North Shore Times (New Zealand)
Shore women shine in Brazil
North Shore women have been part of New Zealand’s highest ever medal tally at an Olympic Games.
Sailors Molly Meech and Alex Maloney (Murrays Bay Sailing Club) claimed silver in the 49erFX on the back of a close medal race that saw them finish just two seconds away from gold.
Takapuna Boating Club life members Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie overcame two disqualifications to take the silver medal in the 470 sailing.
World no 1 golfer Lydia Ko finished at 11-under over four rounds, five strokes astray of gold medal winner Inbee Park. Ko is New Zealand’s youngest female Olympic medallist. ‘‘Having this silver medal is just a dream come true. The Olympics isn’t about [whether] somebody lost to another player. It celebrates each and every athlete and we’ve all won,’’ the Pupuke Golf Club life member says.
Pole vaulter Eliza McCartney claimed New Zealand’s first Olympic medal in the event when she edged Australian Alana Boyd out of the bronze medal position on a countback at 4.80 metres. Yet to turn 20 years old, McCartney, who is a member of North Harbour Bays Athletics Club, is not yet considered a senior athletics competitor. McCartney holds every New Zealand pole vault record for ages 16 through to senior and her medal-winning clearance equalled her New Zealand record.
North Harbour Bays president Dave Norris remembers when McCartney was a children’s section athlete in the club.
‘‘She was an excellent high jumper but the club’s talent identification and coaching structure, and in particular our pole vault coach Jeremy McColl, saw her potential in that event, with her jumping talent and background in gymnastics,’’ Norris says.
‘‘Eliza was immediately attracted to the vault, so the chemistry of her interest and Jeremy’s passion and knowledge of the technically very complex event were a happy mix.’’
The club offers a chance for young people to try to become the next McCartney, in vaulting or any other event at Tuesday evening sessions starting from September 27, when registrations for the coming summer season will be taken at the AUT Millennium track in Mairangi Bay. The first three Tuesdays are basic skills training nights, and regular competition nights start October 18.
Another Olympic medallist with links to the Shore is paddler Lisa Carrington.
Carrington won gold in the K1 200m and bronze in the K1 500m. She became the first New Zealand female athlete to win two medals at a single Olympic Games, and also became one of just three New Zealand women who have won three Olympic medals.
Carrington says she is strongly considering another campaign at Tokyo in 2020. Canoe Racing New Zealand boss Mark Weatherall would be delighted if Carrington can continue having her enormous impact on the sport. He says the 27-year-old’s gold medal in London had created a surge in the number of female paddlers in New Zealand.
‘‘We’re already seeing the fruits of that surge, both at senior level and with our top juniors, which makes the next four years heading into Tokyo 2020 incredibly exciting,’’ Weatherall says.
North Shore Canoe Club has benefited from increasing interest in the sport and the club now has a mixture of top achieving athletes and developing athletes coming through, including some who are making their own impact internationally.
*Join North Harbour Bays Athletics Club by calling Joanne Roscoe on 09 410 5816 or joanne.roscoe@xtra.co.nz.