Gloom after the euphoria

Saturday started badly for the New Zealand Olympic team, and it didn't get much better as competition got under way at the Sydney Games.

The euphoria of the Olympic opening ceremony soon dissipated for the New Zealand athletes who had decided to march in the 157 group, led by flagbearer Blyth Tait, when a 15-minute walk back to the athletes' village turned into a 70-minute ordeal.

Team chief Les Mills was fuming on Saturday morning that athletes were herded like cattle back to the village and held up by security checks. He said it was disgraceful.

Although most New Zealand athletes competing on Saturday wisely decided to miss the parade, those that did - including most of the women basketballers - had to stand, wait or walk for seven hours between assembling for the parade and finally getting to their beds after midnight.

Women's basketball coach Carl Dickel, however, refused to give the long ceremony and its aftermath as an excuse for his Tall Ferns being outgunned 52-75 by European champions Poland.

The non-marching women's hockey team fared much better, breaking a run of 13 straight losses in three Olympic campaigns that started in Los Angeles in 1984.

New Zealand drew 1-1 with Germany, who are ranked No. 3 in the world, after winger Mandy Smith equalised with a deflection from a penalty corner. Playing in an unfamiliar blue strip, New Zealand could also thank their goalkeeper Helen Clarke who had saved a penalty stroke to keep the scoresheet clean in the first half.

Sisters Li Chunli and Karen Li started their table tennis doubles act with an easy straight sets win over an American combination, but New Zealand successes were otherwise thin on the ground on Saturday.

Mark Todd continued to have a rough ride in his final Olympics, his horse Diamond Hall Red being spooked by well-meaning but misguided fans who cheered his entry into the dressage arena.

The other New Zealand three-day event team member to complete his dressage on Saturday, Paul O'Brien on Enzed, posted a personal best score and the team finished the day lying seventh with Tait and Vaughn Jefferis to ride on Sunday.

Switzerland's Brigitte McMahon collected the first gold medal of the Games, winning the women's triathlon, with New Zealand's Evelyn Williamson trailing in 22nd place.

New Zealand has a realistic chance of a medal on Sunday when when the International Triathlon Union's top ranked triathlete Hamish Carter lines up for the men's event.

- NZPA