Dame Lisa Carrington was named Albie Pryor Memorial Māori Sports Person of the Year for the seventh time.
Carrington won three gold medals at the Paris Olympics, bringing her total to nine Olympic medals.
Riki Ellison was inducted into the Māori Sports Hall of Fame at the awards ceremony.
New Zealand’s most successful Olympian, Dame Lisa Carrington, capped off an exceptional year at the 34th Trillian Trust Māori Sports Awards in Mount Maunganui on Saturday night.
The world champion sprint kayaker – affiliated to Te Aitanga-a-Māhaki and Ngāti Porou – was crowned the Albie Pryor Memorial Māori Sports Personof the Year for the seventh time.
The accolade recognises Carrington’s outstanding year in which she claimed three gold medals at the Paris Olympics (K4, K2, K1), taking her total Olympic haul to a staggering nine medals, eight of which are gold.
In October, she became the first New Zealander to win one of the highest honours in the Olympic movement, the Outstanding Sporting Career Award.
A record number of Māori Olympians at Paris 2024 including 10 sportswomen who won gold medals were celebrated at the black-tie event hosted by Te Tohu Taakaro o Aotearoa Charitable Trust at Mercury Baypark Arena.
San Francisco 49er linebacker Riki Ellison #50 was inducted into the Māori Sports Hall of Fame. Photo / George Rose/Getty Images
The first New Zealander to play American football professionally in the United States and the first to win a Super Bowl, Riki Ellison (Ngāi Tahu), was inducted into the Māori Sports Hall of Fame, Te Whare Mātāpuna o te Ao Māori.
International hockey umpire Amber Church (Te Aitanga-a-Māhaki), who officiated at her third consecutive Olympic Games this year, won Māori Sports Umpire/Referee of the Year for the second time.
ACFC's Gordon Glen-Watson.
Auckland City Football Club general manager Gordon Glen-Watson (Ngāpuhi) was crowned Māori Sports Administrator of the Year while Cory Sweeney (Ngāti Whātua ki Kaipara) took out Māori Sports Coach of the Year after leading the New Zealand Women’s Sevens team to a gold medal win at the Paris Olympics.
Māori Para Athlete of the Year is Para va’a specialist Peter Cowan (Ngāti Kahungunu) who won a brilliant bronze medal in the VL3 200m on his Paralympic Games debut this year.
Rugby, rugby league and rugby sevens high achiever Maia Davis (Ngāti Hineuru, Taranaki) was presented with the Junior Māori Sportswoman of the Year title as well as a Māori Education Trust scholarship.
Junior Māori Sportsman of the Year, New Zealand Secondary Schools rugby team captain Charlie Sinton (Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairarapa), also received a Skills Active Aotearoa Māori Sports Awards scholarship.
All Blacks vice-captain and Crusaders veteran Codie Taylor (Muaūpoko, Ngāti Raukawa) was named Senior Māori Sportsman of the Year.
Carrington headed off an elite group of athletes to win Senior Māori Sportswoman of the Year before clinching the supreme award named in honour of the event’s founder, Albie Pryor (Ngāti Awa, Ngāti Rangitihi, Tūhoe).
The Māori Sports Awards’ winners, individual world champions and Olympic gold medallists are:
TE ARATIATIA | Māori Sports Umpire/Referee of the Year
Amber Church (Te Aitanga-a-Māhaki), Tūranganui-a-Kiwa | Gisborne – haupoi | hockey
MĀUI TIKITIKI-Ā-TARANGA | Māori Sports Administrator of the Year
Gordon Glen-Watson (Ngāpuhi), Tāmaki Makaurau | Auckland – poiwhana | football
