Louisa Wall: Legacy of success engendering success

What a spectacular the openings of events such as the Commonwealth Games have become.

Melbourne's effort on Wednesday was good entertainment, so let's hope the performances on the sports fields are as stunning.

The highlight was Dame Kiri Te Kanawa's rendition of Happy Birthday to the Queen.

Dame Kiri also spoke to our team the night before the opening ceremony when Olympic triathlon champion Hamish Carter was named captain and flag bearer.

Carter is a fantastic choice as captain and flag bearer. The wonderful speech he gave at the team function when he was named would have helped to focus his peers for the competition ahead.

His comparison of being selected as captain and flagbearer to winning his gold medal at the Athens Olympics was priceless and his mention of John Walker, the man who had inspired him to achieve in sport, continues that legacy of success engendering success.

Beatrice Faumuina has talked about the experience of taking part in the opening ceremony of the 1990 Auckland Commonwealth Games as a 15-year-old as the inspiration for her participation and how that experience has shaped her life.

Moss Burmester too has talked about Anthony Mosse staying with him and his family when he was a youngster and what an inspirational figure he has been to him and after breaking Anthony Mosse's 18-year-old national record in the 200m butterfly last year; much was expected of him and boy did he deliver.

Burmester was 4th in Manchester and had unfinished business which was responsible for our first New Zealand anthem and gold medal.

Well done Jan Cameron who as a national swim coach, consistently gets the best of her charges.

I am sure that all the athletes have such mentors and icons of New Zealand sport as their heroes and we should never underestimate the importance of such role-models.

So let's hope that Carter's being named the captain and flag bearer which he said has been the highlight of his career, is not the highlight of this Games and he or pal Bevan Docherty can actually fight off a concerted Aussie contingent and win that most treasured Commonwealth gold in the triathlon today.

New Zealand chef de mission Dave Curry ensured that when the New Zealand team arrived in Melbourne, we requested the traditional owners of the land, the Wurundjeri people, welcome us and I feel proud that we did this and that we were the only country to do so.

The New Zealand team theme for this Games is whaka kotahitanga. This seems to engender the notions of working together as a whanau and in doing so creating a sense of unity and inspiring success.

It also seems a great formula and I will be interested in those that emerge from this environment to produce their personal bests and to perform beyond even their own expectations.

Some have written this event off as second-rate but after that wonderful opening ceremony and the early days, it is anything but.

Go for gold Kiwis, we are with you all the way.