NZOC honour athletes, post financial deficit

Barbara Kendall was honoured with the Olympic Order of New Zealand. Photo / Getty

The New Zealand Olympic Committee has honoured four contributors for service to the Olympic and Commonwealth Games movements during the organisation's general assembly in Auckland.

Athletes Barbara Kendall, Trevor Shailer and Selwyn Maister and sports psychologist Gary Hermansson were presented with the Olympic Order of New Zealand, joining 11 current holders.

The assembly showcased the record national medal haul of four gold, nine silver and five bronze at the Rio Games.

The presentation of the NZOC's annual report showed a financial deficit of $1.151m - down $1.764m from 2015 - justified by losses from the delivery of the Games, combined with reduced funding from charitable trusts and a lower profit from fundraising activity.

The loss had been budgeted as the organisation delivered what was described as a "resource-heavy" event at Rio.

Income was $11.762m, including $4.231m as "Games income", $2.779m as "Commercial Partners income" and $372,000 as "special projects income" (mainly the New Zealand club at Rio).

Expenditure was $12.917m, including $8.197m as "Games expenditure", $454,000 as "other costs", $453,000 as "special projects expenses" (mainly the New Zealand club at Rio) and $89,000 for "public affairs and international relations".

Mike Stanley was elected unopposed to a third and final term as NZOC president.

"2016 was a milestone year and New Zealand's athletes brought home more medals than any other team in our Olympic history," he said.

"At home, we faced our own challenges as the cost of competition and success at Olympic and Commonwealth Games continued to rise. We saw an increasingly complex commercial marketplace and changes in the world of traditional and digital media. NSOs [national sports organisations] felt the effects of financial and performance pressure and we saw widespread changes in leadership at CEO and high performance director level.

"We must continue to adapt to these changes with new and broader approaches to fundraising, acknowledging and working with our sports and athletes as they, too, seek additional revenue. We also must work with media organisations and support our sports and athletes as they maximise the benefits, but manage the challenges of the increasing demands of digital and social media."

Simon Wickham completed a maximum third term on the board and was replaced by Athletics New Zealand chairwoman Annette Purvis.

Four new sporting bodies - Climbing New Zealand, Karate New Zealand, Surfing New Zealand and the New Zealand Federation of Roller Sports - were accepted for membership after their inclusion on the 2020 Tokyo Games programme.