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Friday, April 20, 2012

LONDON 2012 - Medal Hopes for New Zealand : The Assessment

The 2012 Olympics are now under 100 days away and athletes worldwide are heating up their preparations, scrapping away to find the performance that will get them to London this year.

Several sides have already been named to represent New Zealand in their respective sport while others remain to be confirmed.

So who are our best medal chances?

Here is a look at New Zealand's best chances of bringing back medals from London this year.

Triathlon
I think triathlon should be one of New Zealand's strongest sports at the Olympics and best chance of winning medals on the day. New Zealand have named quite a decent squad with Bevan Docherty at his 3rd Olympics looking to make it a complete trio after his silver and bronze in the last 2 Olympics, and Kris Gemmell and Andrea Hewitt currently at the top of their games. Kate McIlroy could also be a contender on her day but her form has been patchy to say the least - nevertheless, the Olympics tend to bring out the best in athletes on the day.

Athletics
Valerie Adams has got to be a shoe-in for a medal surely barring a disastrous turn of events on the night. She appears to have found her dominant form just at the right time and will make it an intriguing battle between herself and her Belarussian counterpart in the shotput throw. It's a shame Jacko Gill isn't at the Olympics this time although he was probably a few years away from being a serious medal contender. On the track, Nick Willis is still gunning for gold in New Zealand's beloved 1500m but with age and injuries, but one wonders if he is at best an outside chance. Likewise, Nikki Hamblin, NZ's bronze medalist in Delhi, who hasn't quite found her form yet and is struggling to race to Olympic standard at the moment.


Cycling 
This is undoubtedly one of New Zealand's form sports right at the moment but in terms of medal chances, this may be a hard ask as there are plenty of good nations competing here including the home nation, Great Britain who will be targeting world domination after an amazing Olympics in the velodrome last time out. Simon van Velthooven and the sprinters have been competitive this year against the world's best and could be our best chances. But New Zealand's chances of winning medals in the velodrome may be hit by the curtailment of some of our strongest events including the individual pursuit where Dunedin's Alison Shanks has been world champ.


Swimming
Like cycling, New Zealand probably has never had it better in the pool but again it is up against some very good nations, especially old rivals, Australia and the always-dominant Americans. National records are up for grabs here although lesser medals could be up for grabs particularly amongst the women who have shown excellent form. Could be a surprise. 



Hockey
The Black Sticks men and women have shown excellent form in the last couple of years and are in their strongest form. This could be an excellent Olympics for the sport and we could possibly see a return to the glory days of the 1980s. I'm going to make a big call on this one and say we may win bronze here. 







Rowing   
New Zealand's strongest Olympics sport and one where we expect to do reasonably well. In Hamish Bond and Eric Murray, we've got the strongest rowing pair at the moment and the women aren't far off either. I think we can expect a gold here and a couple of supporting medals even against the Brits who as in cycling will be targeting world domination here. 




Sailing
Hard to say with this one. New Zealand have had glorious moments with the sails but gold medallist, Tom Ashley isn't going to be defending his title this time. It's a bit of an unknown sport too.














Equestrian 
Another sport where New Zealand has had past glory but where results have been rather fallow in recent times. 2008 was disastrous for the Kiwi horses and they'll be looking for a much better performance this time round. Mark Todd may be past his best but could still pull off a surprise here.

More to come as the games draw closer..

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