It’s exactly a month today until the Olympic Games begin. From August 8th till the 24th, over 10,000 athletes will compete in 28 sports, mostly in Beijing.
For New Zealand, it will be 100 years since we first sent athletes to an Olympic Games. Three New Zealand men competed in the London Games in 1908. New Zealand will be sending 182 athletes to compete this year. Like all countries, we hope for gold medals but we also know that we are a small country. To take part in the Olympic Games is a wonderful experience and for athletes from small countries, it gives them the opportunity to compete amongst the best in the world. This is something that is hard to do at home, especially in a country that is so far away from most of the world. So New Zealand selects athletes who have a good chance of getting in the top 16 places in their sport.
However, we have a proud history of gold medal winners beginning in 1912 when a New Zealand swimmer competed as part of an Australasian relay team. In the past 100 years, we have won 34 gold medals in 21 Olympics. We missed out in only two Olympics. Our first runner to win a gold medal was Jack Lovelock in the 1500 metres in 1936, and the first woman was Yvette Williams in the long jump in 1952. In the last Olympics in Athens, New Zealand won three gold medals: Sarah Ulmer in track cycling, Hamish Carter in triathlon, and the Evers-Swindell twins in rowing.
This year our biggest teams are the men’s and women’s football and hockey. We have 16 very strong rowers including the Evers-Swindell sisters and 17 cyclists. Our triathlon, sailing, canoeing and swimming competitors have great hopes of winning medals. In athletics, Valerie Vili, is currently number one in the world in the shot put. We also have excellent equestrians (horse riders) including Mark Todd who has already won two gold medals in past Olympics. As usual, there will be disappointments and surprises. |