It’s Freakish Friday as NZ grab record medals haul
Total of 15 medals at an Olympics surpasses our previous best efforts
Mark down August 18, 2016, Rio de Janeiro time.
It is the day New Zealand secured record 14th and 15th medals at an Olympics, surpassing the previous best efforts of 13 at Seoul in 1988 and London in 2012.
The Kiwi team added five medals — gold to 49er crew Peter Burling and Blair Tuke, silvers to women’s 470 racers Polly Powrie and Jo Aleh and 49er FX teammates Molly Meech and Alex Maloney and bronzes to K1 500m kayaker Lisa Carrington and shot putter Tom Walsh.
Meech and Laser bronze medallist brother Sam became the fourth set of siblings after Caroline Meyer and Georgina Earl, boardsailors Bruce and Barbara Kendall, and hockey representatives Barry and Selwyn Maister to get a Games medal.
Special acknowledgments were reserved for Carrington and Walsh.
Carrington became the first Kiwi woman to win two medals at the same Olympics, and now has three in total, after her K1 200m gold in London.
That puts her in a category with Kendall, who won a full set of medals at successive Olympics from 1992, and shot putter Val Adams, who has two golds and a silver from the last three Games.
Carrington is the eighth New Zealander to have won two medals of any colour at the same Games, a feat achieved 11 times.
Kayakers Ian Ferguson and Paul MacDonald, and eventer Blyth Tait, did it twice.
Walsh became a sporting pioneer as the first New Zealand man to earn a medal in an Olympic field event from attempts spanning 88 years.
The Freakish Friday ( or Tremendous Thursday, depending on your proximity to the dateline) matched what became known as “Super Saturday” on August 16, 2008 at Beijing.
On that occasion, New Zealand secured five medals.
Shot putter Adams joined scullers Meyer and Earl as gold medallists, cyclist Hayden Roulston took silver in the individual pursuit and sculler Mahe Drysdale and coxless pair Nathan Twaddle and George Bridgewater earned bronze.
As the Herald captured it at the time: “For four thrilling hours, New Zealand were winning a medal an hour — a rowing gold to the resurgent Evers- Swindell twins and two bronzes at Shunyi, and a Hayden Roulston silver at the Laoshan Velodrome.
“There was just time to draw breath before shot putter Valerie Vili [ now Adams] put on her meanest game face, stepped into the Bird’s Nest and won the first New Zealand athletics gold in 32 years, when 1500m runner John Walker staved off all comers in the straight at Montreal.
“And so the number of medals New Zealand won at Athens in 2004 had been equalled in a flash, and the Peter Burling, Blair Tuke — men’s 49er sailing. Lisa Carrington — canoe sprint women’s K1 200m. Mahe Drysdale — rowing men’s single sculls. Hamish Bond and Eric Murray — rowing men’s pair. Alex Maloney and Molly Meech — women’s 49erFX sailing. Jo Aleh and Polly Powrie — women’s 470 sailing. Valerie Adams — women’s shot put. Rebecca Scown and Genevieve Behrent — rowing women’s pair. Eddie Dawkins, Ethan Mitchell, Sam Webster — men’s team sprint cycling. Luuka Jones — women’s canoe slalom. Natalie Rooney — trap shooting. Women’s rugby sevens. Tom Walsh — men’s shot put. Sam Meech — men’s Laser sailing. Lisa Carrington — canoe sprint women’s K1 500m. meagre catch from Sydney 2000 exceeded.”
The total of 15 Rio medals — 11 of which came sitting down — exceeds High Performance Sport New Zealand’s target mark of 14 but, with the addition of women’s golf and rugby sevens at these Games, 17 seems a fair expectation.
New Zealand could still achieve that mark through the following events: 1. Women’s hockey ( potential bronze overnight). 2. Women’s K4 500m kayaking ( semifinals overnight). 3. Andrea Hewitt in triathlon ( raced tomorrow morning). 4. Eliza McCartney in pole vault ( final overnight). 5. Lydia Ko in golf ( final round tomorrow). 6. Nick Willis in 1500m tomorrow). 7. Sam Gaze in mountain biking ( Monday morning).
One record which seems unlikely to be matched is the eight golds ( also all sitting down) from 1984.
You can only beat the competitors against you, but that haul was influenced by the Soviet Union- led boycott.
By comparison, Rio has produced four golds.
That said, unexpected silvers such as those of shooter Natalie Rooney and canoe slalom kayaker Luuka Jones have been among the New Zealand campaign highlights, proving there is hunger and growth in sports beyond those in the top funding tiers. ( final