Ryan Bridge: Our biggest ever athletics team heading to Paris - and it's quite exciting

Hamish Kerr - you might recall the name. 

He's a high jumper, winning gold at the Commonwealth Games, but so far no Olympic medal. 

He's apparently looking very good for Paris - the opening ceremony kicks off this Saturday morning. 

I'm getting quite excited about it. 

So Kerr is peaking at just the right time - he's just taken out the men’s high jump title at the London Diamond League Athletics meet. 

He cleared 2.3m - incredible stuff. 

He also won in Monaco earlier this month, where he cleared 2.33m and equalled his personal best in an outdoor event. 

The men’s high jump begins on August 8th for us. The opening ceremony is this Saturday morning 5:30am our time, with its peak at 7:30am for their sunset. 

Anyway, I just love this. Our biggest ever athletics team heading to Paris. 

There's nothing like sitting down on the couch, for hours on end, with some bikkies and a cup of tea watching these incredibly disciplined, unbelievably skilled and fit athletes perform for the world. 

It's almost like because what you're watching is athletic and captivating you don't feel lazy for essentially watching hours of television. 

There's something incredibly emotional about the Games too, there's always tears and joy and exhaustion. 

It's humans dedicating themselves to something for years, for their life, and knowing all of that comes down to just a few seconds in a race or game or event. 

It's perseverance and dedication on full display and I just love it. 

To Hamish Kerr, the record 17 athletics athletes, and the entire team of 195 Kiwis wearing the fern in Paris - good luck. We'll all be watching. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Amous Kerr, you might recall the name. He's our high jumper,
one gold at the Calm Games so far, hasn't won
anything at the Olympics, hasn't got an Olympic medal. But
boy is he looking good for Paris. He's apparently in
great shape, great form. The opening ceremony kicks off this
Saturday morning, by the way, very excited. Yeah, apparently he's
peaking right at the just at the right time. He's

(00:22):
taken up the men's high jump title at the London
Diamond League Athletics meet. He cleared two point three meters there.
Imagine that, clearing two point three meters in the high jump.
He also won in Monaco earlier this month, where he
cleared two point three to three and that equaled his
personal best in an outdoor event. So the men's high
jump for those who are interested, is on August the seventh,

(00:44):
which local time, which means it'll be the eighth for us.
The opening ceremony is this Saturday morning. The time is
five thirty am, so set your alarms, get up a
little bit early. Apparently the ceremony will peak at seven
thirty in the morning because that'll be the sunset and Paris. Anyway,
I just love this. It's our biggest ever athletics team
heading to Paris this year, apparently heading to the Olympics.

(01:07):
And there's nothing quite like sitting down on the couch
for hours on end with some Bicki's and a cup
of tea, watching these incredibly disciplined, unbelievably skilled and fit
athletes perform for the world. It's almost like because you're
watching them do such athletic things that you don't feel

(01:27):
lazy for essentially just sitting and watching television for hours
on end. It is incredible. It is great to watch,
and there's something emotional about the games too. There's always
tears and joy and exhaustion. It's humans who are dedicating
themselves to something for years, for their life sometimes and
knowing all of that comes down to just a few

(01:48):
seconds in a race or a game or an event.
It's perseverance and dedication on full display. And I just
love it. So Hamish Kurr to the record seventeen athletes
that we are sending from the athletics team and the
entire team of one hundred and ninety five kiwis who
will be wearing the fern in Paris, good luck. We'll

(02:09):
all be watching for more from News Talks at b
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