Sporting trio's rocky road to win back public favour

By TERRY MADDAFORD

Catriona McBean could not have had a worse first day at the office.

Appointed chief executive of Swimming New Zealand in January 2000, McBean walked into the post-Danyon Loader era and the Trent Bray drug saga.

"They were as tough a challenges that any sport could face," said McBean.

Now the association contemplate other hurdles in their search for a new national coach and "shop window" in a sport which hung for so long on Loader's coat-tails.

They are not alone.

Cycling, who must replace coaching guru Ron Cheatley, and athletics, now without their high-performance programme, came home, like swimming, empty-handed from the Sydney Olympics.

They all face a rocky road in the lead-up to next year's Manchester Commonwealth Games.

Money remains a problem. So does finding the talent to get these high profile sports back to where the sporting bodies - and public - want.

Swimming came up with a clear vision for the future.

They advertised for a national coach to replace Brett Naylor, found the right person (in Australia) for the role only to come up short in the dollar stakes.

Despite being highly competitive and popular internationally, the three sports struggle here to attract big crowds and big money.

Swimming New Zealand estimate millions swim worldwide. But only thousands compete. Athletics [running] and cycling could produce similar statistics.

New Zealanders will contest world championships in all three sports this year. None expect to send big teams.

Athletics New Zealand chairperson Joanna Hickman said her board had a strong developmental policy and their energies and resources would be channelled there.

"Our selection policy is to send athletes who reach the A standard," said Hickman.

"While there is a push to give our younger athletes every opportunity, our senior athletes still deserve recognition as well. Craig Barrett, as an example, will almost certainly carry Kiwi hopes in the 50km road walk at the worlds.

"Obviously we are looking at the Manchester Commonwealth Games but already we are finding coaches and their athletes have views different from the board.

"Coaches have been realistic but sometimes public expectation can be quite unrealistic," said Hickman. "The Olympics were a wake-up call for athletics here. There are no simple answers.

"We have to continue to work closely with our coaches. It is nonsense to say bringing in international coaches will produce a miracle cure.

"It is not easy for our athletes who have to compete in different seasons and in different hemispheres.

"Having said that, it is not necessarily a bad thing to have a small team."

Hickman said the focus this year would be on the world youth championships in Hungary.



At home, the national championships would remain the shop window, but they also needed to look at bringing back the three-meeting international series, Hickman said.

Cycling, too, suffer from a lack of public exposure.

They can point to their national championships - with only lukewarm public support - the Tour of Wellington, track cycling's Night of the Stars and the UCI-supported women's road race as their showpieces. But little else.

Cycling New Zealand general manager Mark Harris said there was no real need for a competitive shop window. Rather, the association needed to attract more participants.

"Research shows around 738,000 people ride a bike in some fashion in New Zealand," said Harris. "But only .003 percent are affiliated to a club."

Harris said that while cycling won 12 medals in 1990, nine in Victoria and seven in Kuala Lumpur at the last three Commonwealth Games, they predicted just six in Manchester.

"Primarily that lower target is because we have not attracted a new national coach. From my point of view we should already be focussing on the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games.

"We have had some interest in the coaching role but when we got down to it, there were too many fish hooks," said Harris.

Cycling have a blueprint for the future but needed the funding and personnel to translate hope into something more concrete.

All three sports have had their time in the sun. Unless they quickly find the necessary resources, win back public support and find the right people, it could be a long wait for a return to the glory days New Zealand sport wants and the public, rightly or wrongly, expects.