No medals but don't worry mate, she'll be right

By GEOFF CUMMING

New Zealand may be equal last at the Sydney Olympics, but it's far too early for the wake.

At most Olympic Games, we've been in the same position - empty-handed - after the first four days.

And while we are below the likes of Belarus, Latvia and Kyrgyzstan on the medal table, at least we're keeping pace with 160 or so other nations which have yet to win a medal.

With 12 days to go, New Zealand has plenty of time to rise to its customary top-30 place on the table.

Given our population, we've been punching well above our weight since Peter Snell launched an era of track and field success 40 years ago.

But only at Atlanta in 1996 did we make an Olympian flying start, courtesy of Danyon Loader's two gold medals and a bronze for the equestrian team. Yet the final haul of six medals was our worst since the Moscow Games in 1980, which most New Zealand athletes boycotted in protest at the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan.

Expectations of our Olympians were raised by double-figure medal tallies at Los Angeles in 1984, Seoul in 1988 and Barcelona in 1992.

With the Sydney Games on our doorstep, our biggest-ever team and the Government-backed Sports Foundation investing millions on our leading lights, casual fans may have taken another bumper medal harvest for granted.

But so far, some of our best prospects have disappointed. They include the unfortunate three-day eventing team, injured cyclist Sarah Ulmer and the heavily backed triathletes.

The equestrians were perhaps riding for a fall after eight medals, three of them gold, since Mark Todd won on Charisma in 1984.

It came yesterday when Blyth Tait's Ready Teddy and Paul O'Brien's Enzed were barred from the three-day event.

Then both of Andrew Nicholson's charges, Dawdle and New York, were ruled out of today's individual competition.

The White Sox women's softballers crashed, too, 10-0 to China.

But reasons for optimism can be found all over Sydney. In Penrith, the rowers are comfortably through to the final phases and Rob Waddell remains hot favourite to win gold in the men's single sculls.

Despite her injury, Ulmer is a favourite in the points race, and team-mate Anthony Peden is primed for his specialist event, the kieren. Both are tomorrow.

At Horsley Park, Tait and Todd are predicted to redeem themselves in the individual competition.

Among the yachties, boardsailor Barbara Kendall and Rod Davis' soling crew are best placed at this stage.

The women's hockey team are a medal prospect after a draw with Germany and a win over China.

In table tennis, New Zealand's Li Chunli goes into the heavyweight part of the competition at the deep end, meeting world champion and No 1 seed Wang Nan today.

China-born Li yesterday became the first New Zealand table tennis representative to reach an Olympic main draw when she made light work of Chile's Berta Rodriguez Olate to finish top in her pool.

The prospect of meeting China's Wang in the knockout seems daunting, but New Zealand team manager Murray Finch was optimistic.

"Li Chunli wants to win this tournament, so she probably had to beat Wang Nan at some stage."

So we can keep the faith - but temper it with realism. Sports Foundation chief Chris Ineson says that with the Olympics in our time zone, television viewers are seeing how competitive sport can be at this level.

"The harsh reality is, it's bloody tough out there."