Hamish Kerr celebrates winning gold at the Paris Olympics. Photo / Photosport
It’s been a huge year for sport in New Zealand.
In one weekend in October, Team New Zealand took to the water in Barcelona and took home the America’s Cup for the third time in a row, while the White Ferns won the ICC T20 Women’s World Cup final.
There were major wins across the board for the Black Caps, the Silver Ferns and our latest A-League football team, Auckland FC.
But in this major year, there was perhaps no bigger cause for celebration than the Paris Olympics.
Kiwi athletes bagged more gold medals at Paris 2024 than at any other Olympic Games in history.
From the likes of Dame Lisa Carrington and Lydia Ko ensuring their place in the history books, to rising stars like Hamish Kerr, Ellesse Andrews and Finn Butcher, there were plenty of Kiwi sporting heavyweights in action.
With the Games over and the four-year journey to Los Angeles 2028 already beginning for some, in August The Front Page recapped the highs and lows with Newstalk ZB sports reporter and Gold Sport commentator Elliott Smith.
The 2024 Olympics saw sporting highs, as well as heartbreak for some – but no competition garnered more controversy than the women’s boxing.
The inclusion of Algeria’s Imane Khelif and Taiwan’s Lin Yu-Ting sparked a firestorm.
Their involvement was further exacerbated after Italy’s Angela Carini called off her match against Khelif after only a few seconds, prompting outrage online from the likes of Donald Trump, J.K. Rowling, Elon Musk and our own Winston Peters.
The Front Page spoke to University of Waikato professor of sociology in sport and gender, Holly Thorpe, about the controversy and about the role of trans women in sport.
In October, New Zealand’s newest A-League team, Auckland FC, were prepping for their debut against the Brisbane Roar.
At their home ground, Mount Smart Stadium, and in front of a sell-out crowd of nearly 25,000 spectators, the Black Knights defeated the Roar 2-0.
Since then, the team have gone from strength to strength, continuing their unbeaten run with a 2-2 draw in their visit to Melbourne last weekend.
Their debut weekend was also one that drew eyes on to another Kiwi making waves in an international sport setting – Liam Lawson.
The rising Formula One star would make his debut as a fulltime driver for Red Bull’s junior team at the US Grand Prix and is now waiting for an official decision on if that will continue next year with the top team.
The Front Page caught up with Newstalk ZB sports news director, Clay Wilson, and Elliott Smith to talk about these exciting times for Kiwis in sport – and whether it’s the start of our country caring about something other than international rugby.
In October, we witnessed the unbelievable on a different kind of field.
The India men’s cricket team suffered their first series defeat at home since 2012 – at the hands of none other than New Zealand.
The 2-0 loss came when India were bowled out for 245 by the Black Caps in their chase of 359 on the third day of the second test.
They went on to hand India a historic 3-0 series whitewash at home.
The Front Page spoke to the NZ Herald’s online sports editor Alex Powell on what this could mean for cricket in New Zealand.
While many would have guessed the introduction of a new All Blacks coach would have been the biggest shake-up in New Zealand rugby this year, the biggest test was actually happening behind the scenes.
New Zealand Rugby (NZR) has been at loggerheads with the provincial unions about how to reform governance for the country’s most popular sport.
In May, those unions voted against proposed reforms by the NZR board, before an eventual deal was struck in September.
Since then, the applications for director roles closed in October – with hopes these will be the last steps before a long-awaited resolution to a saga that began more than a year ago.
For context on this battle, in April, NZ Herald sports writer Gregor Paul gave The Front Page the rundown about what has led to these games going on in rugby’s boardrooms.
Listen to the full episode to hear everything NZ had to cheer for in sport in 2024.
The Front Page is a daily news podcast from the New Zealand Herald, available to listen to every weekday from 5am. The podcast is presented by Chelsea Daniels, an Auckland-based journalist with a background in world news and crime/justice reporting who joined NZME in 2016.
You can follow the podcast at iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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