The secrets to NZ’s golden harvest
When Lisa Carrington grasped her third gold, New Zealand were a lofty eighth on the medal ladder. And chances remain to match their best golden haul.
Strains of God Defend New Zealand rang out across Tokyo’s Sea Forest Waterway, a third gold medal in as many days draped around Lisa Carrington’s neck.
At that stage, late afternoon on Thursday, New Zealand sat eighth on the medal table, with seven golds, one short of their record haul. Eighth, of 88 medal-winning nations. Hot on the heels of Germany, and ahead of the likes of France, Italy, the Netherlands, Canada, South Korea and Spain.
By close of Olympic business on Thursday, New Zealand had eased back to 11th despite two mindblowing efforts at the velodrome for silver, by Ellesse Andrews and Campbell Stewart.
France, Italy and the Netherlands (Dutch rider Shanne Braspennincx pipped the fast-charging Andrews for gold) drew level in the night session on seven golds, which is the first measure of the Olympic table, followed by total medals.
Four genuine medal hopes remain for New Zealand by tomorrow’s closing ceremony: golfer Lydia Ko (3rd equal with a round to go), Carrington and her three teammates in the K4 500m, Andrews (women’s sprint) and Stewart (with Corbin Strong in the madison).
None are favourites for gold, but worthy contenders, meaning seven is likely to be New Zealand’s final golden tally. That stands alone, second behind the eight won at Los Angeles in 1984 (seven on water, one on horseback to Mark Todd).
Eleventh on the medal table (although South Korea are closing fast) would be New Zealand’s secondhighest finish since they sent their first team to Antwerp in 1920.
The eight LA golds 37 years ago saw New Zealand finish eighth, and the next best haul of six in London in 2012 meant 15th place on this ladder of Olympics supremacy. Last time in Tokyo in 1964, with the great Peter Snell at the peak of his powers, New Zealand’s three golds from a team of 64 saw them finish 12th overall, our second-highest position.
What about per capita, you might ask? According to medalspercapita. com, New Zealand and their tally of
19 were fourth yesterday afternoon with one medal per every 250,000-orso people.
Little San Marino (three medals), Bermuda and Grenada, two Caribbean islands with one gold apiece, occupied the podium on that ladder with two days of competition left.
Andrews’ and Stewart’s lungbusting efforts on Thursday night ensured a record overall haul for our largest team of 211, passing the 18 (four gold) won in Rio five years ago. Carrington’s three golds made her the most-medalled (gold, and overall) Kiwi Olympian. When she combined with Caitlin Regal, Teneale Hatton and Alicia Hoskin for a close second in their heat yesterday they kept themselves in the medal conversation for today’s final.
Carrington told Sky TV of the K4 before their heat: ‘‘I’m excited. I’ve got three other team-mates that are just so excited to get out there and being able to do it with them supporting me, me supporting them on the water, it’s going to be a completely different feeling. I know that they’re super-amped to get out there and I’ll just feed off that.’’
So, what’s been New Zealand’s secret to success? The tier one sports are heavily funded (rowing, canoe sprint, yachting, athletics and cycling got a combined $18.5 million annually from High Performance Sport NZ) while, in a less tangible measure, Carrington said the lack of crowds at these eerie Covid Games may have even helped their chances, especially on Tokyo Bay.
‘‘It’s amazing, because there’s hardly anybody here, all I feel is New Zealand. We are very loud out here, so maybe having less crowds, we can hear them more. And people at home, so much support that’s coming through and the team that we have here on the ground are so invested in each other’s performance and jobs, that support is amazing,’’ Carrington said.