Gold standard for funding NZ elite sport

If you want to know why High Performance Sport New Zealand funds athletes, its telephone number spells it out. The number, 0800 GOLDMEDAL, reflects its desire to win gold in events like the Olympics and Commonwealth Games – events that New Zealanders rate highly.

Winning 16 medals at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, with more golds than in the previous Olympics, is at the top of its priority list. The aim for the Paralympic Games is 14 golds.

And winning gold at nonolympic world championships in sports that New Zealanders rate highly, such as netball and men’s softball, is also up there.

When it comes to funding athletes in particular sporting codes, who gets backing and how much comes down to performance.

HPSNZ general manager of performance partnerships Scott Creswell says criteria for funding are based around past performance,

potential, the

quality of a campaign and the individual sporting context.

‘‘Our current investment strategy is based on performance. The same four criteria are applied to all sports.’’

All codes are measured against that criteria, Creswell says. He rejects any suggestion the system is unfair on some sports.

Last December, HPSNZ allocated $36 million to a range of sports. One of the big winners was canoe racing, which was granted $1.9m for its 17 athletes in 2019. It had previously received $150,000.

That is a lot of money for a sport with a tiny footprint in

New Zealand. Before Lisa Carrington emerged as a dominant force internationally, it was a code most Kiwis had probably never heard of.

The funding reflects the recent success achieved by Kayla Imrie, Caitlyn Ryan and Aimee Fisher in the K2 and K4 classes. Against all odds, they emerged from obscurity to be world ranked.

The trio combined with Carrington to create two boats and with two second placings at a world championship, they were suddenly seen as potential Olympic medallists.

With that status came funding.

Imrie, who was recently crowned Wellington Sportsperson of the Year despite being based in Auckland, went from struggling student and teacher aide to fulltime athlete.

The funding has been a lifechanger, allowing her to concentrate on training and focus on winning gold in Tokyo.

To succeed in such a gruelling sport, Imrie says she has to treat her body ‘‘like a machine’’. She now has the means to train harder and has access to a gym, physiotherapists and health insurance. Last week, she returned from Australia, where she was paddling 125 kilometres a week and putting in three hours a day at the gym.

While thankful for the opportunities the financial support has given her, Imrie describes the current model as ‘‘back to front’’ because in order to receive funding, athletes first have to prove themselves on the world stage.

In contrast to the hard-earned support the New Zealand canoe racing team now enjoys, are our world-class softballers.

The Black Sox are arguably New Zealand’s most successful sporting team. The team has a record that even the All Blacks can only dream of, having won six of the 16 world championships held since 1966, more than any other country.

At this year’s world championship, the Black Sox had their worst result in decades, placing fourth. The team had received $350,000 from HPSNZ.

By comparison, the New Zealand women’s national softball team, the White Sox, which has won only one world championship, in 1982, received $30,000. The team is ranked 11th in the world going into an Olympic qualifying tournament in September.

One player, 17-year-old Caitlyn Lewin, has been working 35 hours a week at Pizza Hut while she pursues her dream of playing in the Olympics. Her father, Tony Lewin, has been paying $15,000 for both Caitlyn and older sister Makayla to play for the national side.

The Black Sox’s comparatively poor performance in the latest World Championship could jeopardise future funding for Joel Evans, who in 2017 hit an automatic home run with bases loaded to claim the World Championship in Canada.

Evans, who has been in the team since 2010, works as a digger driver to earn the cash needed to represent his country, as well as to pay his mortgage.

Although his airfares are covered, he does not earn