Episode 25: Nigel Avery

Hard on the heels of the Paris Olympics, our guest for Leaders Getting Coffee episode 25, is Nigel Avery, Chef de Mission of our Olympic team.

Inspired as a seven year old watching John Walker’s Olympic Gold medal race in 1976,  Avery set his sights on going to the Olympic games. He became one of those most unique New Zealanders who went on to represent the country in three very different sports, namely Track & Field athletics, where he was a national champion, bobsled racing, and Weightlifting where he won two Commonwealth Games gold medals and five medals in total.

And yes, although he didn’t get onto the podium, one of his own sporting highlights is that he did get represent his country at the Olympic Games. 

Nigel Avery talks about his own sporting career, including the highs of Commonwealth gold and the frustrations of missing Olympic selection, and how those highs and lows influenced his approach to the role he now plays. We hear about the appointments process to becoming Chef de Mission and the high quality group of leaders and managers put in place to support the New Zealand Olympic team. And we learn about the effort that goes into making sure our athletes feel a sense of belonging in the Olympic environment.

The 2024 Paris Olympics saw New Zealand compete at our most successful games ever. A total of 20 medals, including 10 golds, was probably unexpected by most of us.

And you’ll be surprised at just how hands-on the Chef de Mission role can be, as he shares his unique perspective on the athletes that represented us, the moments of glory, and the disappointments.

There is nothing quite like sport to demonstrate success and failure. Elite sport in particular, can be brutal in it’s honesty. Bruce and Nigel chat about the fine line between first and second in Hayden Wilde’s Olympic triathlon, the celebrations of a medal winning performance and the frustration of fourth place. 

And what do you think a celebrated sporting champion would do if he was Prime Minister for a day? You might be surprised.

In episode 25 of Leaders Getting Coffee we hear another great New Zealand story about an intensely competitive athlete, who became the leader of our best ever Olympic team.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
This is an iHeartRadio New Zealand podcast.

Speaker 2 (00:28):
Hi everyone, it's Bruce Kotte, roll back with you again.
Thanks again for joining us for this episode of Leaders
Getting Coffee. It's our twenty fifth episode and those of
you who follow us closely will notice that we missed
a week last week as a result of some technical difficulties,
but our guest is back and has kindly granted us
some more time to have another go. Thanks again to

(00:50):
those of you who share your feedback, your letters, emails,
LinkedIn messages, etc. Fortunately, the positive feedback continues to flow
and I'm really pleased that so many of you are
enjoying the stories that our leaders bring us. As always,
thanks to the team it ends ed me, the people
at the New Zealand Herald and Newstalk ZEDB who help
us pull these podcasts together, and particularly this week to

(01:12):
Zoe who has been our partnerships manager for the last
year or so. And Zoey left us this week to
travel overseas. So safe travels, Zoe, and thanks again for
everything you've done for us here at Leaders Getting Coffee.
Speaking of nzed ME, of course, the New Zealand Herald
Business section is also where my regular column appears, and

(01:33):
last week I couldn't resist having a crack at the
stern and in my opinion, long over due message delivered
to our councils and local authorities by the Prime Minister
at the Local Government New Zealand Conference, and among other things,
he said that ratepayers expect local government to do the basics,
and to do the basics brilliantly, so in other words,

(01:54):
to collect the rubbish, fix the pipes, repair the potholes
and so on. He went on to say, and I
quote rain in the fantasies and get back to delivering
the basics. And I'm sure that most of us are
saying here here at last. To me, those basics mean
core services like water supply and wastewater. We need store
water systems that catch the rain before it comes into

(02:16):
our houses and to trap the rubbish before it enters
the harbor. It means public transport, emergency management and environmental direction.
And it means town planning and dog registration and building permits.
We need stadiums to host events, and parks and swimming
pools where we can exercise. We need foot paths, footpaths
that are safe to walk on, and we should be

(02:37):
happy to pay whatever reasonable cost structure is required to
fund that stuff. But we don't need big, oversized events
agencies or tourism businesses that have developed a life and
a cost base of their own. We don't need hundreds
of kilometers of unused cycle ways or pot plants on
the road where the parking places used to be. We
don't need raised pedestrian crossings every two hundred meters, and

(02:59):
we certainly don't need five hundred thousand dollars bike cracks
or public toilets that are so over engineered that they're
winning designs. I like the fact that we're finally recognizing,
to use the Prime Minister's own words, that there is
no magic money tree sitting in Wellington. My only hope
is that we don't stop at councils and that we
get the same message to the many others in this

(03:19):
country who continue to stand in line waiting for their
share of the handouts. So please go and have a
look at the column. It's under the headline PM Christopher
Luxen's tough talk to councils no more magic money tree,
and it's in the New Zealand Herald dot co dot
nz or under published articles on my website at dubdubdub
dot Bruce coottrel dot com Forward Slash Blog, Thanks again

(03:42):
for being with us. We'll be back shortly with this
week's guest. Welcome back to lead us Getting Coffee. We're
up to episode twenty five and some of you might
recall my earlier column a few weeks back where I

(04:02):
openly celebrated the performance both on and off the field,
of so some of our most successful athletes at this
year's Paris Olympics. Well, our guest today is the leader
of that Olympic team, Chef de Mission, Nigel Avery. And
if you think we get some long cvs on this podcast,
then you might have to brace yourself. Nigel Avery has
represented New Zealand as an athlete in track and field,

(04:25):
bob sleigh racing and weightlifting. He's competed at two Commonwealth
Games in nineteen ninety eight and two thousand and two,
and Olympics in Sydney in the year two thousand one,
World Championships and Weightlifting in two thousand and one, and
he's won two gold, one silver, and two bronze medals
at the Commonwealth Games. Not content with those results, he's

(04:45):
gone on to do a lifetime's work behind the scenes
in various voluntary roles for Athletics, North North Sport, Weightlifting,
New Zealand and the New Zealand Olympic Committee Athletes Commission.
He's appeared as a television commentator for both TVNZ and
Sky Sport at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne in two
thousand and six and Deally in twenty ten, and in

(05:05):
Athens Beijing in London at the Olympic Games from two
thousand and four to twenty twelve. Most recently, he's taken
on the role of Chef de Mission for Our Games teams,
and he led the Birmingham twenty twenty two Commonwealth Games
team before the Big One just a month or so ago,
Paris twenty twenty four and the Olympic Games. Believe it
or not, he's also had time for a business career.

(05:27):
He had earlier roles as an accountant at Carterhof Harvey
before taking on a role as a sales rep in
medical publishing and the high performance manager at the Millennium
Institute of Sport and Health. He then became involved in
the family wine business, where he would stay for ten years,
including the stintives the director responsible for New Zealand and
Asia and three years as CEO of Selenia States in

(05:51):
the USA. He's now a mortgage advisor with Mortgage met
based in the Hawks Bay. He's been married to Shelley
for twenty seven years. That's saying something in this world,
and they have three daughters. He remains remarkably fit and
he's one of those guys who always looks like he's
just stepped out of the gym. It's a great pleasure
to give a big, warm welcome to leaders getting coffee
to our Olympic team Chef to mission Nigel Avery, Hi,

(06:13):
Nigel Bruce.

Speaker 1 (06:15):
How are you thank you for that?

Speaker 2 (06:17):
That's all right? Well I didn't do it or you
did it? Sounds tiring. You've never been far from the
field of sports, have you.

Speaker 1 (06:24):
Yeah? I have it. I mean as a young fellow,
I was involved with athletics and whatnot, and yeah, it's
part of part of my life, as it is for
many other in many other key We's. We've got a
great sporting culture in New Zealand, Yeah, we.

Speaker 2 (06:38):
Have, and we're all fortunate to grow up that way.
You don't normally think of track and field athletes and
weightlifters in the same sentence, do you, But you've managed
to be one of those people. You were, in fact,
a New Zealand champion in the triple jump. Tell me
about that.

Speaker 1 (06:56):
Yeah, well, I guess, as I said, I started athletics
as a seven year old, and I was reasonably quick
for my age, and you know whatever that Matt meats,
and then I guess I sort of start to slow
down a bit in my early early teens. But met
a guy called Dave Norris, who you said, what, you
try a triple jump? So I did, and I turned
out to be reasonably good at it, and I suppose

(07:18):
you kind of focus on the things you're good at.
So yeah, I carried on and won a couple of
second school titles and an under eighteen record and a
couple of musee on teams. So it was a bit
of fun. But I was probably on the large side
to be a triple jumper. And it's a brutal event.
If you ever watch it slow motion, particularly a head
on slow motion shot, you can see just the impact,

(07:38):
the forces that go through the joints and the leads
and hips and yeah, so yeah, it took a bit
of a toll on my body.

Speaker 2 (07:45):
Ultimately, if somebody says to me, Nigel Avery track and field,
my logical conclusion would be that you sort of turn
up and throw things. You sort of have that for
Zeke about you. But that wasn't the case, was it.

Speaker 1 (08:00):
Yeah. I mean as young ones, we kind of did
that anyway. We jumped, we threw, we hurdled, and inventially
did a bit of the catlining. So you kind of
did it all. But then as I sort of morphed
and through the Bob Slaine into weightlifting and started throwing
a bit more and you know, through the shot a
fairway in the discuss the fairway. Yeah, but yeah, it's
probably more naturally suited to my height and body, was it.

Speaker 2 (08:25):
So what prompted the transition to weightlifting?

Speaker 1 (08:28):
Yeah? So I kind of say it all kind of
happened by accident, you know, in the triple jump. I
was always motivated by trying to get to be part
of a big museum team and started off, you know,
by watching John Walker in the seventy six Games when
he won its goal, jumping out and down in front
of the TV, going wow, I'd like to be part
of that at some point, and maybe triple jump was
the way forward, but unfortunately for me, I was twelve

(08:50):
centimeters shy of the golf lying standard. For the nineteen
ninety come Off Games, triple jump mean was the only
New Zealand didn't have a represented wow and and so
I was it you disheartened, but I tried a bit
of the cathleen and the shoulders sort of stopped me
from throwing javan too far polls and then basically got
a phone call out the blue from a guy and
the Bosley team, and word of mouth was the way

(09:14):
that was sport was developed, said hey, would you like
to try it out? So I did too out to
be quite good at it. But the training for Bob
slaying a lot of Olympic movements and so I started
working out at gillies There Gym in Auckland with the
weightlifters because I wanted to flame with the best. And
then one of the national champs of supporting the guys
I was training with, I realized that actually I could

(09:36):
probably do quite well at this. And so after my
training from twice a week to three and within six
months I was competing. In about a year competing in
the come Off Games. So I finally got to that
big team. But in the third spoort of trying.

Speaker 2 (09:53):
Something you were naturally meant to do by the sounds of.

Speaker 1 (09:55):
It, possibly, yeah, quite probably. Yeah, you know that whole thing.
You know, you do what you what you like and
what you enjoyed, what you're good at. But I suspect
there's a lot of talent in New Zealand that, you know,
with them testing the talent transfer where they could go
into sports where they could probably do better. But that's
probably a conversation for another day.

Speaker 2 (10:16):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely so. So you mentioned sort of going
off to athletics at the age of seven. Was sport
the family way of life or were you Were you
a bit of an outlier in the family.

Speaker 1 (10:28):
We didn't really know at the time, but so Mum
and Dare were just you know, leving the key we
dream I guess, working and doing the gardening on the
weekends and whatnot. But my brother, when I see it
when he was eight, decided he wanted to join his
mates at the local athletic club. So I got of
tagged along. I kind of enjoyed it, did reason well,
he not quite so, but Mum got got rapped into

(10:50):
the committee that next year, and then Dad the president
of the year after. But sort of found out that
Dad was involved as an athlete to rugby and foreign
and leaders in past. Mum sort of more of a
swimming background. So yeah, as I said, you know, they're
just a bunch of watery key we was enjoying.

Speaker 2 (11:07):
Yeah, yeah, that's how that's how we grew up. My
If it's any consolation to your brother, my brother was
much quicker than me too, so it might be interested
to you that. So I presume it just carried on
into high school. Where did you go to? Where did
you go to college?

Speaker 1 (11:25):
I went to the later to college on Oran's North Shore.
Yeah it was. It was a big school school. It's
massive now it's it's like a small town now. Yeah,
it certainly is. Yeah, but I've had a good time
there sort of sort of basketball was my thing in
the winter, and track and field in the summer. So
that's that's kind of what we did. A bit of
volleyball thrown in here and there if somebody was short.

(11:47):
But yeah, really really enjoyed the time at the school.

Speaker 2 (11:50):
Yeah, good stuff. And were you did you have interests
outside school other than sport or was sport everything.

Speaker 1 (11:57):
I guess I suppose it was your mom and dad
introduced us the skin snow snow skin. So I really
really enjoyed that recreationally. But apart from that, it was
just doing what you do, hanging out with the mates
and go to the beach and just being a kid.

Speaker 2 (12:14):
Good stuff. So after school and you're you're a triple
jumper and somehow you end up in the New Zealand
Bob sled team, and can you tell us how that happened?

Speaker 1 (12:26):
Yes, I said, before I was just I can remember
the day vividly picked up the phone and a mate
was over there and said, Hey, we're looking for a
new breakman. Do you think you might be interested? And
I said, yep, I have a cracked Is that point?
I was sort of hoping you couldn't do the cathline anymore?
And so I started training, added about ten kilos for
my body weight, because I'll see the sled is the

(12:48):
heavier it is, the faster it will go. It's gravity based.
And I went up there and turned out to be
pretty good at being a break and so I quite
enjoyed that. We had a bit of a foiled attempt
at qualified for the Winter Olympics, the the ninety two
games in La Plum. But it was about at that
time that the IOC wanted to switch win from summer

(13:09):
into alternating four year cycles, and so ninety four there's
another one in Lidehammer, and let's have a crack at there.
And so we were really really close, we thought, but
didn't quite make it. And so it's about that point
I went, right, I need to take madisone Mohan with
a driver's school, loving to drive, and got some efforts
on the beat to try and get a fastest start time.

(13:30):
And so that's kind of how it rolled.

Speaker 2 (13:32):
So you went from being in the back of the
bobsled to the front.

Speaker 1 (13:35):
Yeah, I mean, find a crash and those are we
responsible for it and only twice in the hospital, once
from being crashing and once from crashing myself, so it
wasn't too bad. But yeah, the spoor required a lot
of money and to get a decent slid back then
you know we're talking deutsch mark, so ens D fifty k.
They get bashed around, whether you crashing or not, and

(13:57):
so it'd be good for a couple of years. Obviously
you've got to be in Europe and North America. So
the cost of living in those countries, and then the
cost of the ice time. Every time you go down
the ice, you know, katching, you've got to pay, and
so you only the only way you get good is
by going down a lot. And so I sort of
realized after a few years that, hang on, this is
probably not the way it's meant to be. We weren't improving,

(14:20):
and we couldn't prove because we weren't there enough, and
we couldn't purchase the best equipment.

Speaker 2 (14:25):
Yeah. Sure, So so I've often watched Bob slid racing
and the guy sitting in the back, which is the
role that you had early on. You just got your
head down and you're trusting everything in the guy up
the front. Yeah, yeah, essentially, yeh does that sort of

(14:46):
I can't remember how long a race a run is,
but let's say it's a minute or ninety seconds. Does
that time go fast or slow? Because you're just sitting there,
you can't see what's going on. What's it like?

Speaker 1 (14:57):
Yeah, it's kind of like discrible of being put inside
a washing machine on spins, and you know it's the
g forces because your head stamp to on your leaves
you know your or your your naisive floors are just
emptying out into the front of your helmet because the
gene forces. But you do you get a sense of
even though you can't see where you're going, you know
exactly where you are because you you practice. You know,
you know the corners and the curves, you feel the bumps,

(15:21):
and you try and feel the bump. You go shit
because that's time lost. And then then you know the
finishing straight, which where you sit up and pull the
brakes on, and that's that's the role. So like how
hod on and then put the brakes on. It's it's
a pretty simple score in that level.

Speaker 2 (15:36):
So going up the front and starting to drive, at
least you get to see where you're going.

Speaker 1 (15:41):
Yeah, it's petrifying, I mean because your butts, you know,
inches off the ice, so that the feeling of speeds
even greater. But yeah, you can be going between you know,
one hundred and one hundred and forty klomns it out
depending on which track and if you're a two or
four men and it's it's it's exhilarating, it's frightening, but
it's a wonderful feeling when you when you get fast

(16:03):
and you improve your speed.

Speaker 2 (16:07):
Fantastic. What an adventure. We we know that you've just
presided over an Olympic team that's won a record number
of medals. But before we talk about that, can you
tell me about your own experiences of winning medals. You
went off after that and basically topped the Commonwealth and
weightlifting a couple of golds, as I said in the

(16:29):
introduction of silver, and a couple of bronzes over two
Commonwealth Games. Looking back now twenty something years later, reflecting
on that time, what do you remember?

Speaker 1 (16:41):
It's a bit of a blur And I think, as
I said, I got into my accident. I didn't have
the baggage of being a long term weightlifter. I didn't
know who was good or wasn't. So my first international
comp in Australia, they said, oh, you're going up against
so and so. I still don't even remember his name,
and I went, oh, yeah, great. Well to them, he
meant something because they understood it. For me, I was

(17:02):
just going to try and looked as much as I can.
So I came in as a bit of an unknown
and so for KL I'm sure the ethics went, who's
this guy from New Zealand, where's he come from? And
so I had no pressure in that regard, and so
I guess because I was so new at it. Almost
in every training session I'll be doing a PB. Every competition,

(17:22):
I was doing a PB personal best and so that
it's great for self efficacy and sort of just built.
And I guess, you know, finally been named in the
Olympic team, you know, that was amazing, you know, sort
of sure whatever it was, you know, ninety seventy six,
you know, twenty four years after saying hey, I'd like
to do this and finally getting there as a thirty
three year old, it was pretty amazing. And I guess

(17:46):
the experience with Manchester where I won the title and
the goals in the silver, it was a different experience
because I went in as a known quantity. I was
the favorite, and so there was all those sort of
you know, mind pressure things that your ethlets put on
themselves or put on them by media or whatever. There
was a bit of that going on. So, you know,

(18:08):
to win that was amazing. Was it more of a
relief than a that I was excited? But I probably,
if I have to say that my most memorable experience
was at the Sydney Games right was nowhere near the podium,
But for me that was the pinnacle of all sport
and I achieved the absolute best I could at that event.

(18:29):
And so for me that was a real, real highlight.
And even though I didn't get a medal, you know,
for me, that was my medal. Is that satisfaction of
knowing I've done my absolute.

Speaker 2 (18:37):
Best, fantastic and standing on the podium at the Calm
Games with a gold medal around your neck? Is it pride? Relief, excitement?
What are the things running through your mind while that
national anthem is playing?

Speaker 1 (18:52):
Yeah, I think pride is the one that really sticks
out because you know a lot of other new Sealmers
are going to be watching and listening to what you're
going through. You know, I was really fortunate that Shelley
was in the audience, my wife and my mum and dad,
my brother and sister as well, and so it was
a very very special moment for the family, but also
for Richard dry On, my long term coach, you know,

(19:15):
you know, real vindication of the effort that he put
into to me and others as well. And so I
guess it's you know that pride is paying back for
all the assistance that you've got from many, many people
and the payer. But yeah, it's just an amazing, amazing feeling.
And I just remember it just so vividly. It just

(19:36):
it just sits in my mind. It's it's very very
special time.

Speaker 2 (19:39):
Good stuff. And of course you did all that at
a time when high performance sport was very different to
what it is today. It's it was nowhere near as scientific. No,
we're near as well funded, nowhere near the sort of
focus around diets and all of those other things that
we talk about today. What were some of the challenges

(20:00):
of being a high performance athlete back at the turn
of the century.

Speaker 1 (20:05):
Yeah, look, I think there's probably similar challenges now as
that we're there. I think your person I was very
very lucky that you know, mom and Ed had set
up a business or a couple and so you know
my as an accountant, so I was able to sort
of work in that so you actually give something meaningful

(20:27):
back and but also provide the time and flexibility to
train and travel for the competition. So I was really
really lucky, whereas some athletes, you know, I worked so lucky.
Said The Sports Foundation was kicking around in so there
was grants and whatnot that some athletes you're received, but certainly,
you know, the system is much much more sophisticated now

(20:49):
than it was then. But I think it's a sort
of the same thing as big you know, having enough
time to train, having the ability to compete against your
peers internationally, to test yourself, becoming healthy and well and
so that's those fundamental things don't change. But now, as
you said, there's much more side around it. And yeah,

(21:09):
so I'd be really interesting to be part of it
now compar to the Yeah, totally different.

Speaker 2 (21:15):
Well you've sat closer to it than most. But you're
talking about health and wellbeing and fitness, and I mentioned
in the introduction you still look pretty fit. What do
you do now to stay fit?

Speaker 1 (21:29):
So I've just blonged to a private gym herey called
Justin Wilson. He's an ex Simmons player for New Zealand
and so he set it up and it's kind of
like group based training. The's only classes. You can't just
wander in by yourself, and so you force you to
go a certain time. But it's a good group of
people and it's all kind of body weight based more cardio,

(21:49):
which is kind of what I need, and so I
sort of front up there three or four times a week.
There's an unofficial sort of men's mental health class and
on a Saturday morning you go a bit earlier, for
a bit longer and finished with coffee. So that's really nice.
Good And then yeah, I sort of do a bit
of outpine hunting with some mates down south, and so
you need to be fit for that. So I'll walk
up to my other peak with a pack on and yeah,

(22:10):
and then just just run around the do the lawns
and the gardening in between.

Speaker 2 (22:15):
Yeah, good stuff. You you were much bigger once and
you're in the peak of your weightlifting days. You've obviously
deliberately managed your weight back down. Was that difficult to do?

Speaker 1 (22:27):
Well, No, it wasn't because I went from a restricted
body weight class and weightlifting was around one hundred and
five kilos, which I had to eat to try and
get to. But when I made a decision to go
to the open class, which you can be as heavy
as you like, I made a decision that I wanted
to do that very carefully because I didn't want to
just have any calorie poke donuts you know, all that

(22:49):
sort of stuff, because I knew I didn't want to
be as big as I was hard trying to get
to for the rest of my life. And so I
just had meal replacement drinks and protein powder and that
was it. And so I program that around a normal
meal plan, which is I guess they're large meals. And
so when I finished lifting, obviously I stopped training, so
the muscles atrofeet and I immediately cut out all the

(23:12):
supplements and you know, mal placement drinks and protein and
I just regressed back to you know, thirty five kilos.
But where I'm now somewhere in the.

Speaker 2 (23:21):
Nineties, thirty five kilos? Is that how much it was?

Speaker 1 (23:25):
Yeah? Around here?

Speaker 2 (23:26):
Yeah, yeah, Well there's a lesson for a few of
us out there if we're thinking, if we're thinking about
either putting on weight or getting rid of some where.
With Nigel Avery, the Chef de Mission of the New
Zealand Olympic team, and we're going to come back and
talk about that role in a monment back with Nigel Avery,

(23:53):
the Chef de Mission of the New Zealand Olympic team,
and Nigel talking about that role. Firstly, how do you
get a job like that, is it something that do
you get tapped on the shoulder or is there an
ad in the paper and you apply? How does it
all happen?

Speaker 1 (24:08):
Yeah, good question, I suppose. You know, firstly, it's not
the sort of thing that you aspire to be. I
don't think anybody goes, I'm going to be the she
commission that's what I want to do. So it was
actually showing my life. Sort of saw that that Rob
was stepping down after his time and what a great
job that he did, and should Dave Dave carry preceding him.

(24:30):
And so we went through a recruitment process, you know,
talking with a recruiter and then kind of a few
kind of Brady Bunch esque zoom or team's Pamel interviews
really and so it was quite a robust process. The
obviously it's an important role. They wanted to make sure
that they get, you know, the right person for the job.
And I think my view was that, you know, if

(24:52):
I was the right person for the job, that's that's cool.
But if they thought someone was better, I'd give them
all there, all the support that you needed. So yeah,
for me, fundamentally, it's all about the team and how
we can make make them better, good stuff.

Speaker 2 (25:05):
So so you were apply when you say the zoom
calls and so on. Was this during the COVID lockdowns,
that this was all happening?

Speaker 1 (25:17):
Oh gosh, it's a phrasey. I think it's more for
the fact that the people around around New Zealand the
reason because it was in some member about October of
twenty twenty one, right and presenting the Birmingham Games. Yeah. Yeah,
So the first one was with more than the some
ENoC sort of staff, and then the second was with
hyper Sport New Zealand some board members. It was sort

(25:41):
of more of a broader and members of the Athletes
Commission as well.

Speaker 2 (25:45):
So you get the job, they tell you you've got
the job. Birmingham's around the corner. What happens next?

Speaker 1 (25:53):
Yeah, well, so, I guess I spent a bit of
time in Auckland. We had some initial planning meetings and
getting to know other team and the staff, and then
you know, the great thing about the ENDOC is that
it's an amazing group of people that are very enthusiastic,
dedicated and very good at what they do. So it
was a lot. It was their first games. The challenge

(26:14):
really was all about the fact that because Tokyo was postponed,
the runway to Birmingham was very short. So by the
time the team came back from Tokyo, did their isolation
and tried to recover from that, it was a really
quite of a short turnaround time. So we had to
hustle get our performance support team together and then obviously
get up to Birmingham and do some sight visits to
sort of suss out what it's going to look like.

Speaker 2 (26:35):
Yeah, sure, so how long before a games does the
active planning actually start.

Speaker 1 (26:41):
It starts quite a lot beforehand. So as an example
for Paris in twenty eighteen, there were meetings with the
IOC around what they call bed return and that was
where they were trying to mitigate the costs of constructing
a massive village. How do we reduce that and so
one of the things they decided was that for the

(27:02):
rowing and canoe sports out in the east, and so
the cycle and golf and the question in the West,
maybe it's fare for those athletes and support to be
based out there to mitigate having to build a village,
but also the travel time between the two and so
eleven countries decided that that's what they would do, and
so that helped the IOC or the organizing committee as

(27:24):
she'd build it slightly. So that was twenty eighteen, right right,
so six years out there. Yeah, so quite a long time.
So some of the big decisions of planning happened quite
a long way out, and that the closer you get,
the more granular those discussions and decisions become.

Speaker 2 (27:39):
Yeah. So the chef de mission role, do you have
a role for example in selection?

Speaker 1 (27:47):
No, no, I do not no once not guilty, not guilty.
So once the athletes are selected, we welcome them to
the team. They are all treated the same. But your
selection is actually really quite an interesting sort of beast. Really,
it's quite complicated. It's specific to sport by sport, and
so unlike you we we love to see, you know,

(28:08):
the pop holders down as part of the world's got
an amazing wind for them jumping into their lives will
come down. She jump four seventy three and the commons
three and the papers right, A lies is off the
Olympics because that's a qualifying stand well. Qualification is just
one of the four things that the effects have to
do to be selected. The first one is that they
have to be eligible, and so for New Zealand, you've
got to be a residency or citizenship, you've got to

(28:31):
be eligible in the sport. Then it goes to qualification,
which you know, Liza's just say we lose service and
example gets but that that qualification, that whole process is
an agreement between the ends C and sport each sport
how how is this going to work? And they agree
that that framework well before the actual qualification period starts.

(28:52):
So once the effects have met those standards qualification that
you know, heights, distances, weights, positions, whether they qualify as
a person or as a boat or a bike, is
the case going to be in rowing, canoeing and cycling,
then there's the sport will will nominate those people to
the ends and selectors who will then apply that the

(29:14):
nomination policy and so if they've got it, they will
be selected.

Speaker 2 (29:18):
And so that's that's the full stage process. And that
doesn't and that doesn't take into account the occasion l
athlete who puts their hand up and says I want
to challenge this, and that's a further complication when you
get the is it the sports tribunal that get involved?

Speaker 1 (29:34):
Yeah, they do. So you know, and there were a
number of them this year, I believe, where basically it
was a non nomination appeal, so that they felt they
should have been nomination nominated but weren't, and so that
that process sits in the background, and that's why sometimes,
you know, athletes have to hang on and wait to
be publicly announced because this all stuff was happening in

(29:55):
the background. That's probably the hardest thing that I experienced
it myself, maybe not to the same degree where the
sports they know and so they tell theirth it's hey, congratulations,
but what is it put zip on because it's going
to be publicly announced and whenever, and so that's the
hardest time for them because they can't screen from the hilltops.
They going they'll tell the nearest and dearest, but then

(30:15):
they're going to hang on and wait.

Speaker 2 (30:18):
Yeah, it's it's a it's a challenging time. I can
say from my time on the on the Swimming New
Zealand board, it's a challenging time for the athletes. It's
a challenging time for the for the administrators and the selectors.
And we went through one of those sports tribunal issues
with an athlete that we didn't nominate, and it puts

(30:38):
a lot of pressure on the organization, and as you know,
these organizations aren't particularly well funded, so it's very difficult
for everybody. And and I guess you're just you're the
grateful recipient of whoever ends up getting across the line.
They come into your team and you get to work
with them.

Speaker 1 (30:55):
Yeah, exactly right, precisely.

Speaker 2 (30:57):
So what's your life like two weeks before the Olympic
Games start? Where are you and what are you doing?

Speaker 1 (31:02):
Yes, so we're pretty busy. We're just got off a
long flight from home and the.

Speaker 2 (31:08):
Day two you're at the venue. Two weeks before.

Speaker 1 (31:12):
Yeah, we stayed in the earbnb because the pre opening
the village wasn't available for it, so we basically landed
on one day. The next day we like our last,
our final delegation registration meeting, which is just basically died
in the ice crossing the t's making sure we had
everything dialed in that the accreditations that we're going to
float between different people, that was all nominated, the dates

(31:33):
that were going to happen with set so a long
long tedspor a meeting with gently. It was pretty it
was hard, but then the next day, we'd our final
confirmation meeting at the village. We got position in the
village and then it's all about set up and getting
the village ready for the athletes, and so that's setting
up medical preparation and recovery, set up the gym and

(31:54):
the athletic lounge and our operation area. And so we
had five days to do that, which was great. I thought, great,
this is gonna be awesome. Guys. We'll smash it out
as quick as we can so that we've got a
couple of days out sleep, we can kind of relax
and you know whatever. But fright, logistics weren't our friend,
and the pellette of goods that were designed were coming

(32:17):
when are all printed in the UK got stuck in
customs and we that's all the decals for the windows
and the posters, you know, our team messaging and all
that stuff, and we couldn't get it until a couple
of days after the first effects arrived. And it was
a bit painful. But as I said to the team, look,

(32:38):
I was channing to the Canadians and they have seen
back three quarters of the village streets because that wasn't
designed properly. So I said, look, everybody has challenges, everybody
and so it's all about what we can do and
not what we can't. And so let's just focus on
what we can. And we made the place look really
good for those initial teams and all worked out in
the end.

Speaker 2 (32:58):
And when you talk about setting up the gym and
and all of that, do we send all our own
gear or do you higher gear up there or how
does all that work?

Speaker 1 (33:08):
It's a combination. We sent to sea fret containers of
including the bulk of the gym and you know, you
know the old joke, you know, even thing bar the
kitchen sink. Yeah, we had a kitchen sink. Okay, because
the preparation recaverary, the nutrition nutritionists has got a hygienet

(33:29):
kitchen and so then it's got to standard steel kitchen
beach to all the slashes and all that sort of stuff. Yeah,
so a lot of it comes up. We get a
lot on what's called rate card, which is the organizing
Committee's you know, laundry list of things you can hire,
and we had some partners up there. It also provide
us and things particularly in the in the gym space,
which is which is handy.

Speaker 2 (33:51):
You you must have got more right than wrong given
the success of the of the New Zealand team at
these Olympics. What are the things you think you got
really right.

Speaker 1 (34:00):
Yeah, I think we've got the fundamentals right and for
me that was, you know, the most important thing. We
have to get the fundamentals right, just as your introduction
said about local government, because then the nice to do
is just really go on from that. So we'll see
before we're a really experienced, energetic, an amazing group of

(34:23):
full time employees at the OMBIT Committee and they really
are the glue that did this and made this happen.
So our performance support group includes them. So there's you know,
I don't know, maybe ten or twelve in the different areas,
and then it's supplemented with health preparation, recovery, security, comms,
media and stuff like that. So just really really good

(34:45):
people and that's probably reflecting back one of the most
satisfying things just how well that team work together. Yeah,
just a really really great group to be part of.

Speaker 2 (34:58):
And of the things that you do differently next time.

Speaker 1 (35:02):
Yeah, there are sort of making list as we're going
actually you know, things we you know, we might be
a look at doing better and you know, I mentioned,
you know, freight logistics. You know, it really really was
a bit of a headache. You know, just trying to
get things into and out of that secure village area
was just an absolute ball ache and is unfortunately the

(35:22):
Organized Committee. You know, Olympics have got a cycle time
ofero point two five, right, you're not heed at some
time of one and and so the Organized Committee they're
trying to they're trying to do their best. But man,
you know, just trying to get stuff into the village.
They see, here are the seven keys of getting things
into the village, and they created this framework, right, and
even then we couldn't get stuff. And so I think

(35:43):
probably having a like a third party logistics provider in
the city, but not necessarily in the secure area might
be a better way to go because we use a
lot of resource, a lot of man woman hours and
time and energy to to do things that you know,
could have been done a lot more efficiently. So that
that's just that's just one thing.

Speaker 2 (36:03):
That's an example. And how big a part doesecurity play
and all.

Speaker 1 (36:07):
Of that, Yeah, well, I guess security is paramount, and
particularly leading into the opening ceremony and right through probably
until about three or four days ago, where unfortunate, security
does start to relax because yes, people they are we've
made it, you know, and so you need to running
more diligent. But your security was was very tight, you know,

(36:29):
just traveling into the village in an uber or official
car or bus, the closer you got was just extraordinary.
Every street, corner, every roundabout there was just it was.
It was incredible, the presence, but rightly so because you know,
obviously after what happened, you know in Munich. Yeah, it
needed to be.

Speaker 2 (36:50):
Yeah, absolutely Where with Nigel Avery, Chef de mission of
the New Zealand Olympic team in Paris in twenty twenty four,
we're going to be back in a moment and we're
going to talk about that team. Back with Nigel Avery. Nigel,

(37:13):
the Olympic effort this year was phenomenal. Twenty medals, ten golds.
I'm not sure if you've had a chance to reflect
on it, because it's all in very recent memory. But
I wrote a column about our games team about four
weeks ago and because I was just so impressed with them,

(37:36):
and we had a slow start, didn't we took a while?
Were you getting nervous over the after those first few
few days.

Speaker 1 (37:44):
I'm not nervous, but almost. I mean, yeah, it was
going to happen. We were always going to be a
second week team. Yeah, it's just the way it goes.
I mean, that's when the paddling sports started. Athletics was
in the house midway through the first week, and the
rowing preliminaries are sort of done and they get into
the finals. So it was always going to be the case. Obviously,

(38:05):
we're really disappointed, you know, with the guys, the men
sevens that you had a chance and most people thought
they most likely would stand on that podium. So it
were really devastated for them. They were they were very guttered,
and so obviously that you know, that has a bit
of an effect. It was interesting when I report us
on is the fact that the guys didn't win a

(38:27):
medal in the seven does that bring a downer on
the team? Said, it doesn't, so they won it would
have been another right, But yeah, I think.

Speaker 2 (38:37):
I think it's I think it's called keeping a brave face.

Speaker 1 (38:39):
Yeah that's right, yes, so but look, no, I think
you just got to keep on, keep on with the process.
And so for us, that was just trying to create
an environment to help people succeed, and so we just
we can't lose sight of that. So we're always positive
and upbeat and helping as much as we can in
the lives of the efforts and their support team.

Speaker 2 (38:58):
Now those athletes, they've all got their their coaches and
their high performance directors from their sports around them. How
close do you get or can you get or or
or or do you do you even get? Do you
just stay away and let them do their thing?

Speaker 1 (39:15):
Yeah, I mean everybody's different, but I guess you know,
we're an opt in organization, so the things we do,
it's not compulsory to be part of, but almost everybody gravitates,
you know, to be part of what we offer. And
it's just a big family. And so there's you know,
if somebody wants some privacy or whatever, they you know,
they off they go and they do that. We might

(39:36):
receive a word from their HPD saying hey, look, you know,
so it just wants to be left alone, and we'll
respect that and just let everybody know. Probably the hardest
thing is midway through a competition where there's all sorts
of stuff going on and you see someone and you
go have they competed yet and how and how did
they go? And so you're gonna be really careful about

(39:57):
how you and you then interact with that person because
for the utmeke s room mats all long, it's all
but as athletes start to finish, then you said, yes,
I guess, I.

Speaker 2 (40:10):
Guess you've gotta be careful whether you greet them with
good luck or well done.

Speaker 1 (40:14):
Well, that's right, yeah, and sometimes you get wrong, but
you know that is what it is. But look, they're
all pretty good. They're aware of that too. It's a
big people all together, and yeah, some people know each
other and others others not, so you just as finding
their way.

Speaker 2 (40:28):
Well, the women seven set the ball, rolling with the
middle with the medal table, and then we had this,
as you said, the rowers, particularly the mums and the
double skulls, the cyclists, the kayaks, Finn Butcher, the Lisa
and Lydia show, Maddy Wish came out of left field
for me Hamish Curse high jump program which left many

(40:52):
of us speechless during qualifying, and then you know, wrapping
it all up with that final night of the cycling
with Elise Andrews Gold and Allie Willison's bronze. It was
a heck of a ten days and it all came
together in the end, didn't it.

Speaker 1 (41:09):
It did, and it must be really quite good, you
know for people you know back in New Zealm waking
up to oh my gosh, there's another set of results
that just came in.

Speaker 2 (41:18):
But it was just fantastic.

Speaker 1 (41:20):
Yeah, yeah, so look it was. It was really special.
And look, I think I spent a bit of time
with media basically saying, hey, look, you know, we've had
some amazing experiences, you know, from you know, London to
Rio to Tokyo, and you know, the team of five million,
there's only so much we can do and so there's
a point where you just can't keep improving. And so

(41:42):
I was kind of trying to line up that maybe
we've had some retirements, We've had you know, people coming
in and started saying, well, you know, maybe we're not
going to be as expectation management was a bit of
a thing. So then we get to about nine medals
and I started doing some maths in my head because
I don't really think about medals other people do. I
think about the process and supporting everyone. But what started

(42:02):
that hanging the second what have we got coming? I
was like ship seventeen or eighteen medals here and I
tell I told Steve Chue and his eyebrows just lifted,
So he obviously wasn't expecting it. But you know it
always because you're always going to get the people that
that should and don't that shouldn't do and then you
don't think of but do. So it's in your case

(42:24):
for Maddy wishy and so there's always all that, and
so who are the surprises and so maybe Maddy, maybe Hamish,
you know, but and thin right, So I guess you
just can't tell. And at the end of the day
it may not carry on like this. And so for
l A twenty eight, we've got what we'd be foolish

(42:45):
to think we can just keep going up. There's a
point where you know, the stars may not be in alignment.
But as I said to the media when I brief them,
every single one of our athletes that absolutely on mission
to do the best they can. Absolutely And the other
thing you've got to think about is every one of
those athletes, if you talk to anyone and there they're

(43:05):
chosen sport, those people go, holy shit, these people are legends. Yeah,
because he's so good. It's just that there's ten and
a half thousand other legends.

Speaker 2 (43:14):
Yes, that all can't.

Speaker 1 (43:15):
Stand on the dice, but what they can do is
absolutely smash it for themselves and just say, hey, look
I just gave it evenly and that's all I could do.

Speaker 2 (43:24):
Yeah, fantastic, And if it's any consolation, we were sitting
on the couch back home doing those calculations ourselves and
getting to seventeen or eighteen medals. I never got to twenty,
But was with the highlights for you? I presume you
have time to get out and see some of the performances.

(43:44):
I'm guessing a hell of a lot of time you're
in the back room as well. But you know, when
you're out there looking at the performances, what were the
highlights for you?

Speaker 1 (43:51):
Yeah? Look, I do get a chance, and that's one
of them, you know, pinch yourself things that you know,
it's an amazing opportunity to watch sport, and anybody who's
watched Life Sport knows how amazing she is. Absolutely Yeah,
So watching and supporting Kiwis is incredible. So yeah, I did,
and you know, I kept a bit of a hig
lights real on my phone every day and it's like
just this list was getting longer and longer. They can't

(44:11):
all be highlights, but you know, clearly, you know, you know,
Lisa and Elsa were amazing. A number of others. Haim
Shaw would love to have been there to watch him,
but you know, I was supporting David Letti in the weightlifting.
But I think for me, the two things that I
was super excited about was the speed climbing with Julian David.
We watched his session and in the third of his

(44:34):
three runs, he was head to head with a guy
he had to win to go on, and if he won,
he was in the top eight. Yeah, I remember the
Olympic diploma and for him and Sarah as well, they're
both targeting LA twenty eight to be there. And so
we were watching this thing and it happens in a
flashlight five point two six seconds, but he beat this

(44:54):
guy by point four of us point oh four of
a second. So we were just yay, yelling and scraping.
This is so awesome because it was just the unexpectedness
of it. You know, you can't see it happening, It
just and it's there. And then the other one was
you mentioned Alie Wilston. So she did an amazing job
and that only and it's a four event for discipline

(45:15):
of eat cycling. And I think in the tempo race,
the three leading people on points were about to try
and take a lap and so if they lapped the
field they give them, they get twenty points. If they did,
they were almost unbeatable going on for the next two events,
and so I was going, ship, what do they let
them do this? And so Alie just drove the paloton

(45:38):
for lap after lap after lap, so they wouldn't get
that that lap, so it protected her buffer. And then
in the final race, the points race, she needs to
win that final the final points decision, which is the
last lap to get bronze, and she smashed that. She
did and so once again we were jumping up and

(45:59):
screaming and it was it was very, very exciting, and
and it got to the twentieth meal.

Speaker 2 (46:05):
Yeah and under twenty. Well, it's funny, you know, my
highlight of the Olympics, a little bit like you with
your speed climbing, maybe didn't involve a gold medal. It
didn't involve a silver and it was the triathlon with
Hayden wild and it was the closest of races, you know.
He led, He led right up until four hundred meters

(46:26):
from the finish the British athlete, Ye came from nowhere,
really and it was a second place to me watching
it was the sort of result that could have left
an athlete absolutely devastated. And it was Hayden Wilde's performance
after the event, as much as his performance during it

(46:49):
that stuck in my mind. And it was the way
he responded when he was interviewed. And the first thing
he did was he thanked his teammate, and the second
thing he did was congratulated the winner. And when the
interview viewer said you must be disappointed, he said, hell, no,
I just won an Olympic silver medal. I'm over the moon,
you know. And what an attitude. And I wanted to
ask you, did these guys get media training as part

(47:11):
of their involvement in your team or or is that
down to the stuff they do before they come to you.

Speaker 1 (47:17):
Well, it's the out of stuff they do before us.
We don't offer it. The team based media acts, as
I guess, is a bridge between the traveling media and
the team that to sort of sort of help tech
themf netted or to support them all promote them. But
I think I think what it is is that they
are so used to social media and talking to a camera.

(47:38):
They're just used to stuff. It's quite amazing. But yeah,
you're right. I was there that day and I certainly
next to Evel and Williams, and she was a tranthlete
in two thousand and she said, don't write off ye, yeah,
don't write them off. So even though the commentator said,
oh New Zealand's got this medal in the bag or
whatever it was, obviously you know he wasn't written off.

(48:02):
He ran an amazing race. But what Dylan did to
get Hayden up to you know, the leader.

Speaker 2 (48:11):
Bringing back up to the bunch and cycling Yeah.

Speaker 1 (48:13):
Yeah, yeah, to dragon back. It's a selfless act and yeah,
pretty amazing sportsmanship.

Speaker 2 (48:19):
Yeah, and I think, you know, the Hayden Wild post
race interview. I then started taking a bit more notice
of what of what those interviews or how our people
we were handling those interviews. And you know, Lisa Carrington
was brilliant, Lidia Coe was brilliant. You sort of expect
that with with those guys that have been around for

(48:41):
a long time. But when Alise Andrews just said, look,
it's just a privilege to be here in one of
her post race interviews, I think it was after she
won the silver medal at the start, at the first medal,
you sort of got the impression that that this was
a very special crop of young people.

Speaker 1 (48:59):
Yeah, I think you're right, and it's been it's been
building on, right, So it's not just you know one thing,
it's that the culture has been developed a number of games.
And but you're right, you know, we we do. We've
got a performance culture of monarchy, we look after each
other and ourselves. We've got you know, the five values,
you know, Pride, integrity, respect, leadership, and excellence, and and

(49:21):
we we don't drum it into them, but we say, hey,
look these are good values to live by. And you know,
the whole team welcome process is becoming really, really meaningful
to the group and it just gives a real true
sense of belonging, I think. And therefore, you know, just
allowing these efforts to express themselves in the field to play,

(49:44):
and holy ship, they did, they really did express themselves
pretty pretty well. And just yeah, it's just you know,
just really amazing to be to be part of that.

Speaker 2 (49:56):
Of course, the other extreme is that as you also
have the near misses, and there's a couple that come
to mind, both of whom had big expectations put on them.
Eric Afairworth in the pool was one Amy Fisher and
the kayaking was the other. Both both fourth, both fourth
by fractions of a second. In Erica's case in particular

(50:19):
fourth against arguably the big three of world swimming or
women's World swimming. How do you as a management team
swoop in and support those athletes at that time?

Speaker 1 (50:34):
Yeah, So we've got a great support network in the team,
so our Sports Slight Wellness as three psychologists that we're
traveling with the group, our Athlete services team, so it's
ex Olympians the idea as well. So it's quite a
broad network of people. On the day itself, obviously at

(50:56):
you know, the teammates and their team management are really
really important. I went out of my way to make
sure I was there for the K one women's five
hundred final because I I knew there was gonna be
one woman that wasn't going to be happy usually and
as as a tune, it was Amy and so I
made sure I was there to try and grab yours

(51:17):
as I could, that that I was allowed to get
close enough and just gave a hug and said, look,
you know, you know this, this rast doesn't define you
as a person, as an athlete. You know, sometimes it happens.
You know, we all love you. You're a champion, and
it's going to be a painful for a while. But
you know, she was. She was devastated, And I think

(51:40):
it shows just how much it means to people and
that this is meit because and the exact almost precisely
saying spot I gave him a twigger hug after her
silver minute. Well, she was shaking an emotion on a
different scale. So you've got those two whole or opposite emotions,
all experienced by team members, and so yes, I think
that's what makes the experience quite exhausting, because you've got

(52:03):
these massive highs, you've got that, you've got some lowers,
you've got evening in between. Yeah, but I think that
you know, the main thing is that you keep in
touch with Amy numerous science, my text to pro and
afterwards to make sure she's okay and yeah, yeah, she'll
get over it. Everybody does. Time heels, but yeah, that
will hurt. You know, if it would been a five
hundred and one meter race, she would be on the

(52:26):
ponium if it had been an extra one meter in
the pool, so would of Ericae. They were just closing
on that position. So fourth is the worst place to
be and we had five of them in Paris, so
yeahs tough, but look, someone's going to come forth.

Speaker 2 (52:44):
Well, Nigel, you've just given a great, pardon me, a
great lesson to anybody out there running a business or
running a team. There you are with two hundred people,
you're probably running eighteen or nineteen hour days. You've got
a management team in between you and those two hundred people,
but you're on the spot to give that person a
hug when they need one. That's a heck of a
lesson for people. So well done you.

Speaker 1 (53:05):
Thank you. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (53:07):
Just how did the city of Paris perform?

Speaker 1 (53:10):
Except really well, yeah, they really did. I think before
any games there's lots of mumbles and grumbles and people
who are pissed off because you know, we're going to
be cut off from this and the roads are that
and whatnot, and a large number of residents just disappear
because they think, well, I can't be bothered dealing with
all the traffic and all the congestion and all the rest,

(53:31):
well as the case with all the other games. About normally,
about two days in they go, actually they want to
come back. This looks really awesome. I ne be part
of this. And you know, obviously our men's sevens didn't
do so well, but the French did right, So they
kicked off hard and then then Michean started smashing it
out of the pool and they got the big judo
guy and it's like, holy shit, they's going ballistic and

(53:52):
so but outside of it, they did an amazing job,
incredibly friendly. If it ran smoothly, I think from you know,
we're in the bubble, I guess, but you know, Shane
and the girl, my daughter's lucky enough to either as well,
and they said it just it was just an amazing experience,
had a great time.

Speaker 2 (54:11):
Yeah. One from a television viewpoint. One thing that the
Tour de France has done for French television, it's taught
them how to cover sports events and the coverage did
have that Tour de France flair about it. And it's
a spectacular city, isn't it.

Speaker 1 (54:27):
Well, I was just watching the cycling you know road race.
It's like, holy ship, this is off the charts. Actually
that was for one of my non Kiwi highlights, that race,
the means road race where the Dutch guy came flying
around the thing. He had massively came to a screeching
hole at the finish line, stepped over the line too,

(54:49):
was by perpendicular and put his arms up in the air,
and I said, that's amazing. That camera panned around. He
was a shot of the awful tower behind him.

Speaker 2 (54:58):
Iconic shots Andy had and he had a puncture four
k's from the end.

Speaker 1 (55:02):
There we go.

Speaker 2 (55:02):
Yes, yeah, so I guess you touched on LA in
twenty twenty eight. Are you up for going again?

Speaker 1 (55:14):
Oh look I loved it. Yeah, absolutely, yeah. I should
have recovered from this by that. Yeah. I mean hopefully
there'll be there'll be a commath games in between.

Speaker 2 (55:23):
Well, I was just about to ask you ask you
that because you know, one of that's one of the challenges,
isn't it is? Is the Comonwealth Games aren't going to
be in the state of Victoria, which was the original plan.
Do you think those games will go ahead? And if so,
where will they be?

Speaker 1 (55:37):
Yeah, well, it seemed like a bit of a badly
kept secret. Were sort of hear in Glasgow. We floated
around even I had an Australian commentator on zb the
other morning talking about the fact that the organizers in
Gladgow can put the games on for the amount of
money the Victorian government was fine for not putting these

(55:58):
on for But what with her is it's get to
be a restricted games, fewer sports. Yes, I'll make it
for whatever Stadia that god, I guess, and I hope
they do because it really is a really amazing bridge
for New Zealand sports people to then move on to
higher levels of World Championships and Olympic Games. So I

(56:22):
really do hope it comes on. But I guess we're
just waiting and seeing. I think the snap election didn't help.
They need any support from the financially from the government there.

Speaker 2 (56:31):
Yeah, yeah, well we can only wait and see. And
beyond that of course, as l A, you must have
seen some bright young prospects and the team you took
to Paris. Who are the people we should be watching
out for in four years time?

Speaker 1 (56:45):
Yeah well, I mean you might have to say yes,
something like Lisa character see she's been making noise about
that and how awesome will that be? So yeah, I'm sure, yeah,
but you know, the two speak climbers. I'm really looking
forward to watching him with interest. Young a triple jumper.
He was given the selection criteria for athletics and all sports,

(57:09):
was top sixteen for individual events. But if you don't
make that standard but you think you could be top
eight in la there's an exception for that, and so
he only I think you jumped sixteen for what your
fifty ethan ovia. But he won the World Journeyors a
couple of weeks later, in seventeen minutes. So there's there's
all sorts, right, and that's the exciting thing about it.

(57:31):
You know, I hope, I hope woman's hockey will get
back in. They were very very disappointed they didn't, and
then you, I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

Speaker 2 (57:40):
I've still got my money on eric A Fairweather. They're
eventually getting there.

Speaker 1 (57:43):
Well, she's still so young, it's ridiculous.

Speaker 2 (57:45):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (57:46):
Well, and hopefully those legends will have retired by that.

Speaker 2 (57:49):
Yeah, although, as Lauren Boyle Felt found out, you know,
one legend retires and another one turns up. That's what
that's what you're going to be wary of in that business.
But gee, it's a heck of a prospect that four
years will go very quickly, I'm sure. And and for
you being in the middle of organizing it, assuming you're
going again, I'm sure you've your experiences out of Paris

(58:15):
will will serve you well. I've just got a question
return sort of going back to your your your leadership
experiences and sort of moving on from that. Through your
sporting career, was there a leader that became a bit
of a mentor that you Obviously you're very strong as
a leader, You've got great leadership skills. Was there somebody

(58:36):
that that showed you the way or somebody who taught
you or someone that you copied.

Speaker 1 (58:43):
I think probably Mike Stanley Melema's support now for about
five years, sure, and throughout that time he was on
board of and I think Leslie just as I became president. Yeah,
I think he's just really you know, he's for the athlete.

(59:03):
He's a really really good listener. It's very ticulate, and
so you're really really enjoyed working with him. But I think,
you know, probably my father as well, you know, dad.
He's very determined, process driven, eye for a detail and
just really respects people. And so both of them do,
and so I think, you know, they're sort of the
tracks that I you know, I think I like to

(59:25):
say I'm good at you listening and respecting people because
I mean really that they're the engine and sport in
all areas, and so you've got to get the best
out of them. You've got to, you know, show them
that you really care and want to help them develop
and and hopefully you get the results. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (59:44):
Absolutely, you you're you're involved through your involvement in sport.
You're surrounded by people, as you've already talked about your
management team who you rate so highly, but you're also
surrounded by high performance athletes. What what are the things
that you admire and other people?

Speaker 1 (01:00:05):
Yeah, I think, I mean, humility is quite important. I
mean you compare New Zealand ethleicts to say US athlete,
you know, chalk and cheese. And you know, maybe some
some commedists say, hey, maybe we need to get a
bit more honorable like this, But I don't know. I
reckon if you if you're humble and show respect. But
in the field of play, you're an absolute animal. And

(01:00:27):
I think some of our sports people, man geez, you know,
particularly aerobic back sports man, they go to places that
not when people can get to you to out. The
output they have is enormous. You know. Aaron Gates is
just an excellent beast. You know, there's so many of them,
but you know, I guess the focus they have on
what they want to achieve. And you know, Hayden, Hayden's

(01:00:50):
you know, this year, you could just tell he was
just on a mission, you know, and he achieved that
and so it was just so good to watch and
and be part of.

Speaker 2 (01:00:59):
I just watched Hayden in the Super Try on on
television the London the London League of the Super Try.
I think he still on that mission. I don't think
he's let it go yet.

Speaker 1 (01:01:09):
He's kind of a bit of an angry man that
I think after Alex did that whole cross your arms
when he crossed the line was a bossom or country
or what that was a little bit disrespectful and so
maybe that's the moment motivation in these Yeah, you're quite
envious of him from the point of view of that.
You know, it's a circuit there's multiple times to compete.

(01:01:30):
There's a weightlifter, you know, we completed, we chose to peak,
you know, two maybe three times a year. You don't
just go on the left all the time. You just
break yourself. And so I'm a little bit envious of that. Yeah,
but a lot of people said, hey, do you know,
do you miscompeteing? You missed that edge? And when you're
in a max of this lever, of course you do,

(01:01:51):
because you know, you know what these people are going through.
You know that they're just coming off these enormous work
cloaths and they're starting to take or peak or whatever
you want to call it. But you know, the feeling
I had doing that was just unbelievable. Weights that were
quite hard became effortless. It was an incredible feeling. And
so you know that having all these feelings and that's

(01:02:11):
just it's just such a great feeling. So yeah, there's
a little bit envies of that.

Speaker 2 (01:02:16):
You know, it's exciting, it's exciting to be part of.
We could keep talking, I'm sure, but I need to
ask you the question that I ask all of my guests,
and that is, and I don't know if your answer
is going to be sports related or something else. But
you are after all working in a mortgage breaking business,
so it might be something to do with the housing market.

(01:02:36):
But if you could be the Prime Minister for a day,
Nigel Avery, what would you do?

Speaker 1 (01:02:41):
That is probably not enough. I'd love to I'd love
to be flying a wall and just listen in the
camp meeting just to see what that's going on. But
I think if you could achieve something in a day,
and I yeah, I had a bit of chat with
the Minister of Sport you know, transit in between events
with him, and I said to him, look, you know

(01:03:01):
you've got to get the ministries of health and education
together and really say you've got to work together with
sport because if we could get a more active population,
we have a bigger base of talent to the cream
or rise to the top. But if the more active,
they're healthier, If they're healthier, there's LEAs ipect on our

(01:03:22):
on our health system. Absolutely, if you're healthier you can
learn better and so it's but you know, how do
you get there together? I don't know, Yeah, but that
would be the ultimate.

Speaker 2 (01:03:36):
It's a great point though, isn't it. You know, an
educated population is a healthier population, and and and a
healthy population can go on and achieve so much more
for the economy as a whole. So yes, it might
take you more than a day. It might take a
little bit more than a couple of those protein shakes

(01:03:59):
of yours. Yes, well, Nigel Avery, look that that hour
has just gone so fast from me, and it's been
an absolute thrill. I have to say thanks for sticking
around for a week after our troubles last week, and
thanks for joining us on leaders getting coffee. I could
talk sport all day and it sounds like you probably

(01:04:20):
could too, And you just have such a unique perspective
on it as an athlete, an administrator and now as
a leader, and you've shared quite an insight from a
different lens across the sport that so many of us enjoy.
And I really do want to genuinely thank you for
sharing your experiences with us and your lessons with us

(01:04:41):
on this podcast today.

Speaker 1 (01:04:42):
You're welcome. Thank you every for having.

Speaker 2 (01:04:44):
Me on aesome. Finally, my leadership tip tip of the week.
I thought we'd stay with the sporting theme and I
remember an interview with the tennis great Andre Agassy a
number of years ago obviously, And it was after a
Wimbledon final and he was asked how he was able
to hit the ball so hard, And you might recall

(01:05:04):
Andrea Agacy at Wimbledon, and he took the ball earlier
than anybody else, and he seemed to hit it harder
than anybody else. And he's only a little fella. And
his response to that question just caught me by surprise.
I wrote it in my little book at the time,
and he said, I just grew up hitting the ball
harder and harder, and after a while they started going in.
I just grew up hitting the ball harder and harder,

(01:05:26):
and after a while they started going in. And notwithstanding
all the lessons we've had today from listening to Nigel Avery,
there's another lesson for all of us. Sometimes we just
have to keep hitting the ball until it goes in.
We have to keep on trying things until we get
it right. So hopefully a little message for you or
for your team, those of you out there listening to us,
that's it from us today. Thanks again for joining us

(01:05:49):
on Leaders Getting Coffee Episode twenty five with the New
Zealand Olympic team Chef to Mission. Nigel Avery apologies again
for the one week delay. That means we're going to
have two in a row, and we'll be back with
another episode next week. If you'd like to share any feedback,
please get in touch at info at leaders Getting Coffee
and remember that our favorite charity is Bloke for Blokes

(01:06:09):
dot co dot Nz. And we'll see you soon with
another wonderful New Zealander with a leadership story to share.
Until then, have a great week and we'll see you
next time.