ADVOCATE / Olympics
The heart of the North
Northern Advocate
Monday, August 18, 2008
Super Saturday, super sacrifice W
beijing olympics
‘ We learned that some athletes are willing to surrender much to please the sporting Gods.’
HAT would you sacrifice for an Olympic medal? On Super Saturday, we learned that some athletes are willing to surrender much to please the sporting Gods. Two golds, two bronze and a silver, New Zealand’s most successful day at an Olympics, all coming with defining tales. For Valerie Vili it was about 10 years of sweat and, having lost both her parents by the time she was 22, tears. ‘‘I think it takes time for it to sink in, something so big as the Olympics, because you have worked so hard for years — for one moment, one night,’’ Vili said. She has made good choices in life, dedicating herself to sport as a South Auckland schoolgirl, rejecting short-cuts and steering clear of the many social problems. But the best choice she ever made was to trust Kirsten Hellier. Her coach and mentor was in the stands, throwing every throw with Vili, living every moment. At the end of a competition Vili so utterly dominated, she looked more drained than the athlete.
Hayden Roulston, who won silver in the individual pursuit, made a scarier sort of sacrifice. He put his health on the line. Told two years ago he should never ride competitively again because of a potentially fatal irregular heartbeat, Roulston accepted the doctors’ advice . . . for about two weeks. The term hell-raiser has been used to describe Roulston — you can only speculate on what direction his life might have taken without cycling. In the end he defied medical common sense and got back on the bike. Yesterday he acknowledged he took time on the start line to think about the events of the past few years. ‘‘I was actually quite emotional before I went on. Everything started to hit me. I calmed down and I was very relaxed right the way throughout.’’ Roulston rides again today and tomorrow in the men’s team pursuit — where New Zealand are expected to win another medal — and then with Greg Henderson, in the madison, a sometimes bizarre event where anything can happen,
HAPPY BAND: Hayden Roulston, Mahe Drysdale, Georgina Evers-Swindell, George Bridgewater, Valerie Vili, Nathan Twaddle and Caroline Evers-Swindell.
PICTURE / NZ HERALD
and usually does. Roulston might leave these Games as New Zealand’s most decorated Olympic cyclist — a concept inconceivable just a short time ago. Georgina and Caroline EversSwindell have in many ways
sacrificed most — their individuality. To the public, they come as a package deal. The fact they entered the world within minutes of each other and share a supreme talent for making a boat cut fast
Black Sticks hit the Great Wall
the boat that, again, makes it easy to drift back into the twin cliches. But Saturday wasn’t a twin thing, it was a rowing thing; a very impressive one at that. But you can’t end a story of sporting sacrifices without mentioning Mahe Drysdale. Of all the medallists, he will be feeling the most hollow (although the highly competitive pair of George Bridgewater and Nathan Twaddle in the pair didn’t seem too thrilled with the colour of their gongs). Three times Drysdale has been crowned single sculling world champion, which indicates that every time there is a big race, he wins. Illness didn’t allow him that at these Olympics. While he refused to use it as an excuse, the pictures did it for him. He sacrificed every ounce of energy he had, rendering himself semi-conscious. Those are the sort of sacrifices you have to make. It’s why Olympic medals are such rare (unless you’re Michael Phelps) and cherished things.
Drysdale: We could have done better A feelgood factor surrounds the New Zealand rowing team, but bronze medallist Mahe Drysdale has questioned whether they have underachieved in Beijing. Three medals left them third equal behind Great Britain (six) and Canada (four) in a highly unpredictable regatta, where rowers from 21 different nations made it onto the podium. Level with the black singlet brigade were Australia and the US, ahead of established European nations such as Romania and Germany, while the threat from China never materialised. New Zealand topped the medal table at the Munich world championships last year. They ended these Games with a recordsized rowing medal haul — gold to double scullers Georgina and Caroline Evers-Swindell and bronze to single sculler Drysdale and the men’s pair of Nathan Twaddle and George Bridgewater. But Drysdale, whose brave battle with illness captured hearts, believed they had been capable of more. ‘‘It is an amazing achievement but I think all of us would agree that if everything went our way we could have gone better,’’ he said. ‘‘All of us thought we were capable of getting eight
Striker Simon have learned much as the Blacks Child knew a 2-2 Sticks played a hectic style after draw with China going 0-2 down early. last night was a A defensive blunder in the disaster for the second minute opened a path for Black Sticks — you China into the New Zealand circle, could tell by the way he pounded and captain Yi Song smashed his stick into the turf when the home the penalty corner. final whistle blew. New Zealand had a penalty By dropping a point to a side corner of their own in the 12th that had lost three from three, minute, only to see Chinese New Zealand blew a great chance goalkeeper Rifeng Su parry away to put pool rivals Germany and a low Hayden Shaw shot. Korea on the back foot in the Su celebrated as if he had made semifinals race. the vital save in a It leaves them in a penalty shoot out, much real dogfight with world to the delight of the champions Germany parochial crowd. tomorrow, with pool China went 2-0 up in leaders Spain and Korea the 17th minute, with also in the mix. Song slotting a second Only the top two penalty corner after yet reach the battle for the another howler. medals. From then on it was Coach Shane McLeod New Zealand versus Su, lamented the lack of China’s Great Wall. finishing. Once with the help of ‘‘We thought this a goalpost and once with Simon Child was a good opportunity, the help of the video the guys mentally were ready for referee, Su held the fort secure the game,’’ he said. until Child found space in front of ‘‘It was a big crowd, a very goal to pounce in the 32nd minute. vocal crowd and things fell really Running China all over the nicely for the Chinese — two park, New Zealand could not get corners, two goals and then it was the ball into the net again until 20 a game of catch-up.’’ minutes into the second half. In some ways playing Germany Shea McAleese rifled in an would be more straightforward, he attempted clearance by the said. Chinese defence, after a ‘‘They’re very well organised tormenting run by Gareth Brooks. but sometimes it’s quite easy to Korea now rank above New read their structure.’’ Zealand in their Olympic pool. Germany watched New They have the same goal Zealand fumble their way around, difference, but have scored more — NZPA but McLeod felt they would not goals.
crews into finals.’’ Three didn’t make it that far, foiled in the semifinals by tight fourth-placed efforts — women’s singles sculler Emma Twigg, the men’s four of Carl Meyer, James Dallinger, Eric Murray and Hamish Bond, and the lightweight men’s double of Storm Uru and Peter Taylor. Disappointed in finals were fourth-placed double scullers Rob Waddell and Nathan Cohen and the fifth-placed women’s pair of Juliette Haigh and Nicky Coles. New Zealand remain ranked 14th on the all-time rowing Olympic medal table. They are 11th for world championships. Rowing inched ahead of yachting on the all-time New Zealand Olympic medal list, climbing to 16. Athletics has won 19 and yachting 15 but both could yet improve here. The Evers-Swindells joined middle distance running great Peter Snell, eventing icon Mark Todd and kayak duo Ian Ferguson and Paul MacDonald in winning gold in the same event at successive Games. The twins — who may now have their first sizeable break from rowing in 15 years — were the first to defend a double sculls title at the Olympics. Only one men’s double have achieved it — Americans John Kelly Sr and Paul — NZPA Costello in 1920-24.
BEIJING BITES
Strong wind separates men from the buoys The Qingdao wind finally howled and New Zealand boardsailor Tom Ashley breezed past to cement his Olympic gold favouritism. In choppy seas and rain, Ashley handled the conditions best to finish fifth and second in the day’s two races. It saw the Takapuna Boating Club boardsailor claim the lead in the men’s RS:X for the first time as he built a five-point buffer over Frenchman Julien Bontemps with three races left before the medals are decided. Israeli Shahar Zubari, who dominated the first four races,had his worst finish of 19th in race seven to drop to third. It continued
through water reinforces the point. From an early age they had to fight to assert their identities. For Caroline that meant getting in a boat, aged 15, and learning to row. When Georgina decided to follow, it met with resistance, Caroline admitting yesterday she didn’t want her sister anywhere near the sport. She was prepared to rock the boat, both literally and figuratively, to keep her sister from sharing her passion. ‘‘I didn’t want to be in the boat with Georgina. I’d started rowing first and I remember I tried to make the whole row as unenjoyable as possible, hoping she’d never want to do it again. ‘‘We were walking down with the boat and I told her where to carry it so it was really heavy for her and really light for me. ‘‘I just know I was very naughty. I was just not very positive, but it didn’t work,’’ Caroline said. Somewhere between there and here they forged the most dominant female rowing combination of the past decade. They have a compatability in
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JAMAICA?: No, Shelly-Ann Frazer won the 100m of her own accord . . . and didn’t she enjoy it!
reigning world champion Ashley’s remarkably consistent form as he looks to make amends for his 10th in Athens four years ago. Boardsailor Barbara Kendall, 40, relished the heavy air, suggesting she can’t be counted out of the race to add a fourth Olympic medal. In the Laser Radial, Jo Aleh watched her overall lead evaporate with a 14th placing in their only race of the day. Star pairing Hamish Pepper and Carl Williams had their worst finish of the regatta but remained in medal contention. Andrew Murdoch made up ground in the Laser class with a fifth placing in race six, edging — NZPA him up to 12th overall.
PICTURE / AP
Willis keeps cool to reach final Nick Willis kept his cool early today in a semifinal skirmish to become New Zealand’s first Olympic track finalist for 12 years. Willis, in the blue riband 1500m, was attempting to match Toni Hodgkinson, a finalist in Atlanta in 1996. But it looked bleak 250m from home when Willis got boxed behind the leader and stumbled — but he rallied to finish fifth in
3min 37.54s and looms as the dark horse in an even final tomorrow. ‘‘In the heats at the Commonwealth Games, I almost took a stumble and it was sort of a similar feeling,’’ Willis said. ‘‘Fortunately I had a little bit left in reserve.’’ In a rough run women’s marathon, Nina Rillstone stayed on her feet for 16th, while Liza Hunter-Galvan lost 14 places in an agonising last 7km to finish 35th. Shelly-Ann Fraser led a
Jamaican sweep in the 100m to give her country its first Olympic gold in the women’s sprint — a day after Usain Bolt did the same for the men. The 21-year-old stormed home to claim her first major international title in 10.78s — 0.2s ahead of Sherone Simpson and Kerron Stewart, who shared silver in a photo finish, with former world champion Lauryn Williams the first of a trio of Americans in — Reuters fourth.
Tall Ferns bow out to US
Rasta to go fasta
BASKETBALL: New Zealand were eliminated from the women’s competition early today after being beaten 96-60 by the United States. It was the Tall Ferns’ fourth consecutive pool loss after opening their campaign with a win over Malawi. The Tall Ferns led the gold medal favourites 15-14 late in the first quarter but it was mostly oneway traffic from that point. ‘‘We just had that bad quarter,’’ coach Mike McHugh said.
KAYAKING: New Zealand deny their paddlers have turned rastafarian but they will have the stand-out boat when the flatwater event begins today. The K2 1000m crew of Steven Ferguson and Mark will paddle in a newly-acquired craft decked out in bright shades of red, yellow and green — the colours of the rastafari movement. They are also the colours of the Lithuania team, the intended recipients of the Polish-made boat. But they wavered and it was snapped up by New Zealand.
Webby the sole survivor EQUESTRIAN: Kirk Webby and Sitah, the showjumping combination initially confined to the periphery of the New Zealand team, will be its only presence in the next round of the individual competition in Hong Kong. Originally the travelling reserve, Webby’s performance over two sound rounds at Sha Tin has raised questions about the decision to omit him in the first place. The American-based 28-year-old was only promoted to the line-up after Daniel Meech had to withdraw his horse Sorbas through injury.
Phelps simply gr-eight SWIMMING: Michael Phelps cemented his place in Olympic history yesterday, capping a sensational week by becoming the first athlete ever to win eight gold medals in one Games. Phelps brought the curtain down on a record-breaking week of swimming when he directed the US team to victory in the 4x100m medley relay to beat fellow American Mark Spitz’s seven gold medals at Munich in 1972. Phelps, 23, also broke seven world records.
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