Take your hat off to Kiwi world beaters
IS NEW ZEALAND the most successful sporting nation on earth?
Looking at how the Black Caps battled so mightily against Australia in the recent Cricket World Cup and recalling their glories in rugby and elsewhere, it’s not the most outlandish question.
Think about it. The place is stuck at the back-end of the world, with a population of just 4.4 million, but its glories are frequent and telling. The All Blacks are consistently the world’s number one rugby team, having won over 76 percent of their Test matches.
Their team is the most successful of any in world sport – since 2012, they’ve lost just two of 42 matches.
The cricketers regularly knock over the more established powers, and is seldom ranked outside the top five in all three formats of the game.
They’ve cracked the semifinals of the World Cup six times.
New Zealand’s netballers are first rate, too, alternating with Australia as the world’s best. This winning culture extends beyond the obvious realms.
While it is always the super powers like the US, China, Russia and Great Britain who sweep the medals table at Olympic Games, the true measure of a nation’s athletics prowess is how well they do per capita – population per medal.
At the 2012 London Olympics, New Zealand outranked all but three nations (Grenada, Jamaica and Trinidad & Tobago). Their 13 medals represented one for every 340 970 people.
South Africa cracked 64th spot – a medal for every 8 431 126 people.
Based on Olympic medals and incorporating all Olympic Games, little New Zealand sits eighth (probably higher, given that East Germany is perched at seven). Finland is in first spot.
Not surprisingly, New Zealand’s overall medal haul of 103 easily outranks SA (76).
At Commonwealth Games level, they rate third overall per capita, proof yet again of their staggering capacity to punch above their weight.
Their excellence spreads far and wide. Its lawn bowlers palm in gold medals at every Commonwealth Games. Its rowers snagged five medals at the London Games, three of them gold.
New Zealand boasts canoeing and sprint kayaking world and Olympic champions, while golfer Michael Campbell captured the US Open a decade ago. Lydia Ko, who was the world’s number one amateur, recently became the youngest world No. 1 in the pro ranks too, eclipsing Tiger Woods’s record.
Quality runs deep across the board. Auckland is known as the “City of Sails” on account of the number of yachts along its coast, a passion that saw New Zealand successfully defend the America’s Cup they first won in San Diego in 1995. Russell Coutts, who helmed the famous Black Magic, is considered one of the greatest yachtsmen of his age.
Obvious
Kiwis’ love of the outdoors manifests itself in triathlon, too. Hamish Carter won gold at the 2004 Olympics and a number of New Zealanders have subsequently won honours in Iron Man events and on the world circuit. On and on it goes. How do they do it? In rugby, the influence of the Pacific islanders – men whose body shape simply demands they play rugby – is demonstrably obvious. Team culture, which officially in- clude a “no dickheads” policy, points to a collective, formal leadership whose imperative has always been winning.
The All Blacks are also deeply conscious and respectful of the legacy attached to them: no-one wants to be responsible for betraying that legacy.
Sport New Zealand’s model is a simple one. There are two pillars to its policy: developing community sport and centralised high performance. Pathways are defined and cleared for aspirants.
This, coupled with New Zealanders’ in-built sporting DNA, accelerates the shift to world-class level.
You can instantly see the difference to SA. Schools are the conveyor belts for rugby and cricket, but little else. South Africa does not possess a state-run high performance centre.
South African sport is also infected by the insidious hand of real politik and sporting politics. Transformation, while vital, draws away energy and resources and too often our sportsmen rely on a hand-to-mouth existence.
Our administrators sweat over status, quotas and how to fund teams; New Zealand’s sports bosses sweat over heart rates and cadences, rolling mauls and over rates.
It’s hard not to marvel at what Maoris call mana – power and domination – and give praise where it’s due.