KEY POINTS:
One of the great things about sport is that another game, race or tournament is never far away. Atonement lies just around the corner. Yesterday's failure can be today's success. So it was for several of the New Zealand sportsmen and women who made 2008 a year to
celebrate. The Kiwis, champions of the rugby league world, rowing Olympic gold medallists Caroline and Georgina Evers-Swindell and the All Blacks proved the doubters wrong in the most compelling manner. And their victories were all the sweeter for that.
The most astounding feat was undoubtedly that of the Kiwis. To claim the World Cup by beating Australia on their own soil was, at the best of times, the stuff of dreams. But this was a team without some leading players and under the tutelage of a novice coach, albeit that Stephen Kearney was supported by Australian taskmaster Wayne Bennett. In terms of surprise, the outcome has been likened to the All Blacks' defeat in a 2007 World Cup quarter-final. So has the reaction of the loser. But only the result bears comparison.
Ricky Stuart, the Australian coach, took the setback in a particularly ugly manner, most notably when he shoved and abused the referee on the morning after the match. Unsurprisingly, he was gone from the job soon after. There had been no such reaction from the All Black management. As much was recognised during the year when coach Graham Henry won a top international fair play award for his dignified conduct after the quarter-final loss.
His demeanour was tested even further during a fraught re-selection process, which ended with his rival, Robbie Deans, heading off to coach the Wallabies. But Henry emerged triumphant when a rebuilt All Black side swept all before it, claiming the Tri-Nations championship and achieving a Grand Slam in the British Isles. Only a World Cup victory in Auckland in 2011 can top that sweeping success.
Henry was fortunate to be able to call on a production line of rugby talent that shows little sign of fraying. But the Evers-Swindell twins had only their own resources to call upon to defend their Olympic double-scull title. In the lead-up to Beijing, they struggled. Their response was to draw the wagons around them. It worked. At the Olympics, they summoned up one final commanding performance, winning gold by the slimmest of margins.
The sheer drama of their win, plus its unexpected nature, gave it a special glow. But there was also much to admire in the gold-medal triumphs of shot putter Valerie Vili and board sailor Tom Ashley, as well as the cycling medals won by Hayden Roulston and New Zealand's return to the 1500m medals dais, thanks to Nick Willis. All in all, the Olympics lived up to this country's expectations, while American swimmer Michael Phelps' eight goal medals and
Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt won the international plaudits.
The New Zealander who won worldwide recognition, if not on quite the same scale, was motor racing's Scott Dixon. The Indy 500 remains one of the world's great races, and the 28-year-old Aucklander produced the sort of copybook drive needed to win it. He then added a second Indy Racing League title for good measure. New Zealand sporting success in the United States did not stop there. Danny Lee became the world's top-ranked amateur golfer when he won the US amateur title. A successful professional career beckons.
That career will undoubtedly have its share of lows. Lee will have to fight his way out of these. Collectively, the Black Caps are having to do the same thing, following a wretched conclusion to John Bracewell's coaching stint. There is, however, no shortage of inspiration for their task. Just look at the Kiwis. Or the Evers-Swindells. Or the All Blacks.