Paralympian Jayne Craike: It's an honour to represent your country but getting there is difficult

Should we be spending more money on our quest for Olympic gold?

That's the question Simon Barnett and James Daniels posed to the Newstalk ZB listeners.

Three-time Paralympian Jayne Craike called up for a great chat.

LISTEN ABOVE

New Zealand’s Paralympian number 90, Craike is not only our most successful Para equestrian rider, she’s a pioneer behind the sport in this country. She qualified for and competed at three consecutive Paralympic Games: Atlanta 1996, Sydney 2000, Athens 2004. And despite huge challenges – and heart-breaking bad luck with her horses – she performed with distinction at all three. Gold (Dressage Championship) and silver (Dressage Freestyle) medals in Sydney 2000, fifth spot in Atlanta 1996 in trying circumstances, and only just missing out on the dais in Athens 2004 with fourth place in each of her events. https://paralympics.org.nz/

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Simon Barnett and James Daniels Afternoons
podcast from News Talk zb Hi.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
Guys, these Olympic athletes are indulging in this because they
want to do it. It's for their own pleasure. I'm not
putting any pressure on them to do it if they
cannot self fund and find another job. You a hard man, Jake, Yeah, Hello, Jane, Hello,
how are you good? Thank you? Thanks for calling.

Speaker 3 (00:33):
That's my pleasure. I think that last text doll is
a little bit ouchy. I certainly think that, you know,
as athletes, they put in a huge amount of their time, energy,
effort and money in this country because we just don't
have the infrastructure, we don't have the backing. And you know,

(00:54):
it's all sports specific. So if you are already on
the world stage, already winning something, you will get funded
partially funded, you will never get folly funded. And if
you are trying to make it or qualify, then you
don't really get anything apart from probably a little bit

(01:16):
of help for sports psychology or high performance. Just has
sort of different levels of assistance that they can give
the athletes.

Speaker 2 (01:25):
Hey, Jane, it sounds like you know what you're talking.

Speaker 3 (01:27):
About just a bit. Yeah, I'm a three time Paralympian.

Speaker 2 (01:31):
Oh my gosh. What Olympics?

Speaker 3 (01:32):
Did you go to Atlanta, Sydney and Athens?

Speaker 2 (01:37):
Oh? How impressive you are? What sport Jane, If you don't.

Speaker 3 (01:40):
Mind, it was a really difficult one equestrian which was
very difficult. It was Atlanta was the first time we
did equestrian and that was on borrowed horses, which was
quite quite difficult. And then of course it moved onto
your own horse, which was logistically very difficult coming from
New Zealand.

Speaker 2 (02:00):
Is your surname Craig, Yes, ah, well it's an honest
at all.

Speaker 3 (02:04):
You wanted to be on your program.

Speaker 2 (02:09):
I don't think we can put them in the same category.
There different And so what was the experience for you
as an athlete like in the village?

Speaker 3 (02:19):
I guess in the village amazing, absolutely amazing. You just
can't describe that kind of atmosphere when you're you're in
with everybody else that is has a singular view of
doing the best that you can for your country, for yourself,
for your family, for your sport, and you know it's
varying degrees. You look around, you see people who have

(02:41):
won and who haven't, and your emotions are amazing. You
just go from high to low and and you just
can't you can't see it anywhere else.

Speaker 2 (02:50):
In the world.

Speaker 3 (02:53):
I mean, that's that's what it gave me. I mean,
even when you're you're winning a gold you're you're on
top of the world, and then you come back to
the village and somebody's somebody's you know, sitting in a
corner because they didn't make it, and you just get
brought back to earth. It's a leveling thing. But at
the end of the day, people have to realize, yes,
you know that last text has said they want to

(03:15):
go and they should self fund. I yeah, my husband
and I we mortgaged our house for me to go
quite a few times and represent my country, and I'm
proud to do so. But at the end of the day,
I'm still paying for it now, how many years later,
And you know, yeah, it's an honor, it definitely is,

(03:36):
and I wouldn't swap the experience for the world. But
getting there, the self funding, you know, just all the
things that we had to go through, the psychology of it,
the ups and the downs, the sacrifice that we made Yeah,
it's difficult. It's not as easy as people think. They

(03:56):
see the people at the end result, and that end
result is sometimes heartbreaking, and you can't show it. You've
got to show that you know, you're still going to
be up there on the world stage and you know
even if you come forth and you're so close.

Speaker 2 (04:11):
I think that's the thing. That's the thing, Jane. I
don't know if you saw Lewis Clearbert in his favorite
event yet, like that photograph of it was almost like shock.
He was just desperate, sitting on the edge of the
pool and have face said it all. I fine enough.
I was having a shower that night. I don't I
was thinking about Lewis Cleare but maybe the water. But
that's his second campaign. So that's eight years. Yeah, eight

(04:35):
years of four am starts training three hours before work,
and you know he moved towns. Of course, he went
to Wellington and couldn't find a pool and so he
went to Auckland and oh my gosh, it's eight years
of one's life and to come away empty handed. That's
pretty devastating, isn't it.

Speaker 3 (04:50):
Absolutely so people really have to have art where that's
concerned and really support our athletes that are trying to
do their best, but at the end of the day,
we just don't have enough money to go around, don't
have enough infrastructure in this country. You know, we're just
nowhere near we should be. And that's a really big
shame because obviously Sports New Zealand would like to do more,

(05:13):
High performance would like to do more, and even down
to the grassroots, you know, that has to come through
and we just don't have that funding.

Speaker 2 (05:21):
Jane Craig, whereabouts are your medals? Your silver and gold medals.

Speaker 3 (05:26):
They're in my house in my safe.

Speaker 2 (05:29):
How great? What's the number to your safe? And you know,
last thing, because somebody mentioned about the effect that the
Olympic Games and their athletes have on the community. If
you see somebody winning a gold or a silver, and
I just think of the number of those athletes that
I've seen images of, Jane with I've gone around schools
and the kids and that have you done that and

(05:50):
what can you just give people an understanding when kids
see your meddle, what reaction they have.

Speaker 3 (05:56):
Oh, just out of this world. They'd want to touch it,
so that you know, when they can actually look at
it and hold it, it just blows blows me away
to see how proud everyone is and how how much
of a buzz they get, you know. For and I've
had people come up to me when I've been at
a horse show or an event and they said, you know,
you encouraged her. My daughter seeing you on television encouraged

(06:21):
her to pick up horse riding and now she's successful
doing this and that and that. Just that's so, it
just is really gives me a lot of pride.

Speaker 2 (06:31):
Well said Jane. Last thing, what did you think of
the opening ceremony.

Speaker 3 (06:34):
And tell us as usual? No, I just thought it
was a shame for the athletes in a sense of
you cannot reproduce the atmosphere that you get in the
stadium where all the athletes by each other in that

(06:55):
stadium and everything is working around within that. And I
think it was an amazing It was amazing, but it
was more for television than it was for anything else.
But I think they did a job. But yeah, I mean,
you'd have to be there, I suppose to really know
what it felt like.

Speaker 2 (07:12):
Jane, We have loved chatting with you.

Speaker 3 (07:13):
Thank you for calling in Hey, thank you very much.
I love your show.

Speaker 1 (07:18):
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