Francesca Rudkin: Our Winter Olympians deserve to be recognised and celebrated

What an incredible weekend of sport, with the T20 Cricket World Cup, Super Rugby Pacific, and SailGP sweeping into Auckland – more on that in a minute - some of the world’s best trail runners hit Rotorua for the Tarawera Premier Ultra-trail Marathon and the Winter Olympics continues to provide stunning performances, triumphs and disappointments, scandals and feel good moments.   

I’ve been interested in the chat around the Winter Olympics over the last week.  

The Winter Olympic Games is often criticised for being filled with elite, niche sports that struggle to capture broad public appeal. Unlike the Summer edition, which features globally accessible competitions like athletics, swimming and football, the Winter Games is based on disciplines which require specific climates, facilities, and funding.  

Sports such as biathlon (cross-country skiing and shooting), snowboard cross (kind of BMX racing for snowboarders), and curling are unfamiliar to many viewers outside Europe and North America. They demand snow tracks, ice rinks, and mountain ranges - resources unavailable in much of the world. As a result, participation is concentrated among a relatively small group of nations, reinforcing the perception that these are rarefied pursuits rather than widely played global sports. 

But for me, this exclusivity underscores why these athletes deserve celebration. Winter Olympians dedicate their lives to mastering extraordinarily demanding disciplines under harsh conditions. They train for years in sub-zero temperatures and in many cases risk injury at high speeds as they refine their skills in sports where success is often decided by fractions of a second or points.  

The limited global infrastructure for many of these sports makes reaching elite level even more impressive; pathways are narrower, funding scarcer, and margins for error smaller.  

That they are largely broadcast on pay tv in New Zealand also fuels the idea these sports aren’t hugely common. But uncommon or not, if you’ve been watching over the last week, surely you’ll agree the camera work has been spectacular and the events have been incredible to watch.  

My whole family have become obsessed with ice dancing and figure skating - and there have been some serious controversies and sides taken during the week, even though none of us could get ourselves around an ice rink.   

And really, isn’t all sport at the top-end of competition elite - or as we like to call it ‘high performance sport’? On the global stage, rugby is niche. So is netball. The America’s Cup is an elite sport, and the coast to coast this weekend attracts a small number of super athletes who will traverse the South Island. Doesn't make their accomplishments any less impressive.  

The Olympics exists not merely to platform the most popular sports, but to honour excellence at the highest level. That some of those sports are not broadly accessible does not diminish the skill required to compete. In the last week we’ve seen human resilience, sportsmanship, courage, and technical mastery - all done in what can be very challenging environments. 

So niche or not, our Kiwi athletes and their fellow competitors represent the pinnacle of their disciplines - and that alone warrants recognition and celebration.  

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudkin
from News talks'b.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
What an incredible weekend of sport the Tea twenty Cricket
World Cup, You've got Super Rugby Pacific kicking off sale
GP swept into Auckland. More on that in just a moment.
Some of the world's best trail runners hit Rotoroa for
the Tara Waarra Premiere Ultra Trail Marathon. And the Winter
Olympics continues to provide stunning performances, triumphs and disappointments, scandals

(00:34):
and feel good moments. I have been pretty interested in
the chat around the Winter Olympics over the last week.
The Winter Olympics Games is often criticized for being filled
with elite, niche sports that struggle to capture broad public appeal.
Unlike the Summer edition, which you know, features all those accessible,
globally accessible competitions like athletics and swimming and football, the

(00:58):
Winter Games is based on disciplines which do require specific climates, facilities,
and funding. Sports such as the Bathlon, the cross country skiing,
and shooting. One of my favorites snowboard cross. Kind of
a mad BMX race for snowboarders and curling are unfamiliar
to many viewers outside of Europe and North America. They

(01:18):
demand snow tracks, ice rinks, and mountain ranges, resources unavailable
and much of the world, so as a result, participation
is concentrated around a relatively small group of nations, reinforcing
the perception that these are rarefied pursuits rather than widely
played global sports. But for me, this exclusivity under scores

(01:40):
why these athletes deserve celebration. Winter Olympians dedicate their lives
to mastering extraordinarily demanding disciplines under harsh conditions. They train
for years in sub zero temperatures and in many cases
risk injury at high speeds as they refine their skills
in sport where success is often decided by fractions of

(02:00):
a second or points. The limited global infrastructure of many
of these sports makes reaching elite level even more impressive
because pathways are narrower, funding scarcer, and margins for eras smaller.
That they are largely broadcast on PayTV in New Zealand
also feels the idea these sports aren't hugely common, but

(02:21):
uncommon or not if you've been watching over the last week.
Surely you'll agree. The camera work has been spectacular and
the events have been incredible to watch. My whole family
have become obsessed with ice dancing and figure skating. There
have been some serious controversies and sides taken during the week.
Can I just say, even though none of us could
get ourselves around an ice drink, and really is an

(02:42):
all sport at the top end of competition, elite or
as we like to call it, high performance sport on
the global stage, mug be' his niche, so as netball.
The America's Cup is an elite sport, and the Coast
to coast this weekend attracts a small number of super
athletes who will traverse the South Island. Doesn't make their
accomplishments any less impressive. The Olympics exists not merely to

(03:03):
platform the most popular sports, but to honor excellence at
the highest level. That some of those sports and not
broadly accessible does not diminish the skill required to compete.
In the last week, we've seen human resilience, sportsmanship, courage,
and technical mastery all done in what can be very
challenging environments. So niche or not, our Keepe athletes and

(03:23):
their fellow competitors represent the pinnacle of their disciplines, and
that alone warrants recognition and celebration.

Speaker 1 (03:32):
For more from the Sunday session with Francesca Rudkin, listen
live to News Talks the b from nine am Sunday,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.