Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Nigel Avery: New Zealand Chef de Mission says about 20 percent of New Zealand Olympians in Paris have won a medal

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Nigel Avery: New Zealand Chef de Mission says about 20 percent of New Zealand Olympians in Paris have won a medal · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Is New Zealand's chieft emission and this has officially been
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: our best Olympics in terms of medals, in terms of
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: gold medals and overall medals we drew with Tokyo. We've
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: won ten gold, beating the previous record of eight in
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: LA in nineteen eighty four. And the latest gold came
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: from Elise Andrews and the women's sprint final overnight. Who's
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  Speaker 1: second in these games? Nigel Avery's with us this morning
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  Speaker 1: from the New Zealand camp. Congratulations, it's a great medal haul.
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: It is clearly yes, So twenty medals and teen gold,
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  Speaker 2: it's it really is amazing. But I guess you know,
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  Speaker 2: beyond that is the amazing amount of forceifts, top eights,
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  Speaker 2: PBS records and stuff.
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  Speaker 3: So it just super proud of the team.
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  Speaker 1: Why do you think we've got so many? Why are
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  Speaker 1: those PBS being hit? Are we putting more money into sport?
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  Speaker 3: Is it?
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  Speaker 1: Are we more professional? What do you put it down to?
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  Speaker 2: Well, it probably comes down to a number of factors, right,
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  Speaker 2: because you know, we're just we're just a little piece
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  Speaker 2: at the end to try to sort of polish the diamond,
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: may get that little incremental gain and what goes on
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  Speaker 2: between us and three years ago. There's a lot of
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  Speaker 2: hard work, the national board, organizations, you know, families, high
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  Speaker 2: performance sport in New Zealand.
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  Speaker 3: There's a lot of factors that go into it.
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  Speaker 2: But I think the culture we've developed here is I hope,
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  Speaker 2: really enabling people to want to aspire to really good things.
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  Speaker 2: And then clearly we've seen some some fantastic things in
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  Speaker 2: the last sixteen days or so.
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  Speaker 1: Interesting looking at the medals and who's winning them. By
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  Speaker 1: my count, fifteen of the twenty have been won by women,
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  Speaker 1: either teams or individuals.
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  Speaker 3: Why is that?
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  Speaker 1: What's wrong with our men?
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  Speaker 2: There's nothing wrong to me, and it's just a woman
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  Speaker 2: at see time to shine and we're super proud and
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  Speaker 2: they're just done amazingly well.
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  Speaker 3: And it's a bit of it is a little bit
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  Speaker 3: of a joke at the moment, but we're not to
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  Speaker 3: invest in male sports.
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  Speaker 2: Look, I think that's just you know, sometimes you know
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  Speaker 2: the stars in alignment and clearly for them they are,
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  Speaker 2: but you know, just absolutely be just smacking it.
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  Speaker 3: That's just so awesome to see. It's really amazing.
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  Speaker 2: And look, it's you know, forty five of our team
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  Speaker 2: will walk around with a piece of turn around the
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  Speaker 2: neck to get back to New Zealand.
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  Speaker 3: That's huge.
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  Speaker 2: It's about twenty percent of our total competing body.
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  Speaker 3: And so it's just it's awesome, it's just so so good.
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  Speaker 1: That's brilliant. I have a theory that because we are
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  Speaker 1: more progressive as a country than perhaps other nations, that
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  Speaker 1: we put, you know, greater emphasis on women's sport, therefore
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  Speaker 1: we're better at it.
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  Speaker 2: Look, I think there's definitely that to be said, Yeah,
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  Speaker 2: for sure, and then clearly it has been an effort
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  Speaker 2: to there and and lot. You know, we just hope
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  Speaker 2: that all our sports speak of actors barometers for getting
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  Speaker 2: everybody in New Zealand active, because that's what we all want,
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  Speaker 2: you for. A healthier population is as more productive as
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  Speaker 2: less been on the health system. And so if we
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  Speaker 2: can inspire or the next generation or anybody's even to
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  Speaker 2: get off the couch do in a club.
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  Speaker 3: Then that's going to be good for for us as
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  Speaker 3: a country.
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  Speaker 2: But you're right, I mean, here we are focusing on
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: on women in sport and it's it's so good to see.
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  Speaker 1: It's brilliant. Hey, some bug bears from the Olympics, not
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  Speaker 1: necessarily from our team, but from other athletes, should we
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: have or should they have chosen the river send? Do
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: you think for swimming events and and triathlons.
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: Look, look, I don't know that whole that whole decision
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  Speaker 2: would have been would have been made years ago. And
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  Speaker 2: so I guess they had a plan to try and
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  Speaker 2: make it swimmable, and I guess you could say that
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  Speaker 2: there was largely they got to that plan.
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  Speaker 3: So yeah, I guess we just got to go with
• 3:34
  Speaker 3: the flow and and and and you know, whatever were
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  Speaker 3: gid in front of us to the best we can
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  Speaker 3: with it. And so that's all we're doing with everything
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  Speaker 3: that's any challenge that's going front.
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: Even if it's an e cohole life flow. What about that?
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  Speaker 1: There were the beds in the athletes village, which I
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: know every Olympics people complain about, but the vegan food
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  Speaker 1: was another one. You know, when we're looking ahead to
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: la is there a message from athletes to the Olympics
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  Speaker 1: when it comes to the quality of their experience? You know,
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  Speaker 1: they trained for fourth on this case, three but four
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  Speaker 1: years for this big moment, and some of them were
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  Speaker 1: you know, there was no aircorn in the rooms, all
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  Speaker 1: those kinds of things.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, Look, I.
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  Speaker 2: Think so we've had a review meeting with the IOC
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  Speaker 2: on some of the things, and I guess there's a
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  Speaker 2: lot of a lot of stuff was brought up.
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  Speaker 3: By different countries. There was the two forums that they
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  Speaker 3: were workshops who were went to.
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  Speaker 2: We're in one of them, and they're really thankful that
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  Speaker 2: we have the opportunity to feedback. But I guess for
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  Speaker 2: our point of view, fundamentals you know, betting the food
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  Speaker 2: and transport, if you get the fundamentals rights, then that's
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  Speaker 2: going to be a happy place.
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  Speaker 3: And so I think, you know, they get that message.
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  Speaker 3: But I think the IOC.
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  Speaker 2: They are largely handstrung by what Agreem has been from
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  Speaker 2: place with the Rising Committee, and so I was obviously
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  Speaker 2: there's a lot of work now of LA twenty eight
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  Speaker 2: with thirty two just to make sure all that effort
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: experiences this top of mind, because that is the goal
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  Speaker 2: as well. But look, each of the size that are
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: enormous and their complexity is just extraordinary. So they just
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  Speaker 2: things that just are not going to go to plan,
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  Speaker 2: and so we just got to live with me to
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  Speaker 2: a larger steat, but at the.
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  Speaker 3: Same time push back quite hard.
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  Speaker 2: In it early to make sure that we are doing
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  Speaker 2: the right thing for the athletes.
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  Speaker 1: Nigel, congratulations to your team, a fantastic result. We're all proud.
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  Speaker 3: Thank you very much. I appreciate your support.
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: That is Nigel Avery our Shift a mission for.
• 5:31
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