2018 Commonwealth Games women's squash doubles gold medalist Amanda Landers-Murphy. Photo / NZME
Amanda Landers-Murphy always dreamed of winning a gold medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
She smashed her goal out of the park that year winning squash doubles and now the 31-year-old is aiming to repeat her success.
Landers-Murphy won gold alongside teammate Joelle King in the women's doubles in 2018 and flew to Birmingham on Monday night to reunite with Bristol-based King.
The Rotorua-based environmental forester works at Timberlands and told the Rotorua Daily Post she "cannot wait" to meet King and the other Kiwi athletes to "soak up" the games fever.
"Representing New Zealand at the Commonwealth Games is the pinnacle of what you dream about when you're putting in so much physical hard work, countless hours of training and consider all the sacrifices you make to get there.
"There is no better feeling than when put on your NZ games uniform and don the silver fern on the international stage. It will be pretty amazing to become part of all the buzz.
"Winning a gold medal in 2018 was always a dream of mine and to do that with one of my closest friends in front of some of my family was a very special moment."
Landers-Murphy and King also won back-to-back world doubles championships in 2016 and 2017. Landers-Murphy also competed in women's singles and mixed doubles at Gold Coast 2018 and recorded two fifth placings at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games in 2014.
"If I could win gold again in Birmingham with Joelle that would be awesome, especially after she had to withdraw due to injury at the semi-final stage at the 2022 World Champs in Glasgow," she said.
"My training has been going well and my body is holding together. I've been trying to keep away from other people as much as possible so I'm well when Joelle and I take the court," Landers-Murphy said.
"I love doing what I do, and I know all the sacrifices and hard work will be all worth it. But it's been a pretty challenging lead-up to the Birmingham Games, especially in the Covid environment.
"Last time Joelle and I were ranked as top seeds but I don't think we'll be this time around. We'll probably go into the competition as underdogs, which doesn't worry us.
"That takes a bit of pressure off us and we can just concentrate on doing what we do best together. Being close friends Joelle and I know our game plan and back each other 100 per cent."
Landers-Murphy was a hockey player for a few years and started playing squash at age 13 and hasn't looked back - two older brothers and her parents have played the sport.
The Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games will be held between July 28 and August 8, and feature the largest Para-sport programme to date with eight Para-sports.
Women's cricket T20, basketball 3x3, wheelchair basketball 3x3 and mixed synchronised diving will also debut in Birmingham.
Around 4500 athletes are expected to participate in 280 finals across 20 sports representing 72 countries, including about 20 athletes from the Bay of Plenty region.
New Zealand team chef de mission Nigel Avery said the athletes were looking forward to arriving and showing what they were capable of.
"It's go-time for us now and our team can't wait to get to Birmingham and get stuck into competing," he said.
"We've been working hard behind the scenes to create an environment which allows our athletes to perform to the best of their abilities in Birmingham.
"We saw some inspiring results from the New Zealand team at the last Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast and we're looking forward to creating further history in Birmingham."
Rotorua and Eastern Bay of Plenty's Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games athletes
Lynda Bennett
Sport: Para B6-B8 Lawn Bowls Women's Pair
Born:1954 in Whakatāne
Bennett will be competing in the B6-B8 para women's pairs with Pam Walker. After stepping on to the green for the first time in 2009 for a social bowls league in Arapuni, she developed a passion for the game, beginning her competitive career two years later in Te Awamutu.
She has gone on to take out numerous titles including winning the world singles title in South Africa in 2012, silver in the para triples in Glasgow in 2014, and winning the Australia Open singles in 2017.
Patrick Bevin
Sport: Cycling – Men's Road Race
Born: 1991 in Hamilton, lives in Taupō
Bevin competed at the junior world championships on the track and the road. He was snapped up by United States-based Bissell Pro Cycling as a teenager, with stage wins in Ireland and the United States.
After a World Cup win on the track, he was selected for the team to the 2014 Commonwealth Games. He moved back to the road with the breakthrough in 2016 when he was signed to the UCI World Tour with Cannondale for two years, then on to the crack BMC Racing and now to Israel Start-Up Nation.
Bevin has won a stage of the Santos Tour Down Under in 2019 and this year, won the GC in the Tour of Turkey, followed by a World Tour stage win in the Tour de Romandie.
Dylan Collier
Sport: Men's Rugby Sevens
Born: 1991 in Ōpōtiki
The Waikato forward cemented his place in the All Blacks Sevens team after making his debut in Wellington in 2015.
Collier was a member of the Warriors Under 20 side before picking up sevens in 2014 and was part of the National Sevens winning Waikato team in 2015, his form at that tournament securing national selection.
A tall, ball-winning forward, Collier, with his speed and offloading skills, was also part of the side that brought home silver at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
Stacey Fluhler
Sport: Women's Rugby Sevens
Born: 1995 in Rūātoki
Stacey Fluhler (nee Waaka) is a fast, evasive back who excels in sevens and 15s.
She was first selected for the Black Ferns Sevens team in 2016, and won the World Cup with the Black Ferns in 2017. A natural athlete, Fluhler has also represented New Zealand in touch rugby, as well as at provincial levels in netball, hockey and athletics.
She had a stellar season for the Black Ferns Sevens in 2019/2020, finishing as the World Series top try scorer and claiming the DHL Impact Player of the season. She went on to win Gold at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Amanda Landers-Murphy
Sport: Squash Women's doubles
Born: 1991 in Rotorua
Landers-Murphy won gold alongside teammate Joelle King in the women's doubles at the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games. The win cemented the pair's status as the best women's pairing in the world after the pair won back-to-back world doubles championships in 2016 and 2017.
Landers-Murphy is the foil to Joelle King's power with a deft left-handed touch and precise angles. She was looking for a world doubles title with King before the latter had to withdraw at the semi-final stage of the 2022 World Champs in Glasgow.
Landers-Murphy also competed in women's singles and mixed doubles at Gold Coast 2018 and recorded two fifth placing at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games in 2014.
Ngarohi McGarvey-Black
Sport: Rugby-Sevens
Born: 1996 in Whakatāne, lives in Rūātoki
McGarvey-Black made his All Blacks Sevens debut in Las Vegas in 2018.
Catching the attention of national selectors playing for Bay of Plenty at the regional sevens in 2017, he cemented his inclusion in the national squad after impressing at the national sevens tournament.
He was named Player of the Final in Cape Town 2019 and Hamilton 2020 and voted Seven's Men's Player of the Year that season. He was part of the side that brought home silver at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
This is his Commonwealth Games debut.
Nicole van der Kaay
Sport: Triathlon - Mixed Team Relay, Women's Individual
Born:1997 in Rotorua, lives in Taupō
Nicole van der Kaay heads to Birmingham for her second Commonwealth Games.
She podiumed with a Commonwealth Games bronze medal in the Mixed Team Relay with Tayler Reid as one of her teammates at the 2018 Gold Coast Games.
She also placed seventh and was the top Kiwi female at the same Commonwealth Games in the individual triathlon and is "amped" to be back on the international racing circuit.
She won the elite race at the Tri Taranaki Festival in March, which earned her an automatic nomination to the NZ Olympic Committee selection panel for the Commonwealth Games.
Joe Webber
Sport: Men's Rugby Sevens
Born: 1993 in Tokoroa
Webber debuted for New Zealand in the 2011 World Series.
The Bay of Plenty provincial player's impressive representative career includes being selected for the Māori All Blacks in 2014 and earlier the New Zealand Schools and New Zealand Under 20 in 2013.
Webber's 2018 season was hampered by injury and illness which made him miss the Commonwealth Games and World Cup Sevens but he made his return in 2019.
He was part of the side that brought home silver at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
Hayden Wilde
Sport: Triathlon - Mixed Team Relay, Men's Individual
Born:1997 in Taupō, lives in Tauranga
Wilde heads to Birmingham 2022 for his first Commonwealth Games, off the back of a bronze medal for the men's individual triathlon at the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics.
It was New Zealand's first Olympic triathlon medal in 13 years.
Career highlights also include first place at the 2021 XTERRA World Championships and second place in the 2021 Super League Triathlon Championship Series.
Nicknamed "the falcon" because of his ability to attack from behind, Wilde did exactly that
this month, winning the gold medal at the World Triathlon Championship Series race in Hamburg, elevating him to the series leader.
Originally from Whakatāne, Wilde lives and trains in Tauranga with Craig Kirkwood.
- Source: www.olympic.org.nz
Police have thanked the public for their help in finding Hayden Kemp.