Ivan Keats thought he was on to a winner.
Buoyed by walking into the opening ceremony at the 1964 Tokyo Games, he went out on to the Olympic track later that night and almost left scorch marks on the cinder.
"Walking into that Olympic Stadium alongside the likes of Murray Halberg and
Peter Snell for the opening ceremony is something that will stay with me always - just magic," the pint-sized marathoner said.
"I went back to the stadium some hours after the ceremony had finished to do a six mile time trial and did my fastest time ever; I guess riding on the euphoria from having walked into such a huge emotional cauldron."
But the wave of emotion carrying the former Aucklander had dissipated by the time the marathon rolled around and Keats' time - 2hrs36min - was painfully slow by his standards.
"I'd run 2:18 to qualify and would have expected to be in the 2:20 to 2:25 range at worst, but I think all three New Zealanders struggled with the smog. Bekele, who won, ran above himself but most of the rest of us didn't go so well.
"Part of my problem was that I'd overtrained. I'd been doing 100 miles a week, but it wasn't the distance that got me but the effort."
Keats, 72, was one of 40 Olympians from Bay of Plenty recognised at a function last night at Tauranga's Sebel Trinity Wharf hotel. He was presented with a uniquely numbered pin and commemorative certificate signed by IOC president Jacques Rogge.
Last year's Beijing Olympics marked 100 years of New Zealand Olympic history and saw our 1000th Olympian to wear the silver fern.
With 1111 athletes having represented the country in summer or winter games, the New Zealand Olympic Committee is honouring each of them at a series of functions throughout the country on or around Olympic Day, which was yesterday.
Keats, now retired at Athenree, is Olympian No 184 and ran his last marathon in 1985 in Rotorua. "I must have run well over 100 marathons competitively over the years but I was 48 at that stage and it was a case of going out and having a run and enjoying myself.
"I remember it being a bitterly cold day and not being in particularly good shape, which was reflected in my finish time of 3:07. It was the first time I'd run slower than three hours and I said then and there: "that's it."
The huge spread of Bay Olympians honoured last night ranged from Val Dillimore, who became Olympian No60 when she attended the 1960 Rome Games, through to flatwater kayaker Mike Walker, who became No1100 in Beijing.
Dillimore (nee Morgan) went to the 1960 Rome Olympics as a 15-year-old - the second-youngest New Zealand Olympian ever behind swimmer Rebecca Perrott.
Dillimore ran the 100 and 200 yards in Rome in a team featuring just four women and wishes now she'd been older. "I was barely into my teens and was from a small town and so frightfully shy, and once we'd got to Rome after a few days of travelling everything was so huge and daunting."
Dillimore, daughter of former Kiwi rugby league international Edgar Morgan, was in esteemed athletic company, with Murray Halberg winning the 5000m gold and Peter Snell the 800m.
She was selected as a Category B athlete, meaning she could compete if she paid her own way. "I don't remember the exact amount but it was a lot of money, but Waihi and the wider Thames Valley region just rallied behind me. I kept training while the whole region set about raising the money to get me to the Olympics."
Dillimore's genetics have been passed down, with her oldest daughter Carlene competing in the 400m at the Commonwealth Games and another, Robyn, playing seven years for the Silver Ferns.
Dillimore raced for another five years after Rome before hanging up her spikes. "I moved to Auckland to compete for a while before coming home to Waihi, marrying and starting a family. All the kids my age in Waihi were having fun, but not me."
DID YOU KNOW?
- The most medals won by New Zealand at an Olympics was 13 in Seoul (1988), followed by 11 at the 1984 Los Angeles Games.
- The first New Zealanders to compete in six Olympics were equestrians Mark Todd and Andrew Nicholson.Our only Winter Olympics medal was Annelise Coberger's slalom silver in Albertville 1992.
- More medals have been won by New Zealanders sitting down (53) than standing up (37).
- Our youngest competitor was Rebecca
Perrott, who was 15 years 29 days when she finished 4th in the 400m freestyle at the Montreal Olympics. The oldest was 56-year-old yachtie William Swinnerton (Melbourne 1956).