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University athletes justify campaign cost
Monday, August 22nd, 2005
University Sport New Zealand hopes the show of girl power in Izmir will translate into a funding injection for the next World University Games in Bangkok.
The national body had struck gold long before Kimberley Smith put an exclamation mark on New Zealand’s Summer Universiade in Izmir by eclipsing Gabriela Szabo’s record in the 5000m on Saturday.
Smith’s golden 15min 29.18s run extended University Sport NZ’s record haul to five medals in Turkey – one more than New Zealand’s entire collection at their previous 13 World University Games.
The medal rush ended an 18-year drought in an event with little recognition in New Zealand but treated seriously elsewhere around the globe as a dress rehearsal to the Olympic Games.
Sparc’s high performance arm, the New Zealand Academy of Sport, certainly could not have dreamed of a more profitable return on its $100,000 investment in the Kiwi team in Izmir.
Smith’s gold and New Zealand’s growing prowess in the pool, where Helen Norfolk played a part in all three silver medals won by the Kiwis, bode well for this summer’s Commonwealth Games in Melbourne.
New Zealand chef de mission Glen Sinclair hopes Sparc will see the worth of the campaign when he goes to talk turkey about funding for the 2007 Bangkok Universiade, ideally placed a year ahead of the Beijing Olympics.
“I think we’ve more than justified Sparc’s investment and it’s awesome for them to realise this event is worth government funding,” Sinclair said.
“It’s just so hard to explain to people back home the level of this event and the whole set-up.
“The easiest way is to say it’s the Olympic Games without actually being the Olympics.”
New Zealand sent a record delegation of 111 to Izmir including an overworked medical team that played a crucial role in the record medal haul.
Sinclair knows the trick now is to select a team for Bangkok where the focus is on greater quality rather than quantity and with more involvement from the individual sporting bodies.
New Zealand, who finished ahead of Australia among other sporting superpowers in 24th place on the medal table, certainly have a lot to live up to in two years’ time, when Izmir’s record of more than 9000 athletes and officials from 170 countries is expected to be challenged.
“Kim’s gold has just topped off what has been a dream Universiade for us,” Sinclair said.
“But even though we believe we have done well this time, we’ve definitely identified a number of areas that we need to work on and that require more funding.
“A number of sports are still doing this on a shoe-string.”
Meanwhile, New Zealand’s Universiade ended on a high with the women’s soccer team finishing ninth after beating the Czech Republic 4-3 on penalties. Striker Rebecca Tegg scored a hat-trick as the game ended 3-3 at the end of normal time. New Zealand had finished last at the previous Universiade in Korea.
