New Zealand couch potatoes rejoiced in 2008, their fitness levels heightened by frequent leaps in the air as our Olympians, Kiwis rugby league players, Scott Dixon and All Blacks among others had a successful time.
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"Suddenly the Great Wall of China jumped out in front of me," explained Mahe Drysdale, three-times world champion rower of his late race collapse in the Olympics single sculls at Beijing.
No writer could have summed it up better. Drysdale's bronze medal was one of sporting heroism - and if not everyone's sporting moment of the year, the image of him collapsed on a pontoon at Shunyi will be etched on the retinas of New Zealand sports fans for years to come.
Much had been expected from Drysdale, after a stirring battle with former Olympic champion Rob Waddell in a series of trials at home to decide who would take the single sculls position at the Games.
It was hoped he would get New Zealand away to a gold start to August 16, the day when many medals featuring New Zealand finalists were decided, after a luckless 10-day start to the Games had left a bleary-eyed public back home desperate for success.
But the New Zealand opening ceremony flagbearer had been struck by a stomach bug and struggled to make the final, slowing dramatically in the late stages of his semifinal.
He was still struggling a few days later, but decided to attack full-on in the final, making his move after the 1000m mark, to take a lead by 1.6 seconds at the 1500m, only to be overhauled late by defending champion Olaf Tufte of Norway, then Czech Ondrej Synek.
Drysdale slumped forward in his boat, his face drained of colour and had to be helped into the officials' boat. Eight helpers were then needed to hoist his limp body on to the pontoon.
He had ice packs applied to his neck and legs, with water continually being tipped on his back, eventually managing to get to his feet and attend the medal ceremony.
"I've always walked out of the boat," he said later. "It was almost embarrassing I suppose, to do that. There wasn't anything left in the tank."
Soon after, Sick Saturday turned to Super Saturday. Drysdale was first on to the pontoon to greet twins Georgina and Caroline Evers-Swindell after their thrilling victory in the double sculls.
In a finish that had veteran broadcaster Peter Montgomery spluttering, the Evers-Swindells beat Germans Annekatrin Thiele and Christiane Huth by one one-hundreth of a second.
The twins had not looked likely to defend their Olympic title after 18 months of injury woes and indifferent form, but proved true champions when it counted. They announced their retirement from rowing soon after the Games.
Men's pair Nathan Twaddle and George Bridgewater joined Drysdale as bronze medal winners, while Waddell, back at the Olympics for the first time since 2000, finished fourth with Nathan Cohen in the double sculls.
There could not have been a greater contrast between the nail-biting finish of the Evers-Swindells and the way in which Valerie Vili dominated the women's shotput at the Bird's Nest stadium.
Vili, the supreme winner at the Halberg awards in February, walked out, looking and meaning business. First up, she threw farther than she had done ever before, 20.56m, and her opposition simply melted away. When her main rival Natallia Mikhnevic of Belarus could only manage 20.10m with her last throw, it was all over.
"As soon as I saw on the board, when it came up, I thought instantly there and then, screw the last throw. I'm done, I've won," said a delighted Vili.
She was New Zealand's first Olympic throwing gold medallist, and just the second field athlete to win, after long jumper Yvette Williams in 1952.
Cyclist Hayden Roulston won a silver medal in the 4000m individual pursuit to give New Zealand five medals in a day for the first time ever - and the All Blacks celebrated by beating South Africa, in Cape Town.
Later in the Games, board sailor Tom Ashley won New Zealand's first boardsailing medal at an Olympics for 14 years, while Nick Willis's bronze in the 1500m was New Zealand's first Olympic track medal since John Walker won gold in the same event at Montreal in 1976.
Scott Dixon brought joy to motor fans in May, becoming the first New Zealander to win the Indy 500, America's most prestigious motor race, and doing it from pole to pole.
In September, Dixon, 27, clutched a US$1 million ($1.5m) cheque for winning the 17-race IndyCar series.
"Getting married, winning the 500, winning a championship in one year - not too many people can probably say they've done that," a beaming Dixon said.
Another driver of great talent was uncovered this year with 18-year-old Earl Bamber taking the wheel in New Zealand's car in this season's A1 grand prix series, after Jonny Reid was the main driver when NZ finished second in the 2007-08 series.
The world awoke to another emerging talent when 18-year-old Rotorua golfer Danny Lee won the US Amateur in August, earning him an invite to the first major of 2009 - the Masters at Augusta, Georgia - and probably unfair comparisons to Tiger Woods.
Mark Brown won the SAIL Open and the tri-sanctioned US$2.5 million ($4.65m) Johnnie Walker Classic in successive weeks in India and won the Australasian Tour moneylist for the year.
Tim Wilkinson also zoomed up the world rankings, with three-top 10 finishes in his rookie year on the US PGA circuit and earnings of close to $2 million.
The Kiwis provided the upset of the year, winning rugby league's World Cup final against the Kangaroos 34-20.
It was one of the great underdog moments in New Zealand sport, as the Australians had won the previous six World Cup titles and were expected to claim a seventh without too much trouble, after beating the Kiwis 30-6 in the opening match of the Cup.
But Kiwis' coach Stephen Kearney's young side displayed the sort of ticker needed to succeed on the big stage, with former Australian coach Wayne Bennett being the maestro in the background.
The match had a sour aftermath, with Kangaroos coach Ricky Stuart exploding, and calling official Ashley Klein a "cheat" who "cost us the World Cup". That quote is minus the Aussie expletives.
A probe was held into Stuart's behaviour and he resigned this month, describing his post-match conduct as "inappropriate and offensive".
It was a good year too for the New Zealand Warriors, who made the top four in the National Rugby League finals before copping a 32-6 hiding from eventual champions Manly.
One of the code's great characters, Ruben Wiki, retired from the NRL after the match, his 87th for the Warriors but his 312th first grade appearance, after 225 for Canberra. He also had 55 caps for the Kiwis before retiring from test duty two years ago.
"I've just had fun mate," he said.
The All Blacks completed a majestic year with a Grand Slam over the Home Nations, giving coach Graham Henry a topsy to the turvy he had in 2007 when his side bowed out to France in the rugby World Cup quarterfinals.
Robbie Deans missed out on Henry's job and was gratefully snapped up by the Australians. While he had a good first season with them, he had to bow to Henry when it came to Bledisloe Cup results.
That was only after Deans had taken the Crusaders to his fifth Super rugby title, with a 20-12 win over the Waratahs in the Super 14 final.
The All Blacks won home matches against Ireland, England and Samoa; retained the Bledisloe Cup while winning the Tri-Nations; beat Australia in Hong Kong and completed an undefeated Grand Slam tour of the United Kingdom, where it had to be said the standard of opposition was disappointing.
In all, there were 14 wins out of 16, resulting in Henry claiming coach of the year at the national rugby awards, with hooker Andrew Hore winning player of the year, though the undoubted standouts were captain Richie McCaw and first five-eighth Daniel Carter.
Canterbury beat Wellington 7-6 in the Air NZ provincial competition final.
It was a turbulent year for New Zealand cricket.
After the defections last year of top players such as Nathan Astle and Craig McMillan, long-time captain Stephen Fleming retired in March, with 7000 runs scored at an average of a tick over 40.
New skipper Daniel Vettori fought valiantly but the losses came frequently and the wins were restricted mainly to the one-day arena, a 3-1 series victory in England being the highlight.
Coach John Bracewell continued to mesmerise with his batting switches and he bowed out after a caning by Australia in November, replaced by Englishman Andy Moles.
The White Ferns gave the tough Australians a run for their money before going down 3-2 in the Rosebowl one-day series this year.
The see-saw battle between Australia and New Zealand in netball was as intense as ever, with the ledger balanced at two wins apiece by year's end.
The Silver Ferns returned home with a trans-Tasman trophy despite their 41-43 loss to the Diamonds in the final test in Melbourne in November, winning the trophy on goal difference.
Australian teams dominated the new transtasman netball league, with losing finalists Waikato-Bay of Plenty Magic the only New Zealand team to feature in the top five of the 10-team competition, won by Sydney Swifts. Southland broke a 49-year-old drought in winning the national competition.
The New Zealand soccer team had a good year, being crowned Oceania Nations Cup champions and qualifying for the playoffs to win a place in the World Cup finals in South Africa in 2010.
The Wellington Phoenix had a tough introduction to the Australian soccer league, finishing last in 2007-08, but improved in the latest season, winning five matches and proving tough to beat home.
The women basketballers showed up their male counterparts by qualifying for the Olympics, with the men dropping out in a qualifying tournament quarterfinal in Athens in July.
The Tall Ferns beat Malawi in their opening match in Beijing and lost their next four and that was that.
But the Breakers were a revelation. After going down to Brisbane in a sudden-death quarterfinal to end their 2007-08 season, they rebounded this season to lead the Australian National Basketball League, winning six on the trot, before a late-year fade saw them drop to second on the table.
Sam Warriner was disappointed by her 16th placing in the Olympics triathlon but her timing was great two months later when she won the Huatulco World Cup triathlon in Mexico, the last big event of the season to claim BG Triathlon World Cup series championship. Bevan Docherty won the bronze medal at the Olympics triathlon.
Gary Lawson and Val Smith spearheaded a fine New Zealand performance at the world bowls championships in January, both winning two gold medals and helping their country to win the team title.
Sharon Sims announced her retirement after a stellar bowls career in which she won three world titles, a Commonwealth Games gold medal and four golds at Asia-Pacific championships.
Shane Cameron won his three heavyweight boxing bouts during the year, prompting the possibility of former world heavyweight contender David Tua next year.
The sporting world farewelled some greats during the year, including famed swimming coach Duncan Laing, the guide behind Danyon Loader's two Olympics gold medals in 1996.
Long-time New Zealand soccer boss Charlie Dempsey died in June, while cricketers Bob Cunis, Hedley Howarth and Merv Wallace also marched on.
New Zealand sporting great Sir Murray Halberg was honoured in June, being admitted to the Order of New Zealand, which is limited to 20 living people at one time.
- NZPA
