Malone’s emotional tribute to mum

Paralympian Liam Malone paid tribute to his late mother, Trudi Scott, when accepting his honour as disabled sportsperson of the year at the Halberg Awards in Auckland last night.

Malone, who captivated the nation when sprinting to a brace of golds and a silver in Rio, won the award ahead of former winner Sophie Pascoe, who received a leadership award, fellow swimmer Mary Fisher and long jumper Anna Grimaldi.

‘‘To be recognised for my hard work instead of the outcomes is something that I really appreciate,’’ Malone said.

‘‘The last three years have sucked. Everyone thinks that being a professional athlete is great and they see the highlights but the highlights account for 0.01 per cent of it.’’

Malone had a special mention for his late mother, who passed away from bowel cancer in 2012.

‘‘Looking back to when my mum had cancer and was battling radiation and chemotherapy and she still did a great job of looking after me for six years, that was a massive motivator not to give up during the hard times.

‘‘How do I look back on Rio? Just a long, tough journey that validated that hard work pays off.’’

On the back of her two medals at the Rio Olympics, New Zea- land’s premier paddler Lisa Carrington won the Supreme Halberg Award and the 2016 sportswoman of the year honour.

‘‘It’s pretty special,’’ Carrington said. ‘‘Just to be up there and see everyone there tonight is pretty cool. It’s just great to be amongst such amazing athletes.

‘‘Looking at the trophy and the names on the trophy is amazing and it’s great to be a part of that history.’’

Carrington, who won the K1 200 gold and bronze in the K1 500 bronze in Brazil, replaced world No 1 golfer Lydia Ko as New Zealand’s leading sportswoman for the first time despite being nominated for the award for every year since 2011.

Ko was a gracious finalist alongside fellow Rio silver medallists Luuka Jones and Dame Valerie Adams.

And Carrington paid tribute to mentor Gordon Walker, who was recognised with the coach of the year award ahead of All Blacks coach Steve Hansen, Hamish Willcox (men’s 49er) and Jeremy McColl, who co-ordinated pole vaulter Eliza McCartney’s emergence in 2016.

‘‘I wish people knew how much work we put in and it’s great that he gets recognised tonight as well,’’ she added.

‘‘He’s works incredibly hard to allow me to get where I want to go and achieve all my personal goals. He puts so much work in and I couldn’t thank him enough for doing that.’’

Carrington’s recognition was anticipated, and there was no surprise when the ageless Mahe Drysdale – who provided New Zealand with arguably the most memorable moment in Rio when defending his single sculls title by millimetres – rose to accept the Sportsman of the Year honour.

There was a rare defeat for rowers Hamish Bond and Eric Murray, off the water at least, when Olympic 49er sailing champions Peter Burling and Blair Tuke were named the Team of the Year award winners.

‘‘We were listening to their accolades getting read out and it sounded pretty impressive,’’ Burling said. ‘‘But we haven’t been beaten in the 49er (class) in the last four year period so for us we couldn’t have done anything more in 2016.

The sporting moment of the year, as decided by public vote, went to Eliza McCartney for her bronze medal performance at Rio.