Samara Maxwell of Taupō races to the finish line at the women's cross-country at Elancourt Hill during the Paris Olympics. Photo / SWPix
Samara Maxwell of Taupō races to the finish line at the women's cross-country at Elancourt Hill during the Paris Olympics. Photo / SWPix
Athletes from around the Rotorua region can be seen around the Olympic Village as they strive to achieve the results they’ve trained for. Reporter Aleyna Martinez talks with some of the locals about the results so far.
As Rotorua Boys’ High School rugby academy students take to the field in their hotly contested school competition, they only need to look to the Paris Olympics to find home-grown inspiration.
Women’s sevens gold medal-winning coach Corey Sweeney, All Blacks Sevensstar winger Ngarohi McGarvey-Black and Fijian sevens speedster and silver medallist Selestino Ravutaumada are just three former students who are making their school proud.
According to deputy principal Bruce Buckton, it’s competitions like the Super 8 Schools, which Rotorua Boys’ High School is part of, that help teach players how to perform under pressure and achieve like their heroes on the world stage.
McGarvey-Black was one of the school’s rugby greats and competed in the Super 8 Schools competition. He was a member of the school’s First XV in 2014 and 2015 before leaving school in 2015.
While the All Black Sevens side did not bring home a medal, placing fifth after losing to South Africa, Buckton said McGarvey-Black’s dedication and drive inspired those going through the school’s rugby academy.
He said McGarvey-Black demonstrated “mental toughness and resilience”.
Sevens player Ngarohi McGarvey-Black. Photo / NZME
It was a competitive environment and Buckton said that was the “beauty” of the Super 8 Schools programme because students were exposed to a professional level of playing at an earlier age.
He described such competitions as a massive part of the school’s identity and a key to their success.
Buckton said the Super 8 Schools competition was a leading competition up there with the 1A First XV Rugby competition in Auckland.
“The more you are dealing with high-pressure situations and losses and, you know, close wins, then that just builds and helps strengthen the resilience to manage those situations as a high-performing athlete,” Buckton said.
“Having that Super 8 structure, for us, is really key to these boys performing and moving forward in their careers.
“When you’re regularly competing at that level – it just improves their abilities to cope week-in and week-out with what is really a semi-professional environment.”
He said that included travelling to play, often two-day trips. They also trained two mornings a week and two or three afternoons, plus academy class-time training.
Moses Leo (left) celebrates a second try with Ngarohi McGarvey-Black. Photo / Photosport
Women’s sevens champions
Gold medal-winning Black Ferns Sevens head coach Sweeney attended Rotorua Boys’ High School from 1991 to 1995.
“All I said to her was: ‘I’m really proud of you’. Because not many people can do what she’s just done.”
Hirini, who lives in Tauranga, tore her ACL last December, leaving medical professionals to believe her chances of a third Olympics campaign were over.
“She has been on an amazing journey and people have used the term, ‘If anyone can do it she can do it’. But she’s a person that drives performance habits like I have never seen,” Sweeney told RNZ.
The rugby sevens women’s gold-medal match at the Paris Olympics 2024 at Stade de France. Photo / Iain McGregor
Fijian Rugby Sevens
Winger and fullback Selestino Ravutaumada, 24, left Rotorua Boys’ High in 2018 and played in the school’s rugby first XV.
Representing the Fijian sevens in Paris, the team lost to France 28-7, taking home silver.
Joining Rotorua Boys’ High for Years 11, 12, and 13 (2016-2018), Buckton was hopeful Ravutaumada’s sevens jersey would be donated to the school’s Hall of Fame next.
Fiji Sevens head coach Osea Kolinisau told RNZ he was disappointed their Olympic gold-winning streak (2016, 2020) ended this year.
“They were really disappointed that we didn’t win, but I just told them look, we didn’t win a gold, but we won a silver medal at the Olympics.
“A lot of athletes dream to be where you’re at right now.”
Hard road pays off for Maxwell
Sammie Maxwell, 22, from Taupō, made her Olympic debut in Paris and finished eighth in the elite women’s race at Elancourt Hill on Monday.
She hit the headlines earlier in the year when her bid for Olympic selection was almost dropped because of a public struggle with disordered eating.
Sammie Maxwell will compete in Paris. Photo / Photosport
Her coach Sam Thompson is part of a mountain biking academy that operates as a private enterprise in Rotorua. It aims to plug the expensive training gaps that aren’t available through national funding for young riders.
Thompson said Maxwell is one of 10 riders at his academy. Having now returned from Paris he said Rotorua was still one of the most beautiful places in the world to come home to.
Thompson said the Olympics had been a “long journey” for Maxwell but her result was “outstanding”.
“Just so proud really – knowing what she went through to get there just makes it more special,” Thompson told the Rotorua Daily Post.
Maxwell told Cycling New Zealand, “I came in with no idea of what to expect. My last World Cup I got 20th so a top-20 would have been amazing. So this is my best result ever in an elite race so I am stoked. I felt so good physically just mentally, tactically I need to calm down.”
Sam Gaze in action during the men's mountain bike cross-country. Photo / Photosport
Tokoroa-born cyclist Sam Gaze, 28, struggled with a “horrible, terrible, not good enough” start finishing sixth place in the men’s mountain bike cross-country race on Elancourt Hill.
He told Cycling New Zealand he was disappointed with his ride but proud of his placing.
“Tomorrow I will look back and see that was a ride to be proud of. And I have already started thinking about the world championships next month and on to Los Angeles in four years time.”
Triathletes triumph
Eastern Bay triathlete Hayden Wilde, 26, took the silver in the men’s triathlon, thanking his teammate Dylan McCullough for helping earn the medal.
McCullough, who finished 19th, dropped back during the bike leg to help his compatriot make up time.
“I think the heat played a massive role … That was a curve ball, the legs faded a little bit earlier than they expected but I was proud to give it everything and do everything I possibly could on the day.
Hayden Wilde from New Zealand finishes with silver in the men’s triathlon at the Paris Olympics. Photo / Iain McGregor
Taupō triathlete Nicole Van der Kaay, 28, finished the women’s triathlon in 31st place.
In a social media post, she said she was “proud to have lined up throughout all the challenges over the past three years, coming back to rewrite my experiences from Tokyo”.
“Secondly, gutted. I placed myself in a good enough position after the swim to be in the chase pack, to have it stripped away getting caught behind a crash, the first to be left behind from the bunch.
“I fought to the end, but ultimately the day was over after that. It is what it is, life goes on, can’t say I didn’t try.”
