Opinion: Olympic winners rightly rule at Halberg Awards

Lisa Carrington. Photo/Getty

New Zealand's outstanding sporting achievements at last year's Rio Olympics and Paralympics were rewarded at the 2016 Halberg Awards in Auckland on Thursday night.

As it was an Olympic year it came as no surprise the main category winners all won medals at the Rio Games, with Bay of Plenty athletes outshining the rest of the country.

Evergreen single sculls rower Mahe Drysdale was awarded the Sportsman of the Year title with Peter Burling and teammate Blair Tuke taking out the Team of the Year honour.

Drysdale and Burling both won gold medals in Rio and as former students of Tauranga Boys' College continued that school's remarkable record of producing Olympians.

Burling had an exceptional year by anyone's standards.

He and Tuke won their Olympic gold in the 49er skiff sailing regatta with unprecedented ease.

Their 43-point winning margin across 13 races is the largest of any Olympic sailing event since the modern scoring system was introduced in 1968.

They were also awarded the prestigious World Sailor of the Year honour and were part of Emirates Team NZ in the America's Cup World Series, with Burling leading from the front as helmsman.

Drysdale has now won five individual Sportsman of the Year titles, more than any other New Zealander, and a Supreme Award in 2006.

But the star of the Halberg show was flat water canoeist Lisa Carrington.

The Whakatane local, who was born in Tauranga and competes for Mount Maunganui at surf carnivals over the summer, was awarded the Sportswoman of the Year title and the Supreme Halberg, ahead of Drysdale, Burling and Tuke, and Disabled Sportsperson of the Year recipient Liam Malone.

Carrington's efforts in defending her Olympic title in the K1 200m and adding a bronze medal in the 500m distance put her in an exclusive group in New Zealand Olympic history.

She joins Peter Snell, Ian Ferguson and Danyon Loader as our only athletes to have won more than one medal at a single Olympic Games.

It has been a long wait for Carrington to finally win the Sportswoman of the Year title.

She was a finalist in the five previous years but was unable to break through Valerie Adams and Lydia Ko, who won the previous 10 titles between them.

The Halberg Awards are fitting reward for Carrington, Drysdale and Burling.

They are exemplary examples of how all athletes should behave, on and off the competitive stage.

Last year they dominated the Bay of Plenty Sports Awards.

But the local judges came up with a different overall winner than those deciding the Halberg awards.

Burling got the nod for the prestigious Supreme Award with Drysdale taking out the International Sportsperson of the Year award and Carrington the Sportswoman of the Year.

In a sporting world sometimes tainted by foul play and drug cheating, the three Bay of Plenty champions are the ultimate role models for our younger generations to follow.

They have made us all immensely proud.