It’s been a rollercoaster year in New Zealand sport, from the international highs of a record-breaking Paris Olympics to rugby’s domestic lows of the Crusaders falling off a cliff and the All Blacks scrambling to a pass mark in the
Sports Insider: Hamish Kerr and Sarah Hirini are the Kiwi athletes of the year
All Blacks No 8 Ardie Savea, Olympic stars Finn Butcher, Dame Lisa Carrington and Lydia Ko. Photos / Photosport
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Want a gold-standard lesson in mental toughness and self-belief?
Step up, Hamish Kerr.
Going into the Olympic high jump event as the gold medal favourite before a heaving Stade de France arena in Paris, Kiwis could only gasp collectively as what looked like a slow train wreck unfolding in front of us.
Kerr himself seemed on the brink of tears after the qualification round started going horribly wrong. The world indoor champion and anticipated champion suddenly seemed to be in meltdown mode.
He had inexplicably missed his first two attempts at 2.20m, usually a stroll for Kerr, and incredibly had just one last attempt to stay alive.
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Kerr admitted fear hit him hard.
“I’ve faced a few of those jumps in my life and not all of them have pulled off so I had to dig pretty deep for that one,” he said.
“I’m so grateful I had my coach and my team around me and the people that knew what I needed to do in that time, and they were the ones who gave me the belief that I could do it.”
Kerr went on to clear the bar before sealing his place in a dramatic final, clearing 2.34m in a jump-off against American Shelby McEwen for the gold medal.
Seeing the iconic black singlet of a New Zealand track and field athlete scaling the highest of Olympic peaks was one of the greatest sporting moments Kiwis savoured in 2024.
International: Barely out of his teens, Japanese baseballer Shohei Otani may go on to become the greatest baseball player ever. A pitcher and designated hitter for the Los Angeles Angels, the 20-year-old enjoyed a massive season of individual achievement.
Woman of the Year
Sarah Hirini
If there’s an equivalent of the standing of Richie McCaw in women’s rugby, it is surely the evergreen 32-year-old who led the Black Ferns Sevens to victory in the Paris Olympics, after somehow overcoming a shocking knee injury suffered only months earlier.
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“My leg felt like it was broken in two places and I was in so much pain,” she recalled of the injury suffered at the Dubai round of the World Sevens Series last December.
“My first thought was ‘that’s my Olympic dream finished’. I thought it was a minimum nine to 12 months to recover.”
Her swift recovery in just seven months staggered even those closest to Hirini, who had already come to appreciate her grit and determination.
“Sometimes I think ‘how the hell did I do that?’ but other times I look back and know I did everything I possibly could to make Paris. I’m just so lucky I had such a great medical and support team around me.”
Hirini’s fierce leadership skills and “follow me” attitude have been on show all year.
Just a few weeks ago, she led her team to victory in the prized Cape Town World Series tournament, adding to a bulging medal chest that includes Olympic and Commonwealth Games gold medals, Sevens World Series championships and World Cups, and two World Cups in the XV-a-side game.
But if you think Hirini intends sitting back and toasting her triumphs over the festive season, think again.
“My plans for Christmas Day and New Year’s Day? I’ll be training,” she laughed.
International: American Simone Biles won the all-around gymnastics gold medal at the Paris Olympics, her sixth overall. She had won the title in Rio in 2016 but lost her mojo five years later in Tokyo. But she was back to her best in France, wearing a sparkling necklace sporting the word Goat (greatest of all time) to her triumphant press conference.
Team of the Year:
Black Ferns Sevens
Who would have thought it? New Zealand rugby being carried by a proud troupe of wāhine toa while their male counterparts slip into a mediocrity that is embarrassing for a country of our rugby standing.
The Black Ferns Sevens dazzled and thrilled us with a successful defence of their Olympic gold medal in Paris, beating Canada in the final.
And alongside their silky skills, the beaming smiles and endearing personalities of the likes of Hirini, Stacey Waaka, Jorja Miller, Portia Woodman-Wickliffe and Michaela Blyde made their male counterparts look terribly boring.
International: The Boston Celtics reinforced their standing as the NBA’s most successful franchise, winning a record 18th championship by defeating the Dallas Mavericks in the finals and easing past the Los Angeles Lakers (17 titles).
Breakthrough Athlete of 2024
Finn Butcher
From the cheeky mana wave on the start line to his infectious post-race interviews, Finn Butcher arrived as a breath of fresh air in New Zealand sport when he won the first-ever Olympic gold medal in men’s canoe slalom cross.
A kind of demolition derby on water but requiring as much guile and skill as bumping ability, Butcher and his down-home style won over a legion of young Kiwi sports fans.
The 29-year-old Alexandra-based paddler’s appreciation of the moment and a grounded personality helped further endear him to wider New Zealand.
Weeks after his moment in the Paris sun, Butcher was still wearing his gold medal.
“The strap’s actually getting a little bit worn from being around my neck,” he joked.
“So many people have helped me get this so I actually really like when people want to see it and experience it and hold it and even put it on.
“Because part of [the reason I have it] is from everyone supporting me. To be able to share that with people is pretty special. I love wearing it and I’m super proud to bring it home to New Zealand.”
International: The form of Jude Bellingham has been a rare bright spot for English football fans. The 21-year-old midfielder scored 19 goals in his first season for his table-topping Spanish club Real Madrid and won the La Liga Player of the Year honour, as well as being England’s best player at the 2024 European Championships.
A year to remember ...
Auckland FC
Heading into the Christmas-New Year period on top of the A-League table and unbeaten after seven matches. Has there ever been a more stellar debut from any newly-formed franchise in Kiwi sporting history? Or by any expansion club in the first season of a premier national league competition? I can’t think of one.
Lydia Ko
Narrowly outpointed by Sarah Hirini as Sports Insider’s Woman of the Year. Ko had an incredible season, winning Olympic gold, claiming her third major title (the British Open), earning $5.5 million in prizemoney and being admitted to women’s golf’s Hall of Fame.
Olympic success was the highlight.
“Knowing that Paris was going to be my last [Olympics] opportunity to win a gold and to represent New Zealand at an Olympics. To make all my dreams come true by winning the gold there was unbelievable,” Ko said.
Amelia Kerr
Named player of the tournament at the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup after helping New Zealand win the trophy for the first time, Kerr scored 43 runs off 38 balls and took 3-24 against South Africa in the final. She was named the player of the match, becoming the first to ever win both the tournament and the final awards at a Women’s T20 World Cup.
“We all know she is a once-in-a-generation player,” said White Ferns skipper Sophie Devine after the achievement. “What she was able to do tonight was incredible. The world is her oyster.”
Team McLaren
The iconic papaya orange racing colours made famous by Bruce McLaren in the 1970s sit atop the Formula One Constructors Championship for the first time since 1998, with Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri leading the team that bears the Kiwi star’s name to victory, seeing off Ferrari and Red Bull.
Ivan and Nathan Cleary, and the Penrith Panthers
Close your eyes for a moment and ponder what might have happened if the Warriors hadn’t shown Ivan Cleary the coaching door when his son Nathan was an All Blacks admirer who wanted to play for the Warriors. Now father and son rule the rugby league world as the best coach and player in the game, racking up a fourth straight NRL title with the Penrith Panthers.
Dame Lisa Carrington
Won three gold medals at the Paris Olympics in women’s kayak singles 500m, women’s kayak doubles 500m and women’s kayak fours 500m, confirming her status as New Zealand’s greatest-ever Olympian, boasting a total of eight gold medals and a bronze across four Olympics.
A year to forget ...
The Crusaders
From winning their 12th Super Rugby title* last year to finishing ninth and out of the playoffs for the first time since 2015, the loss of head coach Scott Robertson, talismanic lock Sam Whitelock and a string of injuries to key players, including Will Jordan, hit hard. New coach Rob Penney gained a reprieve for next season when in any other sport, the guillotine would have fallen.
Israel Adesanya
Lost his only fight of 2024 in a much-hyped bout against South African Dricus Du Plessis in August in Perth after unexpectedly surrendering his UFC middleweight belt to American Sean Strickland at the end of 2023. The Nigerian-born Kiwi has lost three of his past four fights and will be desperate for victory in his return to the octagon in February in Saudi Arabia.
High Performance Sport New Zealand
The gruesome spectre of the Olivia Podmore inquiry hangs heavily over the Government’s appointed funding agency for our elite athletes. It has become apparent just how appallingly Podmore was treated. How long have we been warned about bullies within national sports organisations (women’s hockey, rugby and football plus rowing, canoe racing and gymnastics, to name but a few)? What we’ve seen of the coronial inquest would suggest that Cycling New Zealand and High Performance Sport New Zealand were asleep at the wheel before Podmore tragically took her own life.
The Warriors
Not even selling out every home game for the season (never achieved by any other NRL club) can gloss over a season of under-achievement. The coach and players looked suspiciously over-confident after the previous season and didn’t seem to know how to correct it. We will get to truly find out how good Andrew Webster is next season, when a kind draw and the arrival of Kiwis captain James Fisher-Harris leave the Warriors with no excuses for 2025.
New Zealand Rugby
A pass mark for Scott “Razor” Robertson (despite his conservative selections) and an A+ for the Black Ferns Sevens can’t erase yet another “annus horribilus” in 2024. A governance review highlighted the ineptitude of the board, yet the directors still fought furiously to prevent change, as did the provincial unions. The appointment of a new board and chair in David Kirk this month is the one beacon of hope.
Warren Gatland and Eddie Jones
For years now, a small group of international rugby coaches have managed to furbish the myth of being uber-managers who can turn dust into gold. Somehow, they have kept their international careers going. With Eddie Jones, it’s been more calamity than riches. Warren Gatland is another whose outdated methods seem to have been found out.
RIP (some of the stars we lost in 2024)
If you’re old enough to remember the 1971 Lions tour of New Zealand, it was a sad year when we lost three icons from a remarkable era – doughty All Blacks halfback Sid Going (a hero growing up for this columnist) and Welsh greats J.P.R. Williams and Barry John.
Another All Black departed in 2024. Much misunderstood initially but who ultimately became a man to be much admired. Rest in peace Norm Hewitt, tragically taken by disease too early in life.
Nicknamed der Kaiser (“The Emperor”), Franz Beckenbauer is still regarded as one of world football’s greatest players. Only eight others have matched the German legend’s feat of winning the World Cup, the European Champions Cup and the game’s biggest individual honour, the Ballon d’Or.
American sport lost two of its biggest names this year in Willie Mays and Pete Rose, the former playing 23 seasons of Major League Baseball, starting in the 1950s when the sport was still biased against black athletes, and the latter a flawed hero known as “Charlie Hustle” who was banned from Hall of Fame contention for betting on games.
* Not counting the two Covid-era New Zealand-only titles
Sports Insider will take a break over the festive season and wishes all readers a Merry Christmas and a bumper New Year.
