the Olympic fold fields.
Speaker 1: Right and do you reckon? Breaking? Is one and done?
Speaker 3: Do you think I suspect so? Yeah, I'm not sure
Speaker 3: that entirely worked. Poor old ray Gun out of Australia.
Speaker 1: She gave it a go. Could you imagine this is
Speaker 1: the Olympics.
Speaker 3: This isn't about giving you the guy, this is about
Speaker 3: the pinnacle. Yeah, just felt a little bit out of it,
Speaker 3: felt like a character from a Crystal Lily skitch in
Speaker 3: all honesty.
Speaker 1: It felt so out of place, it was so it
Speaker 1: was awful to.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and look, the memes have been constant in the
Speaker 3: last couple of days since she competed, and I feel
Speaker 3: sorry for her to an extent, but it was a
Speaker 3: little bit silly. The whole thing, the breakdancing. I don't
Speaker 3: think it's going to be back and I don't think
Speaker 3: it works, so we can just consign that to the
Speaker 3: Olympic rubbishman.
Speaker 2: I think in her Ossie, Green and Gold trackies, we
Speaker 2: saw a kangaroo hop, the sprinkler pedstad and all of
Speaker 2: it earned her exactly zero points from the judges. I
Speaker 2: think justice for Reygun anyway. I think she's she went
Speaker 2: out there and she gave it a go. She was
Speaker 2: the best Australia guy not known for our breakdancing talent.
Speaker 3: No, it's not going to be in Brisbane in twenty
Speaker 3: thirty two, so poor old Reygun. I don't think we'll
Speaker 3: be compete get a home Olympics.
Speaker 2: Kayak Cross made its jaboo as well and clinched us
Speaker 2: a gold medal for Finn Butcher.
Speaker 1: Are you excited to see that continue?
Speaker 2: I am.
Speaker 3: I thought that was one of the highlights of the
Speaker 3: Games in all honesty. In terms of the new sports,
Speaker 3: it's almost like the TV shirt gladiators. You know, you've
Speaker 3: got some tension between the competitors. They're allowed to hit
Speaker 3: each other within reason. They're allowed to bash each other
Speaker 3: with the boats. They're all scrambling down this course, and
Speaker 3: not only that, they're going on a whitewater rapid course,
Speaker 3: so you're trying to beat your competitors to the line.
Speaker 3: It felt like it really worked and there was a
Speaker 3: It was great to see a Kiwi win that, But
Speaker 3: I thought it was an event that the Olympics kind
Speaker 3: of needs. Sometimes you're very much competing in sort of
Speaker 3: time trials or races and lanes. This is you know,
Speaker 3: going elbowing each other. You can do pretty much whatever
Speaker 3: you like within reasons. So I thought that was a
Speaker 3: real success for the KaiA Cross. So I'm excited to
Speaker 3: see that back in four years time.
Speaker 2: Obviously, not every kiwi who went to Paris is coming
Speaker 2: home with a medal. Do you think there are any
Speaker 2: kiwis who will really be feeling it the worst right now? Oh?
Speaker 3: Look, I think there's certainly some that were expected to
Speaker 3: win medals and didn't come away with it. You know,
Speaker 3: I think the shot potters and Tom Walsh and Jacko
Speaker 3: Girl may have thought they were a chance of a
Speaker 3: medal for sure. Didn't happen. The men sevens team failed
Speaker 3: to deliver in the opening week, and I think with
Speaker 3: our swimmers as well. I mentioned eric A fair Weather
Speaker 3: before she was beaten by three of probably the greatest
Speaker 3: female swimmers of all time in Ladecki, Macintosh and Tipmas,
Speaker 3: she would have maybe thought that she's a chance of
Speaker 3: a medal. Didn't quite happen. Lewis Clairbert I thought had
Speaker 3: a disappointing game, so there was a lot of eyes
Speaker 3: on him and what he could potentially do in the
Speaker 3: individual medleys just didn't click for her and he battled
Speaker 3: to get going at these Olympics. So it's different for everyone,
Speaker 3: isn't it. For the Olympics, there's a lot that don't
Speaker 3: necessarily go there to make up the numbers, but they
Speaker 3: know that a medal is probably beyond their reach, but
Speaker 3: maybe a making a final or a PB is a
Speaker 3: success for them. And others go chasing that gold medal,
Speaker 3: chasing silver, chasing bronze, and when it doesn't happen, that's
Speaker 3: obviously a failure in their eyes. So I think those
Speaker 3: are some of the failures that'll be there. And look,
Speaker 3: New Zealand's long absence without a medal in the pool
Speaker 3: continues nineteen ninety six and Atlanta, that gap is going
Speaker 3: to extend out to at least thirty two years.
Speaker 2: Cycling, rowing, kayaking, canoeing, sailing. We do seem to do
Speaker 2: quite well at those concentrated group of sports, don't we.
Speaker 2: How come those are the ones where all the funding goes.
Speaker 2: Is it because we're bringing home medals or are we
Speaker 2: bringing home medals because that's where all the funding goes?
Speaker 4: I think yeah.
Speaker 3: I think it's a bit of a circle of funding
Speaker 3: brings results and brings medals, therefore it gets more funding
Speaker 3: the next time around when they go cap in hands
Speaker 3: to get the allocation of their funding. You've got to
Speaker 3: basically win medals to get money and then once you do,
Speaker 3: you sort of on the right track there. I mean,
Speaker 3: those are the sports that New Zealand has been traditionally
Speaker 3: very successful at and the Olympic context, Cycling has been
Speaker 3: very very good in delivering medals for New Zealand, so
Speaker 3: to rowing and kayaking. Therefore they get more money to
Speaker 3: continue on that trajectory in sports that maybe New Zealand
Speaker 3: has had success in previously, like hockey. When the success
Speaker 3: runs out, the tap of funding runs out as well.
Speaker 3: I don't think throwing money at things necessarily means that
Speaker 3: you're going to get results, but I think it certainly helps.
Speaker 3: Australia has got very, very good swimmers, but I think
Speaker 3: the profile of swimming in Australia is high. Here you
Speaker 3: have athletes who want to go in and start swimming,
Speaker 3: whereas here in New Zealand. I don't think that necessarily
Speaker 3: is the case. I think there's definitely a question around
Speaker 3: the funding model in New Zealand. We target those sports
Speaker 3: that do deliver a little bit metals. You can make
Speaker 3: an argument saying maybe we should put some more money
Speaker 3: into the swimmings of the world. Would it return success?
Speaker 3: I don't know. Basketball often is brought up. You know,
Speaker 3: it's a worldwide sport that we're okay it and in
Speaker 3: a context we didn't make the Olympics this time around,
Speaker 3: but if you put some more funding in there's a
Speaker 3: possibility they could have success there. So there's always the
Speaker 3: prienial question around the funding. Do you fund the sports
Speaker 3: that were New Zealand is good at or do you
Speaker 3: fund the ones that have more of a worldwide profile.
Speaker 3: I think that debate is going to continue for as
Speaker 3: long as I'm alive. I don't think they'll ever be
Speaker 3: a particular answer to that, Chelsea. But I think you
Speaker 3: direct the funding where you're likely to have success, and
Speaker 3: on the basis of that and the basis of the
Speaker 3: return at these Olympic Games, it's hard to argue that
Speaker 3: they've got it wrong.
Speaker 2: Well, if you look at other sports like athletics or
Speaker 2: the triathlon, for instance, our success there seems to be
Speaker 2: driven by the talent of an individual rather than the
Speaker 2: cohort of people.
Speaker 1: Hey, do we need to be.
Speaker 2: Looking at funding more sports to build up bigger teams
Speaker 2: create more of a talent pool.
Speaker 3: Quite possibly. I mean, I think it's different with some
Speaker 3: of those individual sports more so than a team. Sometimes
Speaker 3: you get that just absolute freak of nature that is
Speaker 3: capable of doing things in the pool or on the
Speaker 3: track or in the field that are deserving of money.
Speaker 3: But just because you throw money at you may not
Speaker 3: necessarily find those things. I think there is some success
Speaker 3: New Zealand could have with swimming, which has had a
Speaker 3: fair bit of money thrown at it, and we've got
Speaker 3: Erica Fairweather and Lewis Clebert or the two shining stars
Speaker 3: at the moment. But I'm not sure compared to the
Speaker 3: Australias of the world and the Americas that tip so
Speaker 3: much money into those programs that New Zealand will ever
Speaker 3: be able to compete financially. So I think you have
Speaker 3: to rely on that freak of nature coming through that
Speaker 3: is just worthy of the money, rather than building the
Speaker 3: teams up that way.
Speaker 2: And if we only do fund the sports that we
Speaker 2: know that we're good at, doesn't that prevent us from
Speaker 2: adapting for the future and finding those new sports like
Speaker 2: that climbing event.
Speaker 3: Absolutely, And it's an interesting one. How do you get
Speaker 3: people interested. We're probably watching the Olympics as a start,
Speaker 3: and I'm sure there's krewek kids that are out there
Speaker 3: wanting to try sport climbing as a result of the
Speaker 3: two New Zealanders competing in the sport climbing. And I'm
Speaker 3: sure it's the case for a number of sports out
Speaker 3: there that you might see more doing the high jump
Speaker 3: because of Hamish curve. Kids might want to track up
Speaker 3: track cycling, which has druditionally got a different barrier into
Speaker 3: it than going down and doing a bit of high
Speaker 3: jump at the local athletics field. So you got to
Speaker 3: find a way to open those doors for these athletes
Speaker 3: and create the opportunities for them. It's very easy. From
Speaker 3: a New Zealand school suspective and sports perspective, you know,
Speaker 3: a lot of schools run rugby programs, they run athletics programs,
Speaker 3: they run to an extent swimming programs as well. That's
Speaker 3: more solid and clubs, so the programs are there. From
Speaker 3: a high school perspective, primary school to high school, getting
Speaker 3: kids into sport climbing is always going to be more
Speaker 3: and more difficult, So I think you've got to find
Speaker 3: ways to innovate and get players in. And that's the
Speaker 3: basketball thing as well. It's on the world stage. New
Speaker 3: Zealand's probably never going to win a gold medal and basketball,
Speaker 3: but competing on a world stage seeing the New Zealand's
Speaker 3: black singlet representing there, it would be very very key
Speaker 3: in getting more kiwis into the sport as well. So
Speaker 3: I think it's argument and a question that never quite
Speaker 3: has a complete answer, and I think you know, there's
Speaker 3: only a certain pot of money as well, Chelsea, isn't
Speaker 3: there that they can allocate to these sports and you've
Speaker 3: got to target the one that perennially New Zealand has success.
Speaker 1: And thanks for joining us, Elliot.
Speaker 2: That said, for this episode of the Front Page. You
Speaker 2: can read more about today's stories and extensive news coverage
Speaker 2: at ZAD Herald dot co dot nz. The Front Page
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Speaker 1: I'm Chelsea Daniels.
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