KEY POINTS:
BEIJING - The good news is New Zealand has won half a gold medal in the women's triathlon at the Beijing Olympic Games, the bad news is that the whole bleedin' thing has been credited to the Aussies, simply because Emma Snowsill was competing for them.
Snowsill, who confirmed her status as the world's best, holds dual Australian-New Zealand citizenship, as her father Garry was born in that most Kiwi of towns, Masterton.
She even contemplated competing in the silver fern at Athens four years ago, when the Australian selectors somehow overlooked her, even though she had won the world championship in Queenstown the year before.
"I did briefly consider racing for New Zealand after being overlooked by Australian selectors for the Athens Olympics," she said on her website.
"I have a New Zealand passport and from what I understand I do have the choice of racing for the black and white, but I don't have plans at present. One of my most loyal sponsors, Orca already jokingly consider me half way over there.
"I have many relatives throughout the country from Queenstown to Kerikeri and spent many happy childhood holidays visiting there."
Orca are a New Zealand company, which made the sleek racing suits worn by the Kiwi track cyclists in Beijing.
So that's it then, a half medal for New Zealand.
Of the three New Zealanders wearing the silver fern in the triathlon, Andrea Hewitt was eighth, Debbie Tanner 10th, and the unfortunate Sam Warriner 16th.
After good form at the highest level, they had been expected to feature more prominently, though Hewitt briefly tasted the lead at the start of the 10km run.
Snowsill won in one hour 58 minutes 27 seconds, an exhausted Hewitt crossed 2min 18sec after the winner, and Tanner 21sec later.
Sam Warriner, the third New Zealander in the race, had her hopes dashed by a crash as she entered the transition area at the end of the cycle race.
Hopes of a medal from the yachting at Qingdao rose when boardsailor Tom Ashley finished sixth, to open a seven point lead at the head of the field with two fleet races remaining.
Barbara Kendall, who already has three Olympic medals on her boardsailing CV, was sixth in race eight, and now lies fifth, five points away from a bronze.
Star sailors Hamish Pepper and Carl Williams won race five in their regatta to climb to third overall, only two points behind co-leaders Germany.
New Zealand sprinter James Dolphin failed to advance to the Olympic 200m quarterfinals, after finishing fifth in his heat.
If Dolphin, was disappointed that was nothing compared to the that of the Chinese, when their Athens gold 110m hurdles medallist Liu Xiang withdrew from the first round today, when he was in the blocks ready to start.
Liu, whose hamstring has been an issue for months, limped out of the block at the starting gun, took a few awkward steps, then pulled up when the second gun sounded to signal a false start.
Liu tore the number off his leg, turned around and walked into the tunnel.
He was seen limping and kicking the wall in the warm-up room and grimacing on the track before the hurdlers lined up for the final heat of first-round qualifying.
- NZPA
