Olympic fever lifts for Paris
Former Games athletes share thrill
The Paris Olympics will feature a handful of Whanganui athletes who are gearing up for some highly anticipated performances.
The opening ceremony took place this morning (NZT) with 8000 athletes travelling by boat down the River Seine, the first time the opening spectacle has happened outside a stadium.
For Whanganui’s Jenny Brown, the thrill of watching her son, Max Brown, on television competing in the canoe/kayak men’s C2 500m and K4 500m races in Paris is sinking in.
“It’s really exciting on all sorts of levels because, as a parent, you look back and realise all the years, all the grind, all the highs and lows and the stories that make up that young person’s dream.
“Max is 29 now and he started this Olympic dream probably when he was about 16.
“I can remember him saying to me ‘I want to go to the Olympics one day’ and I said ‘That’s nice dear’. . . and then little by little you see the dream actually take shape and have substance. It’s exceptional.”
As a credit to young athletes getting their start on the Whanganui River, Brown will be joined on the water in Paris by rowers Kerri Williams (nee Gowler) and Jackie Gowler.
The sisters previously won silver in the women’s eight in Tokyo, as well as gold for Williams in the women’s pair, and this year are competing in the women’s four race.
Williams and Gowler began their rowing journey at Nga Tawa Diocesan School in Marton.
Former Olympic rower Philippa Baker-hogan, who competed in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics and the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, expects to see strong results from the sisters.
“I wouldn’t question the work they’ve put in and the discipline and determination they’re going to bring from that very first stroke of the first race.
“Already being Olympic champions, I would also hope that pressure’s off them a little bit and they can really enjoy it as well, as opposed to Tokyo lockdown when there were no proper medal presentations.”
Baker-hogan said being in peak fitness surrounded by 10,000 other elite athletes in the Olympic Village also came with intense pressure.
“You only get that one chance so it can look a lot of fun: the uniform, the free food, the opening ceremony . . . but the pressure is incredible.”
A hundred years ago in Paris, Whanganui-born athlete Arthur Porrit won a bronze medal in the 100m sprint at the 1924 Olympics.
This year former Whanganui Collegiate student George (Geordie) Beamish will take on the men’s 3000m steeplechase.
Whanganui Collegiate athletics coach Alec Mcnab, who coached Beamish in his younger years at the school, said he was “always pretty quick”.
“So I guess there were signs of that talent then but it comes down to how he developed it, and the 10 years it takes to make an Olympic athlete after leaving school.”
In March, Beamish put on a show-stopping final dash to win the world indoor men’s 1500m title in Glasgow, and Mcnab said he had the potential to do well in the Olympic steeplechase.
Whanganui-trained cyclist Gary Anderson, who won a bronze medal in the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, said the Olympics atmosphere was “completely unique”.
“You’ve got so many different sports and pretty much the cream of the crop of every different sport there. It’s hard to even explain.
“The city just becomes a massive, vibrant hum of Olympicness and sportspeople.
“It depends on the type of athlete you are, but you have to go into your own little bubble and try to concentrate solely on what you’re doing, which is hard when you’ve got so much going on around you.”
Mcnab said Whanganui had
also produced track athlete Lucy Oliver who ran in the 2012 and 2015 Olympics.
“We’re not a big town and we’ve done pretty well. I mean the fact even that we’ve had two track Olympians in the past 12 years says something.
“First of all the facility is essential and Cooks Gardens is terrific, it’s in the centre of the city and is a good competition track. I think we run a pretty good club programme — so there’s a lot of ingredients.”
Former Whanganui athletes Scott Newman and Kat Austin are also part of the Paris team in important roles for athletics. Athletics NZ’S high-performance director Newman is the team leader and Athletics NZ’S high-performance athlete support manager Austin is operations manager, a role she also had at Tokyo 2020.
Mcnab said there would “definitely be a Whanganui feel” to the Olympic track and field team.
How to watch the Paris Olympics 2024
Sky New Zealand has the broadcasting rights to the 2024 Olympics and will have 12 channels dedicated to the 32 sports, including coverage on free-to-air Sky Open.
Newstalk ZB and Gold Sport are the Official Radio Broadcast Partner of the Olympic Games Paris 2024
Listen to live commentary of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 on Gold Sport and iheartradio. Coverage of selected events will also be live on Newstalk ZB.