Editorial: Why the Olympics are coming at just the right time for Kiwis

The Olympic Games Paris 2024 will provide some light relief for New Zealanders from the credit crunch and winter gloom. Photo / Unsplash

EDITORIAL

The Paris 2024 Olympic Games are coming just at the right time for New Zealanders.

As the cost-of-living bites in the gloom of mid-winter Downunder, the quadrennial sporting spectacular which kicks off in Paris this week will provide Kiwis with a healthy dose of light relief and escapism.

The City of Light, much like the countryside during the annual Tour de France cycling event, will provide a picturesque and idyllic backdrop with its landmark buildings, boulevards, and bourgeois

Temporary venues are dotted throughout the city, including a stadium beside the Eiffel Tower and an open-air arena at the Place de la Concorde.

After a major $1.5 billion clean-up project, the River Seine will also play a leading role, while the entirety of the surfing competition will take place in Tahiti, French Polynesia.

From the comfort of our couches, especially from early evening onwards throughout the night, we can cheer on New Zealanders alongside the world’s top athletes as they go for gold.

Nothing quite builds a healthy nationalistic fervour like the sight of the famed black singlet rubbing shoulders at the head of the field.

The New Zealand team, with 195 athletes set to wear the fern, have big shoes to fill this time around.

At Tokyo 2020 – which was delayed a year by the Covid-19 global pandemic – we amassed a record haul of 20 medals – seven gold, six silver and seven bronze - surpassing the previous record medal tally of 18, set by the team that competed in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.

Kiwis will be cheering fellow New Zealanders including Lisa Carrington on from afar. Photo / Photosport

Luuka Jones (canoe slalom), Ali Riley (football) and Emma Twigg (rowing) are all attending their fifth Olympic Games.

“I’ve spoken to a lot of our athletes recently and the overwhelming feeling is that they are prepared and ready for this challenge,” said New Zealand team Chef de Mission Nigel Avery.

In the true Olympic-watching spirit, many of us viewers will be taking in sports that never usually grace our TV sets – and quickly, and vocally, count ourselves as “expert” judges.

Sport climbing, kayak cross and the dance form of breaking are all making their Olympic debuts and will feature alongside traditional marquee events like track and field, gymnastics, swimming, cycling and rowing.

The Summer Games have provided some of the most memorable moments in New Zealand sports history: Sir Peter Snell running to double gold in Tokyo in 1964, boardsailor Barbara Kendall’s triumph in Barcelona in 1992, and four years later Danyon Loader doing the double in the pool.

A compelling storyline this year will be whether our most decorated Olympian Dame Lisa Carrington can continue her golden run or whether fellow Kiwi canoe sprinter Aimee Fisher can knock her off the top podium perch.

But whatever happens, New Zealanders, with disrupted sleep patterns and a newfound knowledge of Greco-Roman wrestling, will be proudly cheering them on from afar, hoping to see the silver fern punching above its weight once again.