Olympics: New Zealand sports summary

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Athens - A summary of how New Zealand sports teams and individuals performed at the Athens Olympic Games:

Archery:

Ken Uprichard came up with one of the more colourfully confident Games predictions after qualifying in a lowly spot. Ranked 54th and drawn to face 11th seed Liu Ming Huang of Chinese Taipei, he said his rival would get a surprise "when I kick his arse". Uprichard nearly backed up his claim but a poor score of six with his penultimate arrow ended his hopes. Uprichard, in his second Olympics, lost 145-148 to improve to 40th.

Athletics:

Low expectations were fulfilled. Jason Stewart was the only one to record a personal best, and that was not enough to get him through to the 800m second round. Shot putter Valerie Adams and 1500m Nick Willis showed real spirit and were devastated when they went out, raising New Zealand hopes for the future. Discus thrower Beatrice Faumuina made her final, while the rest of the team were among the also rans.

Badminton:

Mixed doubles combination Daniel Shirley and Sara Runesten Petersen fell short of their own ambitions when beaten by the seventh seeded Danish pair in round two. Winning that match -- in which they were competitive -- would have made it a good Games for them. They justified their selection.

Basketball men:

The Tall Blacks expect to win big games so were disappointed to do so only once, against world champions Serbia-Montenegro, to finish 10th. Fielding a team with arguably more depth than ever, they were competitive in every game -- their five losses usually decided in the final minutes. Slow starts were a handicap, along with refereeing issues against Italy and China. Several of their bigger names were not at their best, with guard Phill Jones an exception.

Basketball women:

Upset all predictions by qualifying for the quarterfinals courtesy of surprise wins over Korea and China, but ultimately settled for eighth. Were well beaten in the quarterfinal by Australia and in their other pool games, but almost snuck a late win in the playoff against Greece. Proved a point to former Olympic selector Bruce Cameron, who resigned over them being named for Athens. Megan Compain, Aneka Kerr, Donna Loffhagen, Gina Farmer and fearless Australian-bred point guard Angela Marino enhanced their reputations.

Boxing:

Overshadowed by past misdeeds outside the ring, New Zealand's solitary boxer Soulan Pownceby took centre stage for all the wrong reasons. Under immense public scrutiny for his manslaughter conviction, Pownceby struggled and had his first round light heavyweight bout against a Turkish opponent stopped when down 6-26 on points, with more than a round remaining.

Canoeing:

Did not quite scale the heights they hoped for but at least returned to the medal dais for the first time in 16 years. Ben Fouhy snared silver in the K1 1000m, an event some believed he would win as world champion, while Fouhy and Steven Ferguson were a disappointing eighth in the K2 1000m. The campaign was marred by controversial side issues -- Ferguson's injured back and subsequent "go slow" in the K1 500m heats, plus long-range criticism from bitter former teammate Owen Hughes.

Cycling mountainbike:

New Zealand were never expected to dust up higher quality opponents and so it proved on the wind-swept dirt trails and rocky terrain of Mount Parnitha. Robyn Wong had to cope with the hotter of the conditions and did well to finish 16th in an ever-depleting field, finishing above her world ranking of 42. Kashi Leuchs, the world No 15, had a forgettable race. Caught in a pile-up early, he was then pushed into a barricade, dropped to last. Though he tried to claw back up the field he crossed a disappointing 28th.

Cycling road:

Julian Dean and Joanne Kiesanowski fought lone hands as their teammates fell by the wayside in the Athens heat. Dean showed no ill effects in backing up from the Tour de France to finish 15th in the men's race. Heath Blackgrove, Robin Reid and Jeremy Yates failed to finish the 224km course. Nor could United States-based Kiesanowski count on support from Melissa Holt and Michelle Hyland, so was on her own early. Hyland at least justified her selection by gritting her teeth and finishing -- albeit last.

Cycling track:

Indomitable Sarah Ulmer never flinched as she delivered the most dominant of New Zealand's three gold medal-winning performances. After watching her 3000m individual pursuit world record lowered by Australian Katie Mactier in qualifying, Ulmer snatched it back, then set the bar even higher with a scintillating three minute 24.537 seconds gold medal ride. Ulmer shaved a jaw-dropping 6sec off her record and in the final left Mactier in her wake, despite the Australian comfortably recording a personal best. Scratch race world champion Greg Henderson was fourth in the points race and seventh in the madison with Hayden Roulston. Other than Ulmer, the major talking point was the late withdrawl of sprinter Anthony Peden five days before he was due to line up in the keirin. His use of a banned substance to ease back pain is being investigated by BikeNZ.

Equestrian dressage:

Beset by a troubled buildup and hit harder by the judges than she expected, Louisa Hill finished 49th of 52. Even a personal best would not have been enough to put her and Gabana through to the next round.

Equestrian eventing:

Disappointing, with no medals from a squad that has brought at least one home from every Games since 1984. Rookie Heelan Tompkins was outstanding in seventh place, with Blyth Tait and Matthew Grayling solid. Eventing faces big challenges for Beijing 2008, with Tait headed for retirement, Tompkins sending her outstanding little horse Glengarrick out to pasture, and the Olympic format tilting more heavily toward dressage, traditionally the weakest phase for New Zealand.

Equestrian showjumping:

A surprise success story. Daniel Meech nearly provided a shock medal in a sport dominated by jet-setting European and Americans, starting the medal round in third place only to fell three rails and finish 13th. He and Grant Cashmore gave New Zealand two riders in an Olympic final for the first time, while the team narrowly missed the top-10 final.

Fencing:

New Zealand's first Olympic woman fencer Jessica Beer found the pressure cooker Games experience and the roars of a home crowd too much, losing her first round epee bout 8-15 in 4-1/2 minutes to Dimitra Magkanoudaki of Greece. A tearful Beer, just 1-1/2 years into international competition, admitted she lost her poise on the big stage.

Hockey, men:

Performed above expectations under coach Kevin Towns, finishing sixth in their best effort since the Montreal gold in 1976. After early losses to eventual finalists the Netherlands and Australia, they rattled off four straight wins to book a place in the elite Champions Trophy for the first time since 1982.

Hockey, women:

Also outshone their ranking and matched their sixth placing from Sydney four years ago, with poor finishing in three consecutive scoreless losses costing them a medal shot. Won when it counted later on, a Lisa Walton golden goal beat Korea 3-2 and earned them a top six Champions Challenge place to farewell one of their standouts, veteran goalkeeper Helen Clarke.

Judo:

Rochelle Stormont moved up a weight division from the Commonwealth Games of 2002 but sadly she still played a cameo role in her first Olympic appearance. She was subdued by ippon 30 seconds into her bout with Romanian Ioana Maria Aluas and was not lucky enough to get a repechage in the 52kg class, when Aluas lost her next encounter.

Rowing:

Twins Caroline and Georgina Evers-Swindell delivered the gold medal -- New Zealand's first of the Games -- that everyone expected, but had to work hard. They held off the fast-finishing Germans in the closest finish to any race in their three-year unbeaten reign. All five crews qualified for finals, a record number for New Zealand, with men's pair Nathan Twaddle and George Bridgewater just a second off bronze. Even women's pair Nicky Coles and Juliette Haigh qualified after falling in the water during their heat.

Sailing:

A major failure, missing the medal rostrum for the first time since 1976. Five of the eight classes placed in the top 10 but results did not match the resources poured into their campaign. The best finisher was Mistral veteran Barbara Kendall in fifth but she was never in the hunt after two early disqualifications. The rest were also capable of better.

Shooting:

Feisty effort from Nadine Stanton to place sixth in the women's double trap although she was in the end kicking herself for not faring better. After qualifying fourth out of 15, she dropped to last in the six-woman final. Ryan Taylor was 36th out of 46 in the 50m prone rifle.

Swimming:

A notable improvement on recent years although Olympic finals remain elusive. Five earned top-16 finishes -- medley swimmers Helen Norfolk and Dean Kent (both twice), backstroker Hannah McLean, and butterfly exponents Moss Burmester and Corney Swanepoel. Norfolk was a painful 0.05sec off qualifying for the 400m medley final. Once again far from the headlines of names like Thorpe and Phelps but these Games represented a renaissance.

Table tennis:

Li Chunli, 42, continued to defy the ageing process at her fourth Olympics but for the second consecutive Games was shown the door by a world No 1 singles player from China. She won her second-round singles match and was twice victorious in the doubles with sister Karen Li before falling in the third round of both.

Taekwondo:

New Zealand's first Games representative in the sport, Verina Wihongi was not expected to feature. She appeared overawed by the occasion and fired few shots in her two losing bouts.

Triathlon:

Hamish Carter and world champion Bevan Docherty scored an emphatic gold-silver double along the Athens waterfront. Carter, who had often contemplated retirement since a disappointing 26th in Sydney 2000, fulfilled an Olympics gold medal dream he had held since watching John Walker win the 1500m at Montreal in 1976. The New Zealanders based their charge to the podium on a strong bike leg, then left all in their wake on the 10km run. The Carter-Docherty double was New Zealand's first gold-silver in an individual Olympic event since Blyth Tait and Sally Clark went one-two in the three day event at Atlanta in 1996. Sam Warriner was was a solid 18th in the women's race, held in oppresive heat.

- NZPA