Hockey: Oh baby, Rio's history

Emily Gaddum is out of the Black Sticks women's equation to Rio next month because she's pregnant.

Emily Gaddum, you could argue, is levitating at a level that comfortably transcends anything a podium at Rio could possibly offer from early next month.

A hope of a maiden Olympic Games medal in one hand and the impending arrival of a bundle of joy - Gaddum's first child is due in January - in the other.

No points for guessing what took the mental anguish out of the decision for the country's most-capped Black Sticks defender (274 tests), after Hockey New Zealand yesterday officially released the names of 16 players going to Rio as well as declaring Gaddum's unavailability due to her pregnancy.

Sure, there's a tinge of disappointment in missing out on her fourth Olympics but the New Zealand women's hockey representative from Hawke's Bay isn't blaming anything on Rio.

"It's a shame I'm going to miss Rio but it's all exciting news with the baby," the 30-year-old said yesterday, soon after finishing another session at another Hawke's Bay school, Richmond School in Napier, spreading the gospel according to the Olympics as hockey ambassador of the games.

"Obviously, the news has sunk in because I've known it for a while," said Gaddum who informed "a selected few people" about her pregnancy just before the Black Sticks embarked on their tour of London for the six-nation FIH Champions Trophy early last month. She had withdrawn from the trophy trip after a recurrence of a back injury while competing in a four-nation International Hockey Open in Darwin in May.

"In Darwin, my old back injury started playing up, so I guess my body's trying to tell me something," said Gaddum who had planned to make Rio her "last hurrah, because I've been going for quite a while now".

Gaddum (nee Naylor), who arrived in the Bay from Palmerston North in 2012, got married to Bay deer farmer Harry Gaddum in Taupo in February this year. The couple have since moved from the Keruru farm to build a new home on the outskirts of Havelock North.

She reconciles the missed opportunity at Rio with having competed at three other previous Olympics, culminating with the agony of just missing out on bronze at the 2012 London Games.

"I'm a bit disappointed but very excited about my new journey now."

So is it a boy or girl?

"I think Harry and I both want it to be a surprise in January," she said.

The Central Mysticks player had informed her parents, Sarah and Brian, and siblings of her pregnancy and they were over the moon although she was mindful of the danger Zika virus posed in Rio.

"I guess it was on the back of my mind but I also knew the NZ Olympic Committee were doing everything around it to ensure we were going to be fine."

However, Gaddum was adamant that the threat of the virus would not have been a deterrent had she not got pregnant, although reading and watching items on Zika in the media were unsettling.

"I'm fine about everything now," she said, happy to end any speculation she might have been in "poor form".

The 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games bronze medallist is delighted with the team coach Mark Hager named yesterday. "We have a strong 16 so we have real chance of going all the way to winning a gold medal."

The Black Sticks have Kayla Whitelock back as captain. Whitelock, a childhood friend, was her bridesmaid in a reciprocal gesture after Gaddum had done the same.

"I'll be right behind the team and follow them all the way so it's exciting times ahead."