Currie confirms exit from Commonwealth role

Dave Currie. Photo / Getty Images

Dave Currie has confirmed this Commonwealth Games will be his last as chef de mission of the New Zealand team.

Speaking yesterday in Delhi, Currie said he is signed on to manage the New Zealand Olympic team to London, but post-2012 he will look at making a change.

"I've had an extraordinary run. As much as I love it, it will be time for something else. It's been on my mind for a while. But, when I get there, I might still pull a David Lange [when he turned to successor Sir Geoffrey Palmer during his final media conference as Prime Minister in 1989] and say I want to keep the job.

"People ask me how I got here... and I have no idea. I can join the dots backwards. However, I'm not prepared to go and have cups of coffee forever yet. I'm committed to London but not ready to retire to Raglan [his home town]."

Currie says the Delhi experience, where he has been immersed in ongoing security, hygiene and safety concerns over the last couple of years, have tested his passion for the job.

"People tell me I do the job moderately well but it's never easy. It's times like this when you are tested that 'enjoy' is the wrong word, but it's probably why you do it _ because it is hard. One of Tenzing Norgay's quotes is "be great and make others great" so the driver for me is to be the best we can be."

Currie regularly peppers his speech with quotes or references to some of history's celebrated figures. He is also a big fan of Sir Ed, having met the conqueror of Mt Everest three times before Hillary's death in January 2008. The New Zealand team is honouring Hillary and Norgay at the Games with 29028 printed on all its uniforms _ that's the height in feet of Everest when the pair climbed to the top in 1953.

"I always had an extraordinary admiration for Sir Ed," Currie said. "I've also had a healthy disregard for authority growing up in Otahuhu and his attitude was to look for forgiveness rather asking permission by just going and doing things. The chance to honour Sir Ed as part of this team meant my [Commonwealth chef de mission] career couldn't wind up a better way.

"It actually completes a nice cycle. In another lifetime I wrestled for New Zealand and as a 17-year-old I toured India which was a great sporting adventure in the Punjab."

Currie was never picked to represent New Zealand at a Commonwealth Games but said he could've gone to Christchurch in 1974 had he not been injured.

"There wasn't a lot of wrestling in New Zealand so it was hard to keep the fires burning."

He was also a strong marathon runner at one point and helped as a guide at the 1988 Paralympics in Seoul. Currie came back from that and got involved in disability sports, which eventually saw him take the Paralympic team to Sydney in 2000. That posting led to his current role.

"I've never been a sporting administrator and I actually think that helps. The only focus I bring is having some understanding of how hard athletes work, coming from my failed athletic background."

Currie returns to his other job as Black Caps manager two weeks after the Commonwealth Games. The team is off, appropriately enough, on a six week tour of India. Currie is contracted with New Zealand Cricket until early 2012 before he completes his role as a chef de mission in London.