Athletics: Medals may be too much to ask of NZ team

Olympic athletics coach Steve Hollings sighs when the subject of New Zealand glories past is raised - his team is likely to come home without a medal.

New Zealand athletics is in a backwater now after providing 18 Olympic Games medals since 1908, seven more any other sport.

Its golden glory days of Jack Lovelock, Yvette Williams, walker Norman Read, Peter Snell, Murray Halberg and John Walker are unlikely to be reproduced at Sydney.

Gold, silver and bronze don't figure in team calculations, Hollings said.

Ambition No. 1 is to place all nine team members in the top 16, he said.

Asked what he would say to public criticism of setting the sights at that level, Hollings said there had been vast improvements in track and field standards.

Comparisons with the good old days were unfair, he said.

``If you look at the international standard of athletics - the standard that's going to be here - (top 16) is a realistic goal for us to have,'' he said.

``If we can get two or three into the top eight, into finals, that will be a great result for us.''

That quest will be headed by 1997 women's world discus champion Beatrice Faumuina; 1996 Olympic 800m finalist Toni Hodgkinson; long jumper Chantal Brunner, who was ninth at Atlanta; and world class road walker Craig Barrett.

``Those who are the people who have been there before, and those are the people we hope can reproduce the form to be able to be in those positions again,'' Hollings said.

Hodgkinson, Brunner and Barrett are all said to be in great form, but it would take heroic efforts for them to get a medal.

Hodgkinson, strong, smart and reliable, is ranked 14th in the 800m. She will improve with every round. Her kick, previously her weak point, appears much improved. She will run the 1500m as a back up.

Faumuina is ranked 10th this year, with a best throw of 65.41m - more than three metres down on world leader Nicoleta Grasu.

It has been more than three years since the popular Aucklander notched her career best 68.52m. She was fifth last year when defending her world title.

Faumuina has been to the top, and knows what it takes. That is worth so much at the Olympics, where competition is fierce and the meek are crushed.

Barrett was in good form, feeling confident, Hollings said.

His track workouts have drawn applause from American track queen Marion Jones, who is chasing five gold medals in Sydney.

``He's smiling, he's happy with what he's achieved - I think he's in pretty good nick,'' Hollings said.

High jumper Glenn Howard is an international rookie, even given his world ranking of 16. He has also had a foot injury - the last thing you need before taking on the world's best.

Sprinter Chris Donaldson has withdrawn from the 100m to rest a tendon injury. In the 200m, his best event, he is about half a second off the elite when fully fit.

Hammer thrower Tasha Williams and 10,000m man Michael Aish are unknown quantities.

Williams, a former sprinter, was 17th at the World Student Games last year. She was ranked 37th in the world pre-Games.

Aish, 24, is a raw talent who finished 28th at the world junior track and field championship 10,000m, and 50th in the world cross-country this year.

A late addition after failing to qualify, he faces a massive task against the brilliant Kenyans, Moroccans and Ethiopians.

Aish has run 28 minutes 8.46 seconds - the world record is 26min 22.75 sec.

New Zealand record holder Ian Winchester will contest the men's discus. He failed to reach the final at the world championships last year.

Hodgkinson, in the 800m heats, Howard and Aish are first to see action at the massive Olympic Stadium.

They compete on the opening day of athletics, Friday.

- NZPA