Sheer Grit and Determination
New Zealand cyclist Alison Shanks, 29, is profiled in The Wall Street Journal, which introduces athletes from around the world competing in the 2012 London Olympics. “New Zealand’s world champion individual pursuit…
News of New Zealanders via Global Media
Cheap Beginnings and a Title
Little Bridge, bred by Des Hawkins’ Llanhennock Trust at Wentwood Grange in Waikato, has became the first New Zealand-bred horse to win at the Royal Ascot meeting, outgunning a class field to…
Fern Hopes for Place in London
Football Ferns goalkeeper Aucklander Aroon Clansey, 26, who currently plays for English FA Women’s Super League club Liverpool Ladies, is hoping to be in the New Zealand team who will face Cameroon in the…
Drafted into the Major League
Auckland catcher Daniel Devonshire, 19, is “the talk of the Moose Jaw baseball community”, according to Saskatchewan local newspaper reporter Aaron Stuckel. “Devonshire is the third ever baseball player from New Zealand to be…
Willis Readies for London
One of New Zealand’s “most revered track and field athletes”, Nick Willis, 29, will defend his Olympic silver medal in the men’s 1500m run at the 2012 Games in London. The London Olympics will…
Marshall Shows Them
Whakatane-born league star Benji Marshall’s goal-kicking “sparked a remarkable come-from-behind win over the Warriors at fortress Leichhardt Oval” beating the Auckland team 24-22. “The experience of Marshall, 27, both with the ball in hand…
Sevens Title Won at Twickenham
New Zealand have retained their Sevens World Series title, ending the season with a third-place spot at the London Sevens to finish on 167 Series points, six ahead of closest rivals Fiji. A record…
Ballistic on AFL Boundaries
New Zealand Olympic hopeful Aucklander Veronica Torr, 24, who is on the brink of qualifying for the London Games in the heptathlon, has been head-hunted by the Australian Football League (AFL) as a boundary…
Standing Out on Court
New Zealand high school basketball player 2.15m- (7 feet 1 inch) Steven Adams, who plays for Notre Dame Prep in Baltimore, is one of the top-ranked players in the Class of 2012 (No. 6…
Pursuit gold for Shanks
Dunedin-born Alison Shanks, 29, won the women’s Individual Pursuit title beating Britain’s Wendy Houvenaghel by more than two seconds at the UCI Track Cycling World Championships in Melbourne this month. “It’s a great…
In His Element
“When it comes to skateboarding, New Zealander Bjorn Johnston has put in work,” ESPN blogger Joel Rice writes. “Though he joined Element’s Australian team relatively recently, his resume runs quite deep. Prior to signing…
Less Talking More Chalking
Rocky “The Technician” Lane, world record holding professional New Zealand pool champion, is profiled in Air Macau’s in-flight magazine this month. “Upon agreeing to an interview, Lane suggests meeting at Bar 171 in Taipa,…
Gifted Goalkeeper Qualifies
Christchurch-born Michael O’Keeffe, a junior goalkeeper for Connecticut’s Fairfield University soccer team the Stags, has qualified to play in the 2012 London Summer Olympics as a member of the New Zealand Under-23 team. According…
Final Leap Beneath Blue
Teenager Alex Colvin features in the Guardian’s regular gallery ‘24 Hours in Pictures’, competing in the under-17 men’s long jump final on day one of the 2012 New Zealand National Athletics Championships…
With A Vision For More Gold
New Zealand gold medal eventer Mark Todd, 56, one of only two New Zealanders to compete in six Olympics, says he will ride at his seventh Olympics with a horse “as good as any…
Wimbledon Of Shearing
The 4600 sheep picked for the 2012 World Sheep Shearing Competition in Masterton, and the national Golden Shears championships, were pampered this week, with top clippers from around the globe competing for a top…
Running Paths Of History
New Plymouth-based ultra-distance runner Lisa Tamati and Australian travel journalist Chris Ord recently ran 140km from the desert outpost of Hermannsburg to Alice Springs — retracing the route taken by stockman Hezekial Malbunka when…
Long Island Hopes For Olympics
New Zealand runner Leanora Petrina, 29, who lives in Bayport, Long Island, is profiled in local publication Long Island Business News. “I run anything from 1500-5km on the track, including the steeplechase, Petrina says. “On…
Towering Forward Impresses
Wellington basketball player, former Scots College student, Steven Adams is Sports Illustrated’s ‘High School Player of the Month’. Seven-foot Adams, who has relocated to the United States playing for Notre Dame Prep, is immensely talented and…
Highlight Of Career
Taupo-born triathlete Bevan Docherty, 34, has beaten seven-time Tour de France winner American Lance Armstrong to take the Panama half ironman title. Olympic silver-medalist Docherty beat Armstrong by 31 seconds after overtaking him on…
Killer Instinct KO’s American
All Black and heavyweight boxer Sonny Bill Williams, 26, scored a first round knockout over American Clarence Tillman III at Claudelands Events Centre in Hamilton earning him the New Zealand Professional Boxing Association championship…
Hot Premiere Signing
New Zealander Ryan Nelsen, 34, who led the All Whites at the World Cup in South Africa in 2010, has signed with Tottenham Hotspur. Ryan was released by Blackburn after the club agreed to…
Scouted And Signed
Seventeen-year-old first baseman Pita Rona is the first New Zealander to sign with an American Major League Baseball team. Auckland-born Rona has signed a seven-year deal with the Baltimore Orioles. Rona, who has played…
Latham Takes Gold
Te Awamutu-born Peter Latham, 28, has won the men’s 4000m individual pursuit race at the UCI World Cup event in Beijing. Latham produced a time of 4:25.964 to beat Mitchell Mulhern (4:26.267) from Australia…
Jumping Back On Court
Rotorua-born basketball player Taki Te Koi plays as a senior for California’s Dominican University women’s team and after a torn ligament injury “is ready to put it all out on the court again in…
Sacred Heart Star To Blackburn
Seventeen-year-old Junior All White Aucklander Tim Payne is the second New Zealander, after All White Ryan Nelsen, to join Lancashire Premiere club the Blackburn Rovers. Payne, who is expected to sign his first professional…
Queens Street Firsts
Andrea Hewitt, 29, won the women’s event while Kris Gemmell beat compatriot Bevan Docherty in the men’s race as New Zealanders dominated their home leg of the ITU World Cup triathlon series in Auckland….
Cycle Team Signing Coup
Takaka native Jack Bauer, 24, represents a “signing coup” for CEO Jonathan Vaughters of Boulder-based cycling unit the 2012 Team Garmin-Cervelo. Vaughters went deep into cycling’s hinterland to find a possible star for Europe’s…
Macau’s Straight Shooter
Affectionately known as ‘Machine Gun Rock’, pool player Rocky Lane — former police officer and prosecutor, world record jump shooter, and now resident House Pro at Macau’s Private Party Bar — is…
Galloper From Day One
Young Cambridge trainer Trent Busuttin’s hard work has paid off with Sangster winning the $A1.5 million Victoria Derby at Flemington. Busuttin, who has just turned 32, was almost lost for words when Sangster ($A13)…
Granny a Winning Outsider
The first woman to train a Melbourne Cup winner was New Zealander “Granny” McDonald (centre), who prepared outsider Catalogue in 1938. “Granny” had the eight-year-old under her care for five years. She had prepared…
Smeltz Scores for Perth
All Whites striker Shane Smeltz, 30, has scored his first A-League goals in a Perth Glory FC shirt to take his overall A-League goalscoring tally past 50. The double was enough to hand his…
Omnified for Ninety-Five
New Zealander Nigel Richards has won the World Scrabble Championships, for the second time, in Warsaw, Poland. Richards overcame 116 competitors from 44 countries to eventually defeat Australian Andrew Fisher in the final and…
Swinging Over the Uprights
“You have to love a country that combines two of the greatest sports,” Universal Sports blogger Buzz McClain proclaims. “Rippon Vineyard and Winery is on Lake Wanaka in Central Otago; they make a gorgeous,…
Sprinting for World Cup Status
Top New Zealand road cyclist and seven-time Tour de France veteran Julian Dean, 36, will join new Australian team GreenEDGE for the 2012 season. “With the quality of the team named, I’m confident we’ll…
More Presence than Santa
Warriors cult hero Manu Vatuvei averages more than 70m a game from inside his own half, providing the type of quick play-the-balls that ignite Warriors marches upfield. “ arguably the most powerful man…
Sharing the Medals
Linda Villumsen, cycling for New Zealand, earned silver in the elite women’s race against the clock at the 2011 UCI Road Championships in Copenhagen, while New Zealand cyclist James Oram won a silver medal…
Rock ‘n’ Roll Running
Papakura-born athlete Kim Smith, has broken her personal US all-comers record winning the Rock ‘n’ Roll Philadelphia Half Marathon in 67:10, seven weeks out from the ING New York City Marathon. “I knew I…
Smashing Out a World Record
Rotorua-born Valerie Adams has won shot put gold at the World Championships in Daegu, South Korea hurling a huge 21.24m, a world championship record-equalling throw and Adams’ third successive world shot put title. The…
Roughrider Home to Play
New Zealand basketball player Jordan Hunter, who is currently a sophomore at Missouri’s Crowder College playing at point guard for the Crowder Lady Roughriders, has received and accepted an invitation to play for her…
Big Names Hit Slopes
The world’s largest winter competition, the 1% Pure New Zealand Winter Games, have begun in the Southern Alps with more than 1 winter sports atheletes from over 5 countries participating in the…
Hottest Jockey on the Planet
Nineteen-year-old Cambridge jockey James McDonald is the hottest teenage rider on the planet after a remarkable 12 months of smashing records in New Zealand. McDonald now has his sights on Melbourne’s feature cups double….
Awe-Inspiring Lines in Wanaka
Day two of the 211 World Heli Challenge, held in the Southern Lakes area, from 27 July through 11 August, saw athletes going “huge with awe-inspiring cliff drops that had the spectators…
Californian Upset
New Zealand No 1 Marina Erakovic stunned top-seeded and defending champion Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, 4-6, 7-5, 6-2 at the Stanford Classic in California to reach her second quarterfinal of the year. The 23-year-old…
Winning Ways in Edmonton
Taupo double Olympic medalist Bevan Docherty has won gold at the Edmonton ITU Triathlon World Cup. “This course seems to treat me well. I enjoy racing here,” Docherty said. “But the reality is I…
Podium Regular
Classed as the world’s best freeskier, at just 19 Wanaka-born Jossi Wells has already jumped off more mountains and stood on more podiums than most other sportsmen of his age. Wells excels in slopestyle,…
Shot Putting Machine
Auckland 16-year-old Jacko Gill has smashed his own world youth shot put record by nearly half a metre with a throw of 24.35m at the world youth championships in Lille. Gill had three throws…
Beats Nine-to-Five
Hamilton-born cyclist Brett Tivers has won the Fond du Lac Bicycling Gran Prix Men Pro ½ in Wisconsin, a 9-minute race around the city’s downtown streets. “It’s a good sport,” Tivers said about cycling….
Living His Dream
At the age of 12, Wellingtonian Cole Peverley, who currently plays at midfield for Charleston Battery in South Carolina, travelled to Europe for a youth tournament in 2. He played so well that professional…
Audain’s Professional Legacy
Thirty years ago this month Auckland-born Olympic middle and long distance athlete Anne Audain accepted $1, for winning a 15km race in Oregon, launching a lucrative road-racing career while forever changing the sport of…
Pitching For the Cardinals
Christchurch baseball player Alex Dawson, has been pitching for the midget AAA St. Albert Cardinals team and has already experienced some of the major differences between baseball in New Zealand and Canada….
Master of Sports
Sonny Bill Williams is a jack-of-all-trades when it comes to sports. “SBW,” who has played in both Australia and France, turned down big money offers from other teams to join the New…
Filly Claims Barnstorming Win
“Scarlett Lady gave boom New Zealand apprentice James McDonald his first Group One win in Australia when she came with a barnstorming finish to claim the Queensland Oaks,” reported the Herald Sun. “The…
Landing Airborne Records
Fearless Taupo BMX rider Jed Mildon has landed the world’s first ever triple backflip. A representative of the Guinness Book of Records was on hand to witness and approve the dangerous trick. Mildon sped…
In The Nick of Time
Two-time Olympian triathlete Kris Gemmell from Palmerston North has won his first Memphis in May Olympic Triathlon in one of the closest finishes in the event’s 28-year history. Gemmell finished 61 seconds…
Cricket Star Scales Everest
Former New Zealand wicketkeeper Aucklander Adam Parore has reached the top of Mt Everest. Parore, who represented New Zealand in cricket for more than a decade, climbed the world’s highest mountain to…
