Irish Coaching Role for Smith
New Zealander Darren Smith has been named the new Ireland women’s hockey national coach. Napier-born Smith, 39, takes up the role following six years as assistant coach to the New Zealand men’s team who…
News of New Zealanders via Global Media
Diamond Blacks Qualify
“Starved of funding, given little public attention, and overshadowed by a more popular close cousin, baseball has had it rough in New Zealand, the sport’s chief executive Ryan Flynn concedes. But all that could…
Wildcat Spark Plug
Hawkes Bay basketball player Everard Bartlett, 26, is fast establishing a reputation as Perth’s spark plug, emerging as yet another scoring weapon for the Wildcats as it looks to build on an impressive 3-0…
Epic Story About Epic Men
A new book about New Zealander Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay’s ascent of Mt Everest “is one of courage, perseverance and jingoism”, author Justin Cartwright writes for The Observer. “Mick Conefrey’s moving book…
Bevin’s Got Great Legs
New Zealand cyclists Patrick Bevin and Logan Hutchins have taken first and second places respectively in the inaugural Thompson Bucks County Classic professional bicycle race in Pennsylvania. Finishing 1-2 with Hutchins was a special…
Charming Sport Over Ice
“Here at Naseby, a seriously small town in Central Otago region, I meet Sean Becker, a former Olympic curling representative and current member of the New Zealand men’s team, his father, Peter Becker, and…
Giant Impresses
New Zealander Steven Adams, 19, “just may be one of the most intriguing players in college basketball this season, not to mention one of the most physically impressive at 7-foot, 250 pounds,” ESPN senior…
Three Medals for Sophie
19-year-old Christchurch swimming star Sophie Pascoe broke a world record and took three medals in the pool at the London Paralympics, two golds and a silver. Pascoe’s first gold saw her set a new…
Multi-tasking on Court
New Zealand point guard Tai Webster has committed to studying and playing at the University of Nebraska. Webster, at 17 years old, is a rising star, having become the youngest player to ever make…
Valerie Achieves Olympic Goal
Valerie Adams has had her silver Olympic medal upgraded to gold after rival Nadzeya Ostapchuk of Belarus had failed a drug test. Ostapchuk’s disqualification means Adams is now the holder of back-to-back Olympic golds…
Olympic BMX Dream Comes True
BMX rider Sarah Walker, 24, has won an Olympic silver medal for New Zealand. Walker, who is from Kawerau, finished fourth over the three-race semi-final to win her place in the final. She barely…
Backcountry Kicks
“Imagine a contest where a helicopter lifts you to the highest peaks in Mount Aspiring National Park, and for two days, you get to ski powder, cliffs, and backcountry kickers,” Megan Michelson writes for…
Lapping Up the Medals
New Zealand supporters in London have been enjoying the unusual experience of being ahead in Olympic medals over Australia. At Kiwi House Jessica Middleton, 24, wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with the colours of the…
Induction into Hall of Fame
Three-time Olympic gold medallist Opunake-born Peter Snell will be among the 24 inaugural members of the International Association of Athletics Federation’s (IAAF) Hall of Fame. Snell won the 800m at the 1960 Olympics and…
Room for Manoeuvre
Silver Ferns coach Waimarama Taumaunu is calling for youngsters to make a statement and secure a spot for the international season at the start of the team’s four-year cycle. Taumaunu, 49, has acknowledged inexperience…
Win Over Rivals in London
The Black Sticks have beaten Australia at the London Olympics 1-0 in the opening game of the women’s hockey tournament, a first win over their rivals in Games history. The Black Sticks rode on…
Netball Days Continue in US
New Zealander Shallyn Reeves captained the first American national netball team at the World University Netball Championships in South Africa this month. When Reeves finished high school in New Zealand and decided to continue…
Triumphant in Sydney Debut
Eighteen-year-old Pukekohe jockey Alysha Collett took on the big boys of the Sydney racing scene at Rosehill and emerged triumphant riding the Australian-trained Matiya’s Pride. Collett was invited to Australia by Sydney’s premier trainer…
Hopes for Gold at Olympic Stadium
Like many of the more than 40 Olympians with Michigan ties who’ll compete during the next few weeks at the London Games, New Zealander Nick Willis — who represented the University of Michigan in…
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…
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…
