August 27, 2024 • 7 mins
Neelam O'Neill joins Hamish McKay out of Paris ahead of the Paralympic Games
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Country sport, breakfast Harms Mackay with you on a Wednesday morning.
I think we're heading off to Paris. Of course Neila O'Neill,
New Zealand Paralympic shooter is over there, and of course
our first female parashooter in forty years. I think it
is Niland. Hello, how are you hey?
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Good? Thanks? How you guys?
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Yeah, fantastic, thank you, thank you for joining us. So
you're you're well ensconed house things over there, and the
mighty the mighty French capital there.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Pretty good. So we're based in Chaderou.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
The weather is so much nicer than it is at
home right now because obviously we're coming off our winter.
But over here it's nice and sunny. The skies are
blue and it is so nice to see the sun again.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
Yeah, and the facilities all up to mark. You're happy
with everything.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
So we're staying at a satellite, well actually outside of
the satellite Villagua saying it the second accommodation for the
shooting parasport, and the accommodation here is really nice. We well,
I say, unfortunately, but fortunately we don't have any of
the cardboard beds, so we don't get experience. But yeah,
(01:15):
everything is top notch here and you know, trying to
make everything feel like we're at home.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
So it's really good exciting times. It's so sad that
you've missed out on the on the cardboard beds. Right,
tell us about yourself, thirty two year old from up
North and you compete in the women's ten meter air
pistol sh one And is that sort of tell us
about what sort of competition you're expecting and what your
goals are.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Yeah, so, yep, so I am from Northland. I'm the good.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
Old mighty North, thirty one, almost thirty two, but thirty
one a little bit younger competition. Yeah, so I compete
in ten meter both air rifle and air pistol. Air
rifle is next event and pistol is only women's And yeah,
it was my first Paralympic Games, which is super exciting.
(02:08):
And yeah, I don't know what to expect, to be honest,
because you know, watching the Games over the years and
seeing all these amazing athletes coming through and even our
own athletes here doing amazing stuff.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
Yeah, and now that I get to be.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
Part of the gang, I actually I'm like a little
kid in a candy store.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
I'm just so excited.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
And absolutely you should be fantastic now the first woman
to represent the Yellow air pistol at the Paralympics too.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Yep, yeah, yep. So yeah, it's quite an honor.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
I'm glad I get to break that barrier first time round,
and hopefully in the future we'll see a lot more
female parachuters coming through at some point. But yeah, just
getting that history ticked off is kind of.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Kind of nice.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
I don't see it as a big deal, but I
guess it kind of is. I just, you know, I
just do what I do, and I love doing what
I do, and amazing things just.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
Happen, right, Yeah, that's right. And those are those sort
of things that, as you say, you do what you do,
and they're sort of a sort of a side bar,
a nice side bar as well. But you've got a
job at hand. Now, tell me, tell me, neilam about
your your background, because you train what in Mount Eden
and up to twenty hours a week training, that's that's
really intensive. And you also hold down part time job
(03:34):
as well.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
Yeah, so I'm I'm a very very busy lady.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (03:42):
So I work in customer service for one of New
Zealand's banks, which I do part time, and then I'm
pretty much say I'm a full time athlete because the
twenty hours or twenty plus hours is just pure training.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
There's so many other things around that.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
That you have to look at as well, like nutrition,
psich athlete life, gym, exercise, drink and conditioning, all those
things that play a part in an athlete's life. But yeah,
shooting definitely. The shooting part keeps me busy, but I
love it. Like if I could, if I could get
paid to shoot, I would, You'd.
Speaker 4 (04:23):
Work eighty hours a week, like exactly fantastic. Hey, give
us a bit of a vibe of the of the
Power Games and Paris and France in general.
Speaker 3 (04:35):
Yeah, so I've just heard that over a million tickets
have been sold for the games, which is ridiculous, Which
is amazing, right, I think the vibe.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
Is quite big here, especially in chattarou.
Speaker 3 (04:49):
We just went to one of the supermarkets kind of
like Target. I guess it's got everything in it And
the first thing you see is all the Paris twenty
twenty four merchandise and there's like a whole row of
it at the supermarket and it's just Oh, it's incredible.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
It's like the vibe is everywhere.
Speaker 3 (05:08):
There's like banners all along the road and like you know,
people will look at you and be like where are
you from.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
It's like New Zealand, like whoa, and you're competing.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
Here and yeah, everyone's is so friendly and you can
really really feel the Paralympic Games is such a big
thing here in France, and I think it just makes
it all the more exciting to be part of it
because everyone's just you know, here doing their thing and
it's just a big party.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
That's what it is. It's a humongous party for a
whole country.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
I love it. Yeah, fantastic. How do you feel about
the movement that says that the power Game should be
should be with the Olympics, like there shouldn't be two
separate events.
Speaker 3 (05:50):
Yeah, I reckon if they could make it in the
same one, I think that'd been awesome experience, just because
then you know, you've got the mingling of both able
Bards and the Paris and you know, within everybody's sport.
It's actually quite funny because there's a lot of able
bods that I know that do shooting. But it's sad
(06:10):
that we don't get to shoot with them or you know,
like experience the same events that they do. So having
an event like Joint Gained would be phenomenal and like
how big of like, you know, how exciting would that be?
Like there would be phenomenal on the world stage to
have both Olympics and Paralympics combined, right, that's just oh,
(06:34):
that would be phenomenal.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
Yeah, absolutely, it would. Saturday morning our time, is it
I think it is? Yeah, a Saturday night our time. Actually, yeah,
Saturday night at time. So I guess that's an early
start for you.
Speaker 3 (06:49):
Yeah, yeah, so we're fourteen hours behind home, I think.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
Right, well, we look forward to hope. I hope we'll
catch up with you after the event. After a couple
of events there, Neila O'Neil, thank you very much for joining.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
Us, col thanks for having me. Guys.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
There we go. Neila O'Neil out of Paris. There para Olympian,
looking forward to following her progress.
Country sport, breakfast Harms Mackay with you on a Wednesday morning.
I think we're heading off to Paris. Of course Neila O'Neill,
New Zealand Paralympic shooter is over there, and of course
our first female parashooter in forty years. I think it
is Niland. Hello, how are you hey?
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Good? Thanks? How you guys?
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Yeah, fantastic, thank you, thank you for joining us. So
you're you're well ensconed house things over there, and the
mighty the mighty French capital there.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Pretty good. So we're based in Chaderou.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
The weather is so much nicer than it is at
home right now because obviously we're coming off our winter.
But over here it's nice and sunny. The skies are
blue and it is so nice to see the sun again.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
Yeah, and the facilities all up to mark. You're happy
with everything.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
So we're staying at a satellite, well actually outside of
the satellite Villagua saying it the second accommodation for the
shooting parasport, and the accommodation here is really nice. We well,
I say, unfortunately, but fortunately we don't have any of
the cardboard beds, so we don't get experience. But yeah,
(01:15):
everything is top notch here and you know, trying to
make everything feel like we're at home.
Speaker 1 (01:20):
So it's really good exciting times. It's so sad that
you've missed out on the on the cardboard beds. Right,
tell us about yourself, thirty two year old from up
North and you compete in the women's ten meter air
pistol sh one And is that sort of tell us
about what sort of competition you're expecting and what your
goals are.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
Yeah, so, yep, so I am from Northland. I'm the good.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
Old mighty North, thirty one, almost thirty two, but thirty
one a little bit younger competition. Yeah, so I compete
in ten meter both air rifle and air pistol. Air
rifle is next event and pistol is only women's And yeah,
it was my first Paralympic Games, which is super exciting.
(02:08):
And yeah, I don't know what to expect, to be honest,
because you know, watching the Games over the years and
seeing all these amazing athletes coming through and even our
own athletes here doing amazing stuff.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
Yeah, and now that I get to be.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
Part of the gang, I actually I'm like a little
kid in a candy store.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
I'm just so excited.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
And absolutely you should be fantastic now the first woman
to represent the Yellow air pistol at the Paralympics too.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Yep, yeah, yep. So yeah, it's quite an honor.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
I'm glad I get to break that barrier first time round,
and hopefully in the future we'll see a lot more
female parachuters coming through at some point. But yeah, just
getting that history ticked off is kind of.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Kind of nice.
Speaker 3 (03:01):
I don't see it as a big deal, but I
guess it kind of is. I just, you know, I
just do what I do, and I love doing what
I do, and amazing things just.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
Happen, right, Yeah, that's right. And those are those sort
of things that, as you say, you do what you do,
and they're sort of a sort of a side bar,
a nice side bar as well. But you've got a
job at hand. Now, tell me, tell me, neilam about
your your background, because you train what in Mount Eden
and up to twenty hours a week training, that's that's
really intensive. And you also hold down part time job
(03:34):
as well.
Speaker 3 (03:36):
Yeah, so I'm I'm a very very busy lady.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (03:42):
So I work in customer service for one of New
Zealand's banks, which I do part time, and then I'm
pretty much say I'm a full time athlete because the
twenty hours or twenty plus hours is just pure training.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
There's so many other things around that.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
That you have to look at as well, like nutrition,
psich athlete life, gym, exercise, drink and conditioning, all those
things that play a part in an athlete's life. But yeah,
shooting definitely. The shooting part keeps me busy, but I
love it. Like if I could, if I could get
paid to shoot, I would, You'd.
Speaker 4 (04:23):
Work eighty hours a week, like exactly fantastic. Hey, give
us a bit of a vibe of the of the
Power Games and Paris and France in general.
Speaker 3 (04:35):
Yeah, so I've just heard that over a million tickets
have been sold for the games, which is ridiculous, Which
is amazing, right, I think the vibe.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
Is quite big here, especially in chattarou.
Speaker 3 (04:49):
We just went to one of the supermarkets kind of
like Target. I guess it's got everything in it And
the first thing you see is all the Paris twenty
twenty four merchandise and there's like a whole row of
it at the supermarket and it's just Oh, it's incredible.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
It's like the vibe is everywhere.
Speaker 3 (05:08):
There's like banners all along the road and like you know,
people will look at you and be like where are
you from.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
It's like New Zealand, like whoa, and you're competing.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
Here and yeah, everyone's is so friendly and you can
really really feel the Paralympic Games is such a big
thing here in France, and I think it just makes
it all the more exciting to be part of it
because everyone's just you know, here doing their thing and
it's just a big party.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
That's what it is. It's a humongous party for a
whole country.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
I love it. Yeah, fantastic. How do you feel about
the movement that says that the power Game should be
should be with the Olympics, like there shouldn't be two
separate events.
Speaker 3 (05:50):
Yeah, I reckon if they could make it in the
same one, I think that'd been awesome experience, just because
then you know, you've got the mingling of both able
Bards and the Paris and you know, within everybody's sport.
It's actually quite funny because there's a lot of able
bods that I know that do shooting. But it's sad
(06:10):
that we don't get to shoot with them or you know,
like experience the same events that they do. So having
an event like Joint Gained would be phenomenal and like
how big of like, you know, how exciting would that be?
Like there would be phenomenal on the world stage to
have both Olympics and Paralympics combined, right, that's just oh,
(06:34):
that would be phenomenal.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
Yeah, absolutely, it would. Saturday morning our time, is it
I think it is? Yeah, a Saturday night our time. Actually, yeah,
Saturday night at time. So I guess that's an early
start for you.
Speaker 3 (06:49):
Yeah, yeah, so we're fourteen hours behind home, I think.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
Right, well, we look forward to hope. I hope we'll
catch up with you after the event. After a couple
of events there, Neila O'Neil, thank you very much for joining.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
Us, col thanks for having me. Guys.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
There we go. Neila O'Neil out of Paris. There para Olympian,
looking forward to following her progress.
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