KEY POINTS:
Hamish Carter finally hung up his lycra last week, announcing his retirement from the sport of triathlon.
The reigning Olympic champion decided on a clean break before the Olympic Games in Beijing next year, rather than giving up one triathlon discipline at a time which would have just led to confusion.
Carter, 35, slogged it out in a minority sport for 14 years and once he reached the New Zealand sporting pinnacle of a Weet-Bix ad, there was nothing left to achieve.
Triathlon was New Zealand's most successful sport at the 2004 Athens Olympics, with Carter first and Taupo's Bevan Docherty second in the men's event. Its TV time-slot (early Saturday evening, NZ time) was perfectly placed to inspire kids.
So, how many schools have triathlon as part of their school sports days? No doubt there is still cross country, swimming and scatter ball, but is it too much to ask to add one more event?
Really, shouldn't every school do triathlon? A swim, bike and trotting around in a bikini is a classic Kiwi day out in anyone's books.
Triathlon isn't the first successful sport to be ignored by schools. Before tri there was kayaking.
New Zealand's greatest-ever haul of Olympic gold came in kayaking at Los Angeles in 1984. In the wake of Ferguson, McDonald, Bramwell and Thompson few, if any, schools offered kayaking as a sport (and learning to do an eskimo roll on school camp at Cop-A-Feel Lodge doesn't count).
Bodies of water are never far in this country therefore Kiwi children should be kayak racing every day.
Carter was at Auckland Grammar during that kayaking heyday and, by the end of his stay at the school, his main sport was rowing.
Carter was in Grammar's senior eight, despite being about 65kg (figure may have been exaggerated to help with story). However, he could lift more than his own weight over his head which, coupled with freakish endurance, set him apart as an athlete of rare ability.
You cannot begrudge rowing programmes, which naturally select the tall and the gutsy. Tradition and posh families drive that sport so it thrives.
Other Olympic sports - triathlon, kayaking, greco-roman wrestling - remain orphans at many schools.
There are anomalies, though. New Zealand's biggest school, Rangitoto College, on Auckland's North Shore, has taken triathlon under its wing and produced junior world champions.
It's fine for schools to focus on rugby, racing and beer - but maybe minority sports need to be given a push. Instead we are relying on individuals to push themselves which is physically impossible when you think about it.
Take Ben Fouhy from Taumarunui. Yes his name rhymed with his hometown but he felt like a misfit, until he found kayaking.
We mustn't let sporting misfits drift off into a life of achievement in other fields. It's such a waste.
What a racquet
Black Caps bastman Scott Styris has earned a reputation of not being so easy on the eye.
His nickname, Pig, is a bit of a giveaway. So was the sign at a match in Hamilton: "Styris, I want to have your piglets."
But all this seems unjust when you look at the latest New Zealand Cricket ad, where Styris looks a lot like Michael Douglas.
This may explain Styris managing to woo Sky TV presenter Nicky Walker, a former Miss New Zealand runner-up.
