Commonwealth Games: North Shore freestyler first to make a splash

Natasha Hind in training. Photo / Getty Images

Natasha Hind will become the first New Zealand athlete to make a splash at the 19th Commonwealth Games when she enters the water for the heats of the 200m freestyle this afternoon.

When the 21-year-old North Shore swimmer steps on to the blocks, for the NZOC it will mark the end of a torrid build-up and the start of action proper - though glitches in New Delhi's organisation continue to be uncovered.

Hind is in heat three with teammates Penny Marshall and Lauren Boyle following in heat four.

"It is exciting," Hind said. "It's amazing when you think about it like that."

Hind wants to use the experience of being first up to her advantage.

"I'll be trying to draw from the atmosphere and hopefully it will bring out a special race."

Chef de mission Dave Currie yesterday acknowledged that it had been a draining fortnight and with the opening ceremony out of the way everybody just wanted to get on with the business of trying to win medals.

There had been speculation that New Zealand was threatening to boycott the opening ceremony after the Commonwealth Games Federation tried to make late changes to the programme. That was never the case, said Currie, who was one among a New Zealand delegation of 150 athletes and officials performing the march-past at the Jawarharlal Nehru Stadium.

The swimming, women's hockey, cycling and badminton teams were excused from marching as they are all in action either today or tomorrow.

"We continued to ask questions of the organisers about the amount of time the athletes would be waiting and whether food would be provided in the holding area but there was never any suggestion New Zealand would not participate," Currie said.

Another significant gremlin has emerged on the eve of the Games. The central results service - a computerised system that is the lifeblood of journalists and officials following the Games - is not expected to be operational until tomorrow at the earliest.

Delhi will be Currie's final Commonwealth Games as chef de mission and he said it would be "the most difficult and frustrating" Games he had been involved in.