Hawke's Bay's Olympians at Paris 2024 clockwise from top left, Hamish Legarth, Sean Findlay, Aimee Fisher, Dominic Dixon, Geordie Beamish, Tom Mackintosh, Peter Cowan (Paralympian), Emma Twigg. Photos / Photosport, NZME
Hawke’s Bay will get plenty of opportunity to cheer its Olympics hopefuls in the 2024 games starting Paris on Friday, with genuine prospects of top six placings and even medals to emulate the feats of past champions from the region.
In an era where most hopefuls have moved elsewhere to progress their dreams, at least seven members of the New Zealand team of 197 and at least one Paralympian still call the Bay home.
The Kiwi team will compete across 22 sports for the July 26-August 11 Olympic Games followed by the Paralympics on August 28-September 8.
The Hawke’s Bay contingent is headed by rowing’s golden single sculls pair - 2020 Tokyo Olympics women’s champion Emma Twigg, and men’s prospect Tom Mackintosh, a member of New Zealand’s gold medal eight at Tokyo.
Canoe sprinter Aimee Fisher’s clash with New Zealand teammate Dame Lisa Carrington in the K1 500 is shaping as a games highlight in the water, and she also has prospects in the K2 500 with Dunedin paddler Lucy Matehaere.
Then there’s men’s 3000 metres steeplechase chance George (Geordie) Beamish, raised in Hawke’s Bay but later a boarder at Whanganui Collegiate.
The Black Sticks men’s hockey team has a big Hawke’s Bay flavour with coach Greg Nicol and assistant and former long-serving player Shea McAleese, goalie Dominic Dixon and midfielder Sean Findlay.
They’re medal hopes after winning the recent Nations Cup, for teams ranked 9-16.
Another Hawke’s Bay hopeful is second sprint canoe racer, the 2022 and 2023 Waikato University Sportsman of the Year Hamish Legarth, a K2 and K4 crew member.
The five gold medals won by people from Hawke’s Bay at the Olympic Games have all been won by rowers - Keith Trask in the gold medal men’s coxless four in Los Angeles in 1984, Caroline and Georgina Evers-Swindell in the women’s double sculls gold in both Athens in 2004 and Beijing in 2008, and the Tokyo games double of Twigg’s single sculls and Mackintosh in the eight.
The only other Olympic Games medalist from Hawke’s Bay has been cyclist Westley Gough, who claimed bronze with the men’s pursuit team in London in 2012.
There was a unique close affinity with Hawke’s Bay when Australian Jai Taurima scored a surprise long jump silver medal at the 2000 games in Sydney.
In the Paralympic team is Peter Cowan, a para canoe competitor who lost a leg after a collision with a car while cycling in triathlon training in 2010.
The man in charge of the Olympic team (Chef de Mission) is Hawke’s Bay-based Nigel Avery, originally from Auckland and a winner of five Commonwealth Games weightlifting medals, including two golds.
Meanwhile, Hawke’s Bay rugby referee and former Basketball Hawke’s Bay general manager Nick Hogan will referee in the Sevens.
Hawke’s Bay members of the New Zealand teams, with dates and times for the stages of their events, are:
Athletics:
George (Geordie) Beamish – Men’s 3000 metres steeplechase.
27yrs, Lindisfarne College/Whanganui Collegiate.
August 6: 5.05am, Round 1.
August 8: 7.40am, Final.
Canoe Sprint:
Aimee Fisher - K1 500, K2 500 (with Lucy Matehaere, of Dunedin).
29yrs, Karamu High School.
August 6: 10.10pm, K2 500, Heats.
August 7: 12.10am, K2 500, quarter-finals; 7.30pm, KI 500, Heats; 11.30pm, K1 500, quarterfinals.
August 9: 8.30pm, K2 500, semifinals; 11pm, K2 500, Finals.
August 10: 8.30pm, K1 500, semifinals; 10.40pm, K1 500 Finals.
Hamish Legarth - K2 500 (with Kurtis Imrie, of Wellington), K4 500 (with Imrie, Max Brown, of Whanganui, Grant Clancy, of Auckland).
24yrs, Havelock North High School.
August 6: 7.30pm, K4, Heats; 9.30pm, K2 500, Heats; 9.10pm, K4, quarter-finals
August 7: 12.30am, K2 500, quarterfinals
August 8: 9.50pm, K4, semifinals; 11.50pm, K4, Final.
August 9: 9.10pm, K2 500, semifinals; 11.20pm, K2 500, Finals.
Hockey:
Greg Nicol (coach)
Shea McAleese (assistant coach)
Dominic Dixon (goalkeeper)
27yrs, Napier Boys’ High School.
Sean Findlay (midfield)
27yrs, Taradale High School
July 28, 3.30am, New Zealand v India.
July 29, 3.30am, New Zealand v Belgium.
July 31: 3am, New Zealand v Argentina.
August 1, 8.30pm, New Zealand v Australia.
August 3: 3am, New Zealand v Ireland.
August 4: 8pm and 10.30pm, Men’s Quarter-finals.
August 5: 3.30am and 6am, Men’s Quarter-finals.
August 7: 12.00am and 5am, Men’s Semifinals.
August 9: 12.00am, Bronze Medal Match; 5am, Gold Medal Match.
Rowing:
Emma Twigg – Women’s single sculls
37yrs, Napier Girls’ High School
July 27: 7pm, Heats.
July 28: 7pm, Repechages.
July 30: 7.30pm, Quarter-Finals.
August 1: 7.30pm, Semifinals.
August 3: 8.18pm, Final.
Tom Mackintosh – Men’s single sculls
27yrs, Lindisfarne College
July 27: 8.12pm, Heats.
July 28: 7.36pm, Repechages.
July 30: 8.10pm, Quarter-Finals.
August 1: 7.50pm, SemiFinals.
August 3: 8.30pm, Final.
Para Canoe:
Peter Cowan – Men’s Va’a Vl3 200 Single.
29yrs, Hastings Boys’ High School.
September 6: 10.05pm, Heats.
September 8: 8.56pm, semifinals; 10.25pm, Finals.
Doug Laing is a senior reporter based in Napier with Hawke’s Bay Today, and has 51 years of journalism experience, 40 of them in Hawke’s Bay, in news gathering, including breaking news, sports, local events, issues, and personalities.