Only the bad luck gives us any Olympic luck at all

This is no time for excuses.

Not when the cold facts show that our large, well-trained national team are failing to deliver medals (at the usual rate) at a Games being contested in a familiar climate and time zone and before thousands of empathetic Anzac cousins.

In top sport of any kind, the best competitors make their own luck, adapt to what's going on around them and play to the whistle.

Rob, Barbara, Aaron and Mark have shown us how.

But, at the same time, a sorry pattern of misfortune, mishap and misadventure does seem to have made Sydney 2000 the Hard Luck Games for New Zealand.

The bad luck began before the 151-strong team gathered in Sydney and was still running yesterday.

Of the dozen or so events in which New Zealand had medal chances a few weeks ago, around half have been struck by a cruel, invisible hand which has intervened to alter competitors' fates.

In any of these cases more money for training would not have changed the outcomes.

That's sport, and this morning, New Zealand's medal haul is the worst since 1968 in Mexico City.

So here's the list of what's happened in the so-called Lucky Country:

THREE-DAY EVENTING

* Blyth Tait's mount, Chesterfield, died in quarantine in Sydney.

* Tait's second horse and Paul O'Brien's horse failed veterinary inspections and were withdrawn from the team competition when the New Zealand was placed third.

* Burghley champion Andrew Nicholson's two horses were ruled out of the individual competition with injury.

* Mark Todd completed a clear round in the showjumping but ran seconds over time, losing what turned out to be a chance for silver and taking bronze.

CYCLING

* Sarah Ulmer, touted even by America's Sports Illustrated magazine for gold, damaged a muscle. She ended out of the running in the points race and an agonising fourth in the pursuit.

* Susy Pryde caught a virus - which had her being fed through a drip - days before departure, and in Sydney crashed off her bike in both the mountain bike event and yesterday's road races.

* Anthony Peden injured his back and suffered gastroenteritis on the opening weekend. He pulled out of the sprints, and was disqualified in the keiren, the event in which he was second at last year's world championships.

ROWING

* Toni Dunlop, one of the coxless four, caught food poisoning on the eve of the first race and lost several kilograms before the depowered four had rowed a stroke.

YACHTING

* The women's 470 pair fell from likely silver medal winners to 10th after being disqualified for a fractional early start caused by a wave movement

* The men's 49er was capsized by downdraughts from a helicopter.

* Boardsailing bronze medallist Barbara Kendall was haunted throughout by light winds which helped her much lighter opponents.

HOCKEY

* The women's team were robbed of victory against Spain on Monday night by an unfathomable umpiring decision which allowed an equalising goal to be scored.

ATHLETICS

* Chris Donaldson - not a medal contender, but a possible finalist - suffered a leg injury just before the Games and withdrew from first the 100m and this week the 200m.