Carrington ‘most influential’

Lisa Carrington: Named the most influential Maori sports personality of the past 30 years. NZ Herald picture

MAORI SPORT

Double Olympic champion Lisa Carrington says she was grateful to be named the most influential Maori sports personality of the past 30 years.

The London and Rio Games canoeing gold medallist, who has family links to Tairawhiti, was judged No.1 in the final episode of the Maori Sports Awards 30 in 30 show on Maori Television this week.

Carrington took the top honour ahead of 2005 US Open golf champion Michael Campbell (No 2), Oceania footballer of the century Wynton Rufer (3), wood chopping world champon Jason Wynyard (4), Tall Blacks basketball legend Pero Cameron (5), All Blacks great Zinzan Brooke (6), Kiwis and Warriors rugby league hero Stacey Jones (7), three-time rugby World Cup winning captain Farah Palmer (8), NRL superstar Benji Marshall (9) and netball World Cup winning coach Dame Noeline Taurua (10).

Rufer also has Tairawhiti links. His father, Arthur Rufer, arrived in New Zealand from Switzerland in 1957 and married a Ngati Porou woman, Anne Hine Campbell. They lived in Gisborne before settling in Wellington.

New Zealand representative bowler Shannon McIlroy, who made the list at No.30, also comes from this area, and his father and brothers still play for Te Karaka Bowling Club.

Lisa Carrington, in a video clip at the end of the awards show, thanked organisers for the award.

“Congratulations to all the other amazing sports people and administrators that have been recognised,” she said.

“I look forward to the next 30 years of Maori excelling in sport.’’

The 30 in 30 show, made by Mahi Tahi Media, counted down over three episodes the most influential Maori sports people since 1991, when the Maori Sports Awards began.

Sir Tamati Reedy, a kaumatua from the Maori Sports Awards trust, paid tribute on the final show to Albie Pryor’s vision in setting up the awards three decades ago.

The final selections — made by a panel of Maori sports journalists — included Olympians, Paralympians and world champions from various sports, one coach (Taurua) and one administrator (Raelene Castle, Sport New Zealand’s current chief executive).

Fifteen sports were represented on the top 30 list, with seven rugby players included, followed by three each from rugby league and cricket. Netball, football and squash each supplied two list members.

Thirteen women were named in the top 30, with three — Carrington, Palmer and Taurua — in the top 10.

Seventeen iwi were represented.

The 30 in 30 show was created by Mahi Tahi Media’s Te Arahi Maipi in discussions with Maori Sports Awards executive director Dick Garratt after a regular awards night was unable to be held due to the cancellation of international sports events due to Covid-19 travel restrictions.

Double Olympic canoeing champion and winner of seven consecutive world championships titles, Lisa Carrington has won the Maori Sports Personality of the Year award a record six times and its top sportswoman accolade on seven occasions. The Kiwi flagbearer at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games closing ceremony, she is a multiple Halberg Awards sportswoman of the year winner and the 2016 supreme champion. Dual New Zealand international and MP Louisa Wall said of Carrington: “How you win and the grace in how you win’’ is important for sportspeople. “When I think about how Lisa paddles with grace and her movement in the water, it’s beautiful.”

The sportsmen and women ranked from 11 to 30 are —