Olympic dream rings true for White Ferns star
Suzie Bates admits that the readmission of cricket into the Olympics at the LA Games in 2028 has piqued her interest, and the White Fern will assess how she feels after the next big pinnacle event on the horizon – the ICC Women's T20 World Cup in Bangladesh in 2024.
Bates represented New Zealand in basketball at the Beijing Olympics in 2008, so pushing through to Los Angeles in 2028 in a different sport would put an exclamation mark on what has already been a storied sporting career.
The 36-year-old Dunedinite will have University Oval temporarily renamed ‘Suzie Bates Oval’ in her honour for the second T20 international against Pakistan today, but said she did let her mind wander forward when cricket’s Olympics place was confirmed.
“Look, I did,” she said. “I think I was like, ‘How old will I be’? “Maybe I don't need to say that out loud, but it did cross my mind.
“I just feel so fortunate that in the sports that I’ve played, I’ve been able to go to an lympics and play at a Commonwealth Games [T20 in Birmingham in 2022].
“I guess to go to another Olympics for a different sport would be pretty special, but I am not putting any huge aspirations on that yet.”
There is a lot of water to flow under the bridge before another Olympics bid becomes a reality, but Bates provided an insight into how she planned for the future at this stage of her career.
“It used to be around World Cups, which when I first started was every four years. Now, they seem to be every other year,” she said. “At the moment, the 2024 World Cup in Bangladesh is the next event myself and the team are preparing for.
“I've learnt at my age to not get too far ahead because you know how things can change so quickly, and the game is very fickle.
“...And after every pinnacle event at my age, you sit back, you check your body, ‘How am I feeling’? You check your mind, ‘How are you feeling?’ And you ask how much you’ve got left.
“For me, the answer has always been that I have more left than me. So, until that answer is no, that’s when I guess I'll know.”
Bates also said, somewhat ruefully, that she was far smarter about managing her body than she was a decade ago.
“It’s a shame you get a lot smarter and wiser,” she said. “If only at 25 I thought like this.’’