In today's headlines with Wilhelmina Shrimpton, supermarkets leave Kiwis out of pocket, five people charged over Matthew Perry death, City Mission food parcels still suspended.
As missions go, the return to the New Zealand Olympic team of chef de mission Nigel Avery seems a piece of cake.
Less than 24 hours after landing at Hawke’s Bay Airport on Wednesday, after being the man in charge of New Zealand’s complement of more than 400athletes and officials in France, he was back in the day-job as a mortgage broker.
All in a day’s work for a man who has spent almost 56 years in sport from, running, jumping and throwing as a kid in athletics, to almost making the 1996 Olympic games in a New Zealand bobsleigh team, to winning five Commonwealth Games weightlifting medals, including two golds, and competing in Olympic Games weightlifting.
Having also embarked on high-performance management, he was a natural fit for the job of chef de mission, succeeding champion rower Rob Waddell who had held the job for the 2014 and 2018 Commonwealth Games and the Olympics in 2016 and 2021.
Nigel Avery back in Hastings, less than 24 hours after returning from the Paris Olympic Games, where he was chef de mission for the New Zealand team. Photo / Doug Laing.
With a debrief still to come, there’s no hint of ruling out the job again in Los Angeles in 2028, even with the possibility, that with the addition of cricket, squash and other aspects, the size of the New Zealand team could grow another 20 per cent to more than 250 competitors.
Avery is now well established in Hawke’s Bay, where he moved in 2008 as father Sir Graeme Avery grew the Silent Estate vineyards and winery at Bridge Pa (of which Nigel Avery became CEO), an association that has led to the development of the Hawke’s Bay Community Fitness Centre, high-performance centre and regional aquatic centre in Hastings.
Nigel Avery, NZ Team Chef de Mission, at the New Zealand House Flagbearer naming and ceremony in Paris. Photo / Steve McArthur / www.photosport.nz
Hawke’s Bay had (a probable record) eight athletes at the games, with the best outcomes being Emma Twigg’s single sculls rowing silver medal and Aimee Fisher’s fourth placing behind gold-medal winning teammate Lisa Carrington in the women’s K100 women’s canoe sprint.
Avery, whose wife Shelley and daughters Blaise, Hunter and Neve were all in Paris, says that, with more than 50 staff to assist, along with the individual coaching and managing of the sports, it was about pulling the different backgrounds together to create a team culture.
Possibly the most pleasing aspect was the team’s embracing of the culture. Avery said there were many who felt it contributed to New Zealand’s 20 medals, including 10 gold, and international media crowning the Kiwis “the” team of the games.
Meanwhile, Avery has some title-winning to think about closer to home. Daughter Hunter was in a Havelock North High School’s 4x100m relay team that he coached to win the Junior national secondary schools title last year, and is the basis of the team he hopes can win the Senior title this year.
As for mixing Olympic team duties and running a mortgage business, he reckons they’re the same, all about helping people achieve their goals, and the enjoyment of helping get them over the line.
