Wellington, NZ (22 January 2010) - The New Zealand Olympic Committee has named the first members of its team to the Vancouver Olympic Winter Games. Ten athletes across five sports have been named with the snowboard team yet to be announced.
Among those named today are first time Olympians Mitchey Greig (21, Freeski), Tim Café (22, Alpine Ski) and Ben Koons (23, Cross-Country Ski). These young athletes will join the team alongside the more experienced Olympian Ben Sandford who finished tenth in Skeleton at Torino 2006.
In addition, Sarah Murphy has been selected as New Zealand’s first Olympic biathlete pending confirmation of a quota spot from the International Federation.
Chef de Mission to Vancouver, Peter Wardell is delighted to have the first members of the squad named. “With just 22 days until the Opening Ceremony, it certainly has been a nerve wracking wait for the athletes. They have maintained intense training and competition schedules and now can focus on what lies ahead. I’m delighted to welcome the athletes to the team. We’ve raised the bar and I know they’ll step up and make us proud. We’re looking forward to additional announcements next week.”
New Zealand Olympic Selector and Secretary General Barry Maister also welcomed the athletes to the team and said that strategies around high performance in Winter Sport are paying off. “There has been an increased focus on Winter Sports in New Zealand and the NZOC has supported this with the distribution of Olympic Solidarity scholarships to the athletes to the value of $330,000, seed funding of the 2009 Winter Games NZ and ongoing financial support for the Winter Performance Programme (WPP). We’re positive that the combined efforts of the NZOC, NZAS, SPARC and the WPP will lead to improved Olympic performances at Vancouver and then on to Sochi 2014. ”
The athletes are currently based in the Northern Hemisphere. They will come into one of two Olympic Villages situated in Whistler and Vancouver ahead of the Opening Ceremony on the 12th of February. The Olympic Winter Games close on the 28th of February.
New Zealand first took part in a Winter Olympic Games in 1952 in Oslo with a team of five athletes. Since then, New Zealand has had 72 winter Olympians and one winter medallist – Annelise Coberger who took silver in the slalom in 1992 at Albertville. New Zealand’s next best results were two fourths in short-track skating (relay team and individual) at Albertville in 1992, 8th in short-track skating in Lillehammer in 1994 and a 10th in the skeleton at Torino.
Of the 1111 named New Zealand Olympians fewer than 7% have earned this coveted title at winter games. New Zealand’s newest Olympians will be numbered on their return to New Zealand from 1112 upwards.
Team List
Cross Country Skiing
Ben Koons (23, Dunedin (lives in Maine, US)
Katie Calder (29, Tauranga (born in Canberra)
Skeleton
Tionette Stoddard (35, Dunedin)
Iain Roberts (30, Edinburgh, Scotland)
Ben Sandford (30, Rotorua, 10th Torino 2006)
Skating
Blake Skjellerup (Short Track, 24, Christchurch)
Shane Dobbin (Speed Skating, 30, Palmerston North – 2 x World Champion in-line skating)
Freeski
Michelle Greig (Mitchey) (21, Queenstown)
Alpine Ski
Tim Cafe (22, Queenstown)
Ben Griffin (23, Ohakune)
Confirmed Pending Quota Spots Being offered by the IF
Sarah Murphy (21, Banff Canada and Cadrona)
Still to be named
Snowboard - pending final competition and confirmation of quota spots by IF.
Article care of Snowsports NZ
Labels: VanOC Olympics Vancouver New Zealand
