July 30, 2024 • 18 mins
Former Chef de Mission Dave Currie joined D'Arcy Waldegrave to discuss the concerns around New Zealand's lack of medals at Paris 2024.
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sports Talk podcast with Darcy Wildergrave
from News Talk ZEDB and is well.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Welcome to the program to Dave Curry c n z M.
Of course, former chef the mission of the New Zealand
Olympic teams. He did that three times, you did the
Common Games three times. I believe you've got a Paralympics
in there as well. Involved in iron Man even New
Zealand cricket for a while. Dave, what are you doing now, mate?
Are you breathing and relaxing and welcome?
Speaker 3 (00:35):
Hi? Thanks Darcy. Yeah, so I'm living now on in
Lake Kawiir down south. So I'm currently sitting and looking
out over the lake. We've had a dump of snow
on the mountains around it and I've got a fire
roaring and life is good.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
So I'd like to hear that's good and enjoying the
Olympic Games. Hey, thanks very much for joining us. We'll
start things off with the support of the team and
the conversation. At the moment, people are getting a bit edgy.
They're like, where are our medals? Because let's face it,
the New Zealanders think they are their medals. That's why
we support the team. The stress around building toward an
(01:15):
inner Olympic Games when the team is not meddling, how
is that addressed from your perspective? When you're the chef
the mission within that team.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
You'll really you know, the role of the team is
to provide a strong, secure environment, supportive environments for athletes
to have the best opportunities shutting themselves in the world stage.
So really the focus around that and winning and losing
(01:47):
is not the focus. How do you let athletes have
committed ten, fifteen, twenty years of their lives to have
the best opportunity to perform and the outcome will take
care of itself if they can have the very best
performance they're capable of. Some will meddle, some won't. So
that's really the and the fact there's no medals on
(02:08):
the board is not the focus at all.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
Really, you look toward the team, I'm presuming expectations KPIs
for one of a better phrase. They don't sit within
that team environment. The expectations around meddling aren't put to
the fall.
Speaker 3 (02:26):
No, I mean, if you think about the team, there's
seventeen sports generally now clearly within those individual sports and
they're funding arrangements with highforms for in New Zealand and whatever.
I mean, clearly within that environment, yes there is. But
when the team comes together, I mean, I saw our
(02:47):
role is to treat all athletes, whether they had a
high expectation of meddling or not, to give them all
the same opportunity they have the very best performances they can.
And if you talk to you know, the sports psychologists around,
I mean they're advice always to athletes is that all
(03:09):
you can focus on is getting the very best performance
out of yourself if you can. If you're focusing around
i've got to win a medal, then that's probably the
single most influential thing that will make sure you don't
win a medal because what you were to do, it's
just a challenge. And there's two hundred and four countries
(03:30):
are there. You know, half of those have got really
strong high performance programs, So you've got you know, the
chances of reaching an Olympic final all medaling or getting
a gold medal is unbelievably difficult, and so we've got
(03:50):
to be a bit realistic. In New Zealand with five
million people, there's only so much genetically athletic talent within
that five million people, We've got a whole lot of
not Olympic sports. It's suck a lot of that high
performance you know gene pool out. Then we represent you know,
in seventeen sports of the Olympics. And the other thing
(04:12):
is that it always struck me when I first get
involved that you know, we were generally the fifteenth or
sixteenth largest team at the Olympics in number, you know, America, China, fifteen,
New Zealand. So we then spread the rest of our
talent over seventeen sports. So you know, we talk about
(04:34):
you know, punching them with our weight. You know, the
ability to do that across a broad range of sports
is extraordinarily difficult. So I was always in awe of
our ability to perform as we do. And then you know,
athletes we're going to train for ten fifteen years of
their lives before they know whether any good or not,
So it's a tough gig. So from a team perspective,
(04:58):
you know, there were no expectations other than how can
we provide the best environment for an athlete to maximize
as their potential.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
Expectation from the general public though talking about our medals,
New Zealand represented. Are these expectations overblown? Do you think
people expecting too much.
Speaker 3 (05:20):
Gave for the reasons I've just spoken about, I think, look,
it's not. And one of the things that you talk
about in New Zealand New Zealand, I think they're they're
medals and and it's kind of a double ed sword
really that the team certainly is extraordinarily appreciative and gains
(05:42):
energy and strength from the fact, you know, the team
of five million, you certainly feel that. I mean the
amount of support that the team get them in and messages,
the amount of support and love that comes to the
team is unbelievable. So yes, you know the team feeds
off that and to some extent it probably does heighten
(06:04):
that expectation a little bit. But again, coming back from
an athlete to perform, all they can do is focus
on their own performance or own preparation, and all they
really focus around is if they know they've done all
they can do in the in the months, in the
years beforehand, and the other challenge of the Olympics have
comes around and do for four years. And you know,
(06:28):
there's a lot of times you hear athletes, not just
in New Zealand athletes generally, God that race has been
last week. I was on fire. And it doesn't matter
if you're on fire last week on next week. You've
got to be on fire at two o'clock this day.
That's when it matters. And that's that's really hard to do,
(06:51):
is to be extraord You've got to be exactly right
on that particular day. There's no unlike the triathlon has
put off for a date. You know, you've just got
to get right in that day. So that's really really hard.
I can understand the public, you know, kind of you know,
they have high expectations, but I think we've got to
(07:12):
be realistic that we're a nation of five million. We
brought spread ourselves over yes seventeen or eighty in sports
at the Olympics, and we've only got so much, you know,
athletic Jean Paul talent, and it's always going to be tough.
So those who do do it are unbelievably exceptional.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
When you look at thems in an Olympic committee and
their expectation, I'm sure this is this is separate from
the athletes in the village too. Do you think at
this stage they would be showing any nerves about results
on a separate level. How do they operate when they're
overseeing something like this.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
Yeah, fairness, And certainly when I was involved, there was
no I never felt any pressure from the ends of
a see that, oh Dave, what's happened. We haven't got
a medal. They were more concerned and that organizationally and
the support that was needed to make sure the team
(08:13):
could do what its role was. I give them a
lot of credit that they always gave me and the
team all the support we needed to support athletes over
that two weeks, because that's the New Zealand sporting structure
is interesting. You know, you've got national sporting organizations, you've
(08:34):
got a higherformed sport in New Zealand, you've got sport
in New Zealand, and then you've got the Olympic Committee
and their role with all of this is to select
teams and provide support around athletes over the games. You know,
the two weeks of those are on that. All of
the funding of athletes and the working with athletes is
in the province of national sporting organizations supported by high
(08:58):
performed sport in New Zealand. So I'm sure there's some
internal pressures within that. We tried really hard within the
within the Olympic team and support by the ends today
see that our role is donking in their road. Don't
upset whatever you know sports have been doing for the
previous two, three, five, ten years, but make sure we
(09:19):
give every opportunity that all the hard work that they've
put in can flourish and come forth over that two
weeks of the Games.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
We're joined by Dave Curry, three times Sift mission for
the Olympic Games. Looking at the Olympics so far from
a New Zealand perspective, the psychological support you touched on
this before, This must be a huge part and it
would have developed, I'm sure during your time in charge.
How important is that from a team perspective to make
sure these athletes have got their heads right going into it.
(09:52):
And more importantly, Dave, when they come out of an
event and they haven't done as well, haven't done as
well as they thought they should have or could have done,
that's a whole new management philosophy I expect.
Speaker 3 (10:03):
Yeah, you know, that's it's a reality. You know, there's
normally two hundred and twenty athletes and support staff of
another hundred. So you get a team of three united
people and yeah, that's the thing. And of all of those,
only a handful are going to meddle, so the majority
(10:24):
are likely to be disappointed. And so we made sure
we had a whole lot of support around that. Our
Athletes support group made up of athletes have been there,
done that, understood what high performance is about, instill into
the heights of it, but also those depths when things
(10:45):
haven't gone as well as you would have liked and
considering you put ten years of your life into that.
And so we're did a very strong team culture and
a team lounge where athletes could it could be provided
live stream of all support into it so they could
follow it all. But also you know people who could
(11:08):
keep an eye and things hadn't gone as well. There's
nothing you can say to an athlete, you know it's
going to be okay, it's okay. You know you get
another opportunity at whatever I mean. Words are meaningless at
that stage. All you can do is put your arms
around somebody and provide some support and just be there
(11:28):
and available when they want it. And clearly we have
a supports psychologists there and available online as well. But
it's really having you know, the people who can provide
the most supportive athletes have been there, understand what it's
about and just to be there and provide support. And
one of the things that was great about the New
(11:49):
Zealand team that all most athletes, even though they might
compete within the first a few days, would stay on
for the whole of the games. So we drink really
hard at one providing that. The ethos as the team was, look,
you're going to get provided with all the support that
we can give you until you compete, but once you've competed,
(12:10):
kind of the trade off is then that you will
provide support to the athletes to still have to compete.
And so that sense of a large family that you're
going to be supported and you support others, it helps
to get over or provide support for those that haven't
done as well. But it is extremely, extremely hard, and
(12:36):
you can think about you know, fair Weather and fourth
is one of those awful positions to be in and
nothing you can say to her is going to make
that any easier other than to know that she's supported
and the team admire her and understand the commitment and
(12:57):
sacrifices that she's made and just to be therefore her.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
Really, I suppose when you consider the relative youth of
Eric Fairweather, and when you get young athletes not only
young physically but mental, but also debuting at the Olympic Games,
how do you prepare an athlete for that? Because I
expect once you're there, it's completely overwhelming. And when you go,
(13:22):
maybe your second Olympics, you may be prepared a little more,
you may be stronger mentally because you experienced that.
Speaker 3 (13:28):
Dave, mm hmm. Yeah, it's and there's no way easily
to do the Commerce Games. It's a little bit like it,
I guess, and someone had that experience. The Olympics is
a is a beast really, you're both in the sheer
size and magnitude of it, but the rigidity by which
(13:50):
things happen. It's not like a World Championships. And so
there's a fair amount of rigidity in one of the
roles of Olympic team that we used to go to
the to the to the you know, the venue of
where the country where the games are going to be held,
is to understand what their ethos is going to be,
(14:13):
how the Games want to operate. We're training venues are
times where the village is going to be, where a
spot in the villages are going to be, how far
of the dining hall, how far from the transport more
because what we to have tried, athletes in my experience
could put up with almost anything. Well, they didn't want
the surprise, and so we spend a lot of time
(14:35):
over there gathering information, then talk to sport and athletes
around what their expectations were, let them know, this is
the reality of the games. This is what you're going
to expect. It might be not what you ideally want,
but that's what's going to be. We fought in battle
the best we can about where we are in the
(14:56):
village and how the village is going to operate. One
of the things around your seventeen being one of the
top twenty largest teams, we were consultants about the games
and how they kind to operate and is that fair?
And off New Zealand would be. You know, we were
held in high regard that they would ask us, do
you think that is fair? And we would give an
understanswer they wouldn't necessarily get from some of the other
(15:18):
larger countries who are pretty self centered about what they want.
So so we'd find out how the game is going
to operate, make sure that athletes knew that's exactly how,
And so we bet our reputation on if we tell
you that's how it's going to be, then that's how
it's going to be. And they can train and prepare
around knowing how things are going to unfold. And that's
(15:41):
the best we can do if we do that and
do that well, and I'm sure the NIGE and this
team continue to do that, so athletes know when they
get to the village, this is what to expect. This
is how it's going to operate. This is a transport,
this is where your your training venues are. That's how
far away there are, Elizabeth, the dining hall is. So
(16:01):
you try and normalize it as much as possible and
then provide some support from athletes have been there previously
to help walk them through it when they get there.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
And finally, David, thanks so much for joining us. Dave
Curry joining us on the program. Part of your realm,
of course, was the being the restaurrector of the iron
Man Triathlon. Of course that has been postponed now for
a day. You talked about nothing being a shock, Nothing
being unexpected a situation like this, there's not a lot
(16:34):
you can really do about it. But how much do
you think that that interrupts the headspace of the athletes
preparing for this one particular day every four years and
suddenly it gets moved.
Speaker 3 (16:45):
Yeah, I think aiden's been around a while. It's interesting.
I'morying Sarah Olmer about this sort of thing, really, And
she said to Dave that you know, we know that
things don't go to plan all the time, and who
(17:06):
have you was that as New Zealander is, we are
probably more grounded and more resilient than most athletes in
the world, and that of anything, it might well be
an advantage that for some athletes a day's delay will
put them into an absolute tailspin. And it shouldn't be
(17:28):
too much of a surprise that clearly the water quality
hasn't been great, they haven't trained for two days, so
it shouldn't come as any great surprise. So no, I
think I think will be will be fine. And this
is not ideal, but you know those that can deal
with that, of those that are going to shine, Because
(17:50):
she was said that in all her performances, nothing ever
went exactly as that have been planned. Yes, something happened
that wasn't quite right, but it's those true champions that's
got that resilience and just know what they need to
do when the moment is there. So no, I'm looking
forward to lay to day. I was all set up
(18:11):
for night six o'clock. I was all set to watch it.
But I'm going to be more upset than his, aren't it.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
I'm sure you'll be fine.
Speaker 3 (18:21):
It's just another day.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
You just carry on with that late view, you grab
yourself another coffee and a croiss aren't and you'll love it,
Undid Dave Curry lovely to catch up with you again.
It's been a long long time. Thanks very much for
joining us and sharing some of your your knowledge or
experience and your expertise.
Speaker 3 (18:35):
It's been a real pleasure, no worries. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
For more from Sports Talk, listen live to News Talks
it'd be from seven pm weekdays, or follow the podcast
on iHeartRadio.
You're listening to the Sports Talk podcast with Darcy Wildergrave
from News Talk ZEDB and is well.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Welcome to the program to Dave Curry c n z M.
Of course, former chef the mission of the New Zealand
Olympic teams. He did that three times, you did the
Common Games three times. I believe you've got a Paralympics
in there as well. Involved in iron Man even New
Zealand cricket for a while. Dave, what are you doing now, mate?
Are you breathing and relaxing and welcome?
Speaker 3 (00:35):
Hi? Thanks Darcy. Yeah, so I'm living now on in
Lake Kawiir down south. So I'm currently sitting and looking
out over the lake. We've had a dump of snow
on the mountains around it and I've got a fire
roaring and life is good.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
So I'd like to hear that's good and enjoying the
Olympic Games. Hey, thanks very much for joining us. We'll
start things off with the support of the team and
the conversation. At the moment, people are getting a bit edgy.
They're like, where are our medals? Because let's face it,
the New Zealanders think they are their medals. That's why
we support the team. The stress around building toward an
(01:15):
inner Olympic Games when the team is not meddling, how
is that addressed from your perspective? When you're the chef
the mission within that team.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
You'll really you know, the role of the team is
to provide a strong, secure environment, supportive environments for athletes
to have the best opportunities shutting themselves in the world stage.
So really the focus around that and winning and losing
(01:47):
is not the focus. How do you let athletes have
committed ten, fifteen, twenty years of their lives to have
the best opportunity to perform and the outcome will take
care of itself if they can have the very best
performance they're capable of. Some will meddle, some won't. So
that's really the and the fact there's no medals on
(02:08):
the board is not the focus at all.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
Really, you look toward the team, I'm presuming expectations KPIs
for one of a better phrase. They don't sit within
that team environment. The expectations around meddling aren't put to
the fall.
Speaker 3 (02:26):
No, I mean, if you think about the team, there's
seventeen sports generally now clearly within those individual sports and
they're funding arrangements with highforms for in New Zealand and whatever.
I mean, clearly within that environment, yes there is. But
when the team comes together, I mean, I saw our
(02:47):
role is to treat all athletes, whether they had a
high expectation of meddling or not, to give them all
the same opportunity they have the very best performances they can.
And if you talk to you know, the sports psychologists around,
I mean they're advice always to athletes is that all
(03:09):
you can focus on is getting the very best performance
out of yourself if you can. If you're focusing around
i've got to win a medal, then that's probably the
single most influential thing that will make sure you don't
win a medal because what you were to do, it's
just a challenge. And there's two hundred and four countries
(03:30):
are there. You know, half of those have got really
strong high performance programs, So you've got you know, the
chances of reaching an Olympic final all medaling or getting
a gold medal is unbelievably difficult, and so we've got
(03:50):
to be a bit realistic. In New Zealand with five
million people, there's only so much genetically athletic talent within
that five million people, We've got a whole lot of
not Olympic sports. It's suck a lot of that high
performance you know gene pool out. Then we represent you know,
in seventeen sports of the Olympics. And the other thing
(04:12):
is that it always struck me when I first get
involved that you know, we were generally the fifteenth or
sixteenth largest team at the Olympics in number, you know, America, China, fifteen,
New Zealand. So we then spread the rest of our
talent over seventeen sports. So you know, we talk about
(04:34):
you know, punching them with our weight. You know, the
ability to do that across a broad range of sports
is extraordinarily difficult. So I was always in awe of
our ability to perform as we do. And then you know,
athletes we're going to train for ten fifteen years of
their lives before they know whether any good or not,
So it's a tough gig. So from a team perspective,
(04:58):
you know, there were no expectations other than how can
we provide the best environment for an athlete to maximize
as their potential.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
Expectation from the general public though talking about our medals,
New Zealand represented. Are these expectations overblown? Do you think
people expecting too much.
Speaker 3 (05:20):
Gave for the reasons I've just spoken about, I think, look,
it's not. And one of the things that you talk
about in New Zealand New Zealand, I think they're they're
medals and and it's kind of a double ed sword
really that the team certainly is extraordinarily appreciative and gains
(05:42):
energy and strength from the fact, you know, the team
of five million, you certainly feel that. I mean the
amount of support that the team get them in and messages,
the amount of support and love that comes to the
team is unbelievable. So yes, you know the team feeds
off that and to some extent it probably does heighten
(06:04):
that expectation a little bit. But again, coming back from
an athlete to perform, all they can do is focus
on their own performance or own preparation, and all they
really focus around is if they know they've done all
they can do in the in the months, in the
years beforehand, and the other challenge of the Olympics have
comes around and do for four years. And you know,
(06:28):
there's a lot of times you hear athletes, not just
in New Zealand athletes generally, God that race has been
last week. I was on fire. And it doesn't matter
if you're on fire last week on next week. You've
got to be on fire at two o'clock this day.
That's when it matters. And that's that's really hard to do,
(06:51):
is to be extraord You've got to be exactly right
on that particular day. There's no unlike the triathlon has
put off for a date. You know, you've just got
to get right in that day. So that's really really hard.
I can understand the public, you know, kind of you know,
they have high expectations, but I think we've got to
(07:12):
be realistic that we're a nation of five million. We
brought spread ourselves over yes seventeen or eighty in sports
at the Olympics, and we've only got so much, you know,
athletic Jean Paul talent, and it's always going to be tough.
So those who do do it are unbelievably exceptional.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
When you look at thems in an Olympic committee and
their expectation, I'm sure this is this is separate from
the athletes in the village too. Do you think at
this stage they would be showing any nerves about results
on a separate level. How do they operate when they're
overseeing something like this.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
Yeah, fairness, And certainly when I was involved, there was
no I never felt any pressure from the ends of
a see that, oh Dave, what's happened. We haven't got
a medal. They were more concerned and that organizationally and
the support that was needed to make sure the team
(08:13):
could do what its role was. I give them a
lot of credit that they always gave me and the
team all the support we needed to support athletes over
that two weeks, because that's the New Zealand sporting structure
is interesting. You know, you've got national sporting organizations, you've
(08:34):
got a higherformed sport in New Zealand, you've got sport
in New Zealand, and then you've got the Olympic Committee
and their role with all of this is to select
teams and provide support around athletes over the games. You know,
the two weeks of those are on that. All of
the funding of athletes and the working with athletes is
in the province of national sporting organizations supported by high
(08:58):
performed sport in New Zealand. So I'm sure there's some
internal pressures within that. We tried really hard within the
within the Olympic team and support by the ends today
see that our role is donking in their road. Don't
upset whatever you know sports have been doing for the
previous two, three, five, ten years, but make sure we
(09:19):
give every opportunity that all the hard work that they've
put in can flourish and come forth over that two
weeks of the Games.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
We're joined by Dave Curry, three times Sift mission for
the Olympic Games. Looking at the Olympics so far from
a New Zealand perspective, the psychological support you touched on
this before, This must be a huge part and it
would have developed, I'm sure during your time in charge.
How important is that from a team perspective to make
sure these athletes have got their heads right going into it.
(09:52):
And more importantly, Dave, when they come out of an
event and they haven't done as well, haven't done as
well as they thought they should have or could have done,
that's a whole new management philosophy I expect.
Speaker 3 (10:03):
Yeah, you know, that's it's a reality. You know, there's
normally two hundred and twenty athletes and support staff of
another hundred. So you get a team of three united
people and yeah, that's the thing. And of all of those,
only a handful are going to meddle, so the majority
(10:24):
are likely to be disappointed. And so we made sure
we had a whole lot of support around that. Our
Athletes support group made up of athletes have been there,
done that, understood what high performance is about, instill into
the heights of it, but also those depths when things
(10:45):
haven't gone as well as you would have liked and
considering you put ten years of your life into that.
And so we're did a very strong team culture and
a team lounge where athletes could it could be provided
live stream of all support into it so they could
follow it all. But also you know people who could
(11:08):
keep an eye and things hadn't gone as well. There's
nothing you can say to an athlete, you know it's
going to be okay, it's okay. You know you get
another opportunity at whatever I mean. Words are meaningless at
that stage. All you can do is put your arms
around somebody and provide some support and just be there
(11:28):
and available when they want it. And clearly we have
a supports psychologists there and available online as well. But
it's really having you know, the people who can provide
the most supportive athletes have been there, understand what it's
about and just to be there and provide support. And
one of the things that was great about the New
(11:49):
Zealand team that all most athletes, even though they might
compete within the first a few days, would stay on
for the whole of the games. So we drink really
hard at one providing that. The ethos as the team was, look,
you're going to get provided with all the support that
we can give you until you compete, but once you've competed,
(12:10):
kind of the trade off is then that you will
provide support to the athletes to still have to compete.
And so that sense of a large family that you're
going to be supported and you support others, it helps
to get over or provide support for those that haven't
done as well. But it is extremely, extremely hard, and
(12:36):
you can think about you know, fair Weather and fourth
is one of those awful positions to be in and
nothing you can say to her is going to make
that any easier other than to know that she's supported
and the team admire her and understand the commitment and
(12:57):
sacrifices that she's made and just to be therefore her.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
Really, I suppose when you consider the relative youth of
Eric Fairweather, and when you get young athletes not only
young physically but mental, but also debuting at the Olympic Games,
how do you prepare an athlete for that? Because I
expect once you're there, it's completely overwhelming. And when you go,
(13:22):
maybe your second Olympics, you may be prepared a little more,
you may be stronger mentally because you experienced that.
Speaker 3 (13:28):
Dave, mm hmm. Yeah, it's and there's no way easily
to do the Commerce Games. It's a little bit like it,
I guess, and someone had that experience. The Olympics is
a is a beast really, you're both in the sheer
size and magnitude of it, but the rigidity by which
(13:50):
things happen. It's not like a World Championships. And so
there's a fair amount of rigidity in one of the
roles of Olympic team that we used to go to
the to the to the you know, the venue of
where the country where the games are going to be held,
is to understand what their ethos is going to be,
(14:13):
how the Games want to operate. We're training venues are
times where the village is going to be, where a
spot in the villages are going to be, how far
of the dining hall, how far from the transport more
because what we to have tried, athletes in my experience
could put up with almost anything. Well, they didn't want
the surprise, and so we spend a lot of time
(14:35):
over there gathering information, then talk to sport and athletes
around what their expectations were, let them know, this is
the reality of the games. This is what you're going
to expect. It might be not what you ideally want,
but that's what's going to be. We fought in battle
the best we can about where we are in the
(14:56):
village and how the village is going to operate. One
of the things around your seventeen being one of the
top twenty largest teams, we were consultants about the games
and how they kind to operate and is that fair?
And off New Zealand would be. You know, we were
held in high regard that they would ask us, do
you think that is fair? And we would give an
understanswer they wouldn't necessarily get from some of the other
(15:18):
larger countries who are pretty self centered about what they want.
So so we'd find out how the game is going
to operate, make sure that athletes knew that's exactly how,
And so we bet our reputation on if we tell
you that's how it's going to be, then that's how
it's going to be. And they can train and prepare
around knowing how things are going to unfold. And that's
(15:41):
the best we can do if we do that and
do that well, and I'm sure the NIGE and this
team continue to do that, so athletes know when they
get to the village, this is what to expect. This
is how it's going to operate. This is a transport,
this is where your your training venues are. That's how
far away there are, Elizabeth, the dining hall is. So
(16:01):
you try and normalize it as much as possible and
then provide some support from athletes have been there previously
to help walk them through it when they get there.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
And finally, David, thanks so much for joining us. Dave
Curry joining us on the program. Part of your realm,
of course, was the being the restaurrector of the iron
Man Triathlon. Of course that has been postponed now for
a day. You talked about nothing being a shock, Nothing
being unexpected a situation like this, there's not a lot
(16:34):
you can really do about it. But how much do
you think that that interrupts the headspace of the athletes
preparing for this one particular day every four years and
suddenly it gets moved.
Speaker 3 (16:45):
Yeah, I think aiden's been around a while. It's interesting.
I'morying Sarah Olmer about this sort of thing, really, And
she said to Dave that you know, we know that
things don't go to plan all the time, and who
(17:06):
have you was that as New Zealander is, we are
probably more grounded and more resilient than most athletes in
the world, and that of anything, it might well be
an advantage that for some athletes a day's delay will
put them into an absolute tailspin. And it shouldn't be
(17:28):
too much of a surprise that clearly the water quality
hasn't been great, they haven't trained for two days, so
it shouldn't come as any great surprise. So no, I
think I think will be will be fine. And this
is not ideal, but you know those that can deal
with that, of those that are going to shine, Because
(17:50):
she was said that in all her performances, nothing ever
went exactly as that have been planned. Yes, something happened
that wasn't quite right, but it's those true champions that's
got that resilience and just know what they need to
do when the moment is there. So no, I'm looking
forward to lay to day. I was all set up
(18:11):
for night six o'clock. I was all set to watch it.
But I'm going to be more upset than his, aren't it.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
I'm sure you'll be fine.
Speaker 3 (18:21):
It's just another day.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
You just carry on with that late view, you grab
yourself another coffee and a croiss aren't and you'll love it,
Undid Dave Curry lovely to catch up with you again.
It's been a long long time. Thanks very much for
joining us and sharing some of your your knowledge or
experience and your expertise.
Speaker 3 (18:35):
It's been a real pleasure, no worries. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
For more from Sports Talk, listen live to News Talks
it'd be from seven pm weekdays, or follow the podcast
on iHeartRadio.
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