Bay of Plenty Times
  • Bay of Plenty Times home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Sport

Locations

  • Coromandel & Hauraki
  • Katikati
  • Tauranga
  • Mount Maunganui
  • Pāpāmoa
  • Te Puke
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Thames
  • Tauranga
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Bay of Plenty Times / Sport

Excitement kicks in for London 2012

Bay of Plenty Times
20 Aug, 2008 09:00 PM4 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.


Ben Hardie and Eleanor Currie will be yelling at their televisions when the Olympic taekwondo programme begins in Beijing today, but it's their opponents who could take the full brunt in London in four years.
The Tauranga/Mount Maunganui fighters have got London 2012 on their minds after scooping black belt titles
at the North Island taekwondo championships at the Mount Sports Centre.
Minus Beijing Olympians Logan Campbell, Matthew Beach and Robyn Cheong, the North Island competition threw together 300 competitors from 18 clubs, with Team Kesi O'Neill (Tauranga-Mount Maunganui) winning 23 golds and the trophy for top club.
Currie, 20, missed out on qualifying for the Athens Olympics in 2004 by 0.5 point.
Needing to make the medal dais at the Asian Championships in Thailand, Currie was an agonising fourth and dipped out.
New Zealand's qualifying path is now through Oceania, giving Currie _ who represented New Zealand between 2000-2007 _ confidence that London in four years is more than just a pipe-dream.
"Ben and I have talked about it and we're determined to get there together," said the 20-year-old former head girl of Te Puke High, now in her final year of a double science degree at Auckland University.
She won the North Island mixed female black belt title, downing Titirangi's Hannah Emson 6-2 in the final, while Hardie won the mixed male black belt final 5-4, from Bay City's Dallas Beneha
Hardie, a 20-year-old apprentice builder, is one of 11 from his club heading to the Australian Open next month in Sydney.
The second dan black belt has been to the world junior championships twice, finishing 13th and 16th, and was fourth in his only previous foray to the Aussie Open.
"I'm going over feeling confident with the way I'm moving.
"There's a few things to tweak but the Aussie competition is always a good, hard few days, and it should give me a decent indication of where I'm at in the sport.
"I'd love to get to the London Olympics but there's a few years to go yet before I need to start worrying about it."
Tauranga-Mount Maunganui Taekwondo results from the North Island champs:
Pattern competition:
Young junior: Male 7-9 years: Gold: Nick Campbell, Silver: Lee Ririnui.
Female 7-9 years: Gold: Breanna O'Neill, Bronze: Star England. Female 10-13 years: Bronze Caitlin Dougherty. Female 14-17 years: Bronze: Amy Stevenson.
Adult male: Gold: Dale Dawkins. Female: Gold: Lynette King, Silver: Erin Barton, Bronze: Elyse Dixon. Black Belts: Gold: Logan Pudney, Silver: Steve O'Neill.
Fighting: Young Junior:
Boys 8-6 under 127cm: Gold: Lee Ririnui, Silver: Robert Stephenson. Boys 8-6 under 129cm: Bronze: Adam Kwiecien.
Boys 8-6 135-139cm: Bronze: Bailey Williams. Boys 8-6 over 160cm: Silver: Paul Harrison. Boys 5-3 135-140cm: Gold: Jamie Kawiti. Boys 2-1 140-150cm: Gold: Tiarn Ririnui.
Girls 8-6 under 130cm: Gold: Teigen Heidkamp. Girls 8-6 140-150cm: Gold: Lily Kwiecien. Girls: 5-3 135-140cm: Silver: Taylah Murray. Girls 2-1 150-160cm: Gold: Danielle Kawiti.
Junior:
Male 8-6 welter: Gold: Troy Stevenson. Male 8-6 light middle: Gold: Logan Fullerton. Male 5-3 mixed: Silver: Ben Zeir. Female 8-6 mixed: Bronze: Hayley Mark. Female 8-6 welter: Gold: Enya Doo. Female 5-3 fly mixed: Silver: Amy Stevenson. Female 2-1 mixed: Gold: Shael Wood.
Male adult: 8-6 welter: Gold: Andrew Johnson. 5-3 mixed: Gold: Christian Thompson. 5-3 heavy: Silver: Anton Jackson. 2-1 welter: Gold: Dale Dawkins.
Male senior: 8-6 heavy: Gold: Barry O'Neill. 8-6 heavy: Gold: Ron Kawiti, Bronze: Robert McGaughey, 5-3 heavy: Silver: Ivan Lloyd.
Female senior 5-3 feather: Bronze: Erin Barton. Male Black Belt mixed: Gold: Ben Hardie. Combined: Silver: Nick Barrett. Welter: Silver: Ralph McLeay. Female Black Belt mixed: Gold: Eleanor Currie, Gold: Nicole Williams.
Trophies:
Best young junior boy: Jamie Kawiti. Best young junior girl: Teigen Heidkamp. Best senior male: Ron Kawiti. Best overall team: Team KO (Tauranga/Mount). Best referee: Logan Pudney.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Save

    Share this article

Latest from Sport

Bay of Plenty Times

Five Steamers players making waves in the Māori All Blacks

03 Jul 10:00 PM
Sport

Weighlifters named NZ Team flag bearers

Bay of Plenty Times

'Biggest summer of cricket' shapes up for Bay Oval

25 Jun 07:00 PM

There’s more to Hawai‘i than beaches and buffets – here’s how to see it differently

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Sport

Five Steamers players making waves in the Māori All Blacks

Five Steamers players making waves in the Māori All Blacks

03 Jul 10:00 PM

The Māori All Blacks face Scotland in Whangārei on Saturday.

Weighlifters named NZ Team flag bearers

Weighlifters named NZ Team flag bearers

'Biggest summer of cricket' shapes up for Bay Oval

'Biggest summer of cricket' shapes up for Bay Oval

25 Jun 07:00 PM
Mount Maunganui's big summer of cricket

Mount Maunganui's big summer of cricket

From early mornings to easy living
sponsored

From early mornings to easy living

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Bay of Plenty Times e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Bay of Plenty Times
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP