Olympics: Northlanders heading to London

Northland still looks likely to have the biggest number of representatives ever at the London Olympic games despite hockey star Shay Neal missing out on selection yesterday.

Five athletes, yachting's Jenna Hansen, Stephanie Hazard, Andrew Murdoch and Blair Tuke and triathlete Nicky Samuels, have already been included in the New Zealand Olympic team, but that number could more than double by the time the team is finalised.

The next Olympic selection announcement could incorporate up to five Northlanders with the women's Black Sticks named on Friday. That means recent Blacks Sticks regulars Charlotte and Sam Harrison, Ella Gunson and Stacey Michelson will be hopeful of inclusion but there could be a possible bolter into the squad.

Alana Millington's slim chances of making the squad got a late boost when she was called into the team recently . She boarded a flight to join the touring Black Sticks in Korea and arrived in time to play the final two test matches of the three test series.

Whether she did enough to break into the team remains to be seen.

"It's all just guesswork at this stage," the CEO of Northland Hockey and former Olympian Grant McLeod said.

"There's going to be a lot of disappointed people after the announcement but hopefully there are no Northlanders among them," he added.

The Neal family will be understandably disappointed today. Neal was also regarded as a dark horse for selection after being called in to the men's squad as injury cover at the side's successful Sultan Azlan Shah Cup tournament in Malaysia and performing well.

The other major chances of Olympic selection are footballers Abby Erceg and Hannah Wilkinson who are in camp with the national women's squad.

Both are regarded as automatic selections after receiving national awards this season and Erceg, who was also in the team in China four years ago, said there is still plenty of time before the final line-up is named.

"We've still got two overseas tours before they name the squad in July, I suppose they want to make sure everyone puts everything into the build-up and I guess they have a point," she said.

The biggest threat to the Whangarei pair's selection is injury with both players managing minor injuries they've sustained during the build-up.

Whangarei-born equestrian gold medallist Blyth Tait is trying to qualify for his fifth Olympic Games but is regarded as an outside chance to make the team.