Marcus Agnew: Salute Fiji's golden achievement

Marcus Agnew

OF ALL the great Olympic events for New Zealand over the last couple of days, one that particularly stood out for me was not even Kiwi " but the Flying Fijian sevens team.

It would be easy to overlook this achievement, with all the other Olympic action going on, especially in a week or two from now when we will hopefully be basking in many great Kiwi results " so I wanted to highlight it now.

Their performance was awesome, and I think it's cool that we can even get a little sense of pride as members of the Pacific community. Down here in our part of the world we know how special they are, but it's great to see one of our neighbours and Pacific brothers making their mark on the world stage.

It was Fiji's first medal at the Olympics " and the pressure on the team must have been immense, especially in the final, to seize this rare opportunity, and convert it into gold. Talk about the weight of a nation.

Here they had a chance, and they had to deliver for their people, and yes, they delivered against the populous and resources of the mighty empire - Great Britain.

David and Goliath stuff - dreams do come true. The doubter in me thought Great Britain will get up, something unlucky will happen to Fiji, a referee's call, a sinbin, something to unluckily derail their countries dream " but no, the Fijians completed an epic 43-7 demolition job.

So yes, a great victory for the people of Fiji, one that they will rightly be proud of forever.

Aside from the joy for Fiji, it was also a great victory for sport. In this modern world of professional sport, with all the money pumped into sevens' rugby systems around the world, at the end it counted for little.

In the end, all the tea in China could not stop the natural athleticism and national passion of the little island nation.

Jarryd Hayne even had a crack at the Fijian sevens team earlier this year, a situation that came about through professionalism and commercial opportunities, rather than the normal selection and progression into the national team.

So thankfully in the end Hayne wasn't selected as part of the Fijian Olympic squad.

In the end the team representing Fiji was a pure reflection of the natural athletic brilliance of their people, and a nation that truly loves the game.

Driving around Fiji, I was really struck by the amount of rugby going on. I couldn't help think that, yes, rugby is New Zealand's national game but in Fiji it is even more seriously the national game.

It seemed almost every spare piece of dirt was used for some kind of rugby field, or at least a space for some scrag rugby.

Drugs, of course, is the other thing that has shrouded the games.

Drugs designed to make people more athletic -" but here we have perhaps the most athletic people on earth, the Fijians, so it was fantastic to see them take this chance that could easily have slipped away and demonstrate their pure talent.

The number of tall, fast, lean and strong athletes they produce for the sevens team is incredible - a couple of which were amazing again yesterday in the final against Great Britain.

So with all that goes on around the Olympics, a timely reminder of the unbelievable talent we have on our door step in the Pacific and, of course, with our Pacific people within our beautiful multi-cultural New Zealand.

Much of the success of the well-resourced nations is due to the advantages they have in having a healthy well-functioning society, and a well-defined pathway to develop talent.

Therefore, wouldn't it be great if we could apply the systems we are developing in our country to benefit more of the Pacific Islanders.

Imagine with thorough athletics programmes in place what they could achieve - especially the sprinters.

I would love the flying Fijians, and other Pacific Island nations to one day be challenging the sprinters of Jamaica and America.

But as Eric Murray reiterated (good Hawke's Bay boy!) after the rowers' great gold yesterday, success isn't just earned on the day.

It comes on the back of a lot of planning, support, and good old hard work - all the hard grind that goes on behind the scenes.

So unless the seeds are sown, and a system is put in place, then nothing will change. However, if someone does make the effort, then one day we could have Pacific people in an Olympic sprint final. It won't happen overnight, but yes it can happen.

Aside from the Fijians the last couple of days have seen some great Kiwi success " and it is awesome to see how they can inspire a nation, young and old, into physical activity.

The gyms have been abuzz -" I have seen people trying to be like Bond or Murray on the rower, or cycling like Regan Gough or Eddie Dawkins, and kids excitedly hitting hockey balls like their favourite Black Stick.

All the best to all the competitors over the remaining eight days " enjoy the Games.

-Marcus Agnew leads Talent Development and the Pathway to Podium for AUT Millennium Hawke's Bay. He is also a lecturer in sports science at EIT.