Terry Maddaford: Team players have really done us proud

Forget for one minute that Caroline and Georgina Evers-Swindell are a team - in the context of the Halberg Awards at least - and look at other team events in Athens.

Team sports are often maligned and many question their place at the Olympics, but they have hardly, with the odd exception, done much for New Zealanders in the Olympic arena and expectations were, in most quarters, much the same this time.

First-up losses for the men's and women's basketball and hockey teams did nothing to suggest there would be anything for New Zealand fans to get enthusiastic about.

But day by day, and with the gloom merchants lamenting New Zealand's lack of success in the Greek capital, it has been the teams who have turned that around.

Only the Black Sticks have done nothing. Three losses in their opening three games without scoring a goal was a shocking return for a team who have been given every support.

Their basketball counterparts were seen as everybody's whipping boy and girls, and the women's hiding by the polished Americans did nothing to change that. Bouncing back to beat the Koreans by eight still failed to excite many, including deposed Breakers coach Jeff Green. Another hiding this time by Spain had the gloaters gloating.

But now even they have shut up, accepting that the Tall Ferns' place in the quarterfinals far exceeds even the most optimistic predictions.

And the Tall Blacks stepped up too. Bad luck, and a couple of lapses in concentration, cost the Pero Cameron-led team against Italy. They also just failed against China but then came back with what must still rate as one of the biggest upsets in any sport at these games, beating the nearly full-strength world champions, Serbia and Montenegro.

That nail-biting 90-87 triumph showed Tab Baldwin's lot can foot it with the best. Even in the loss to Argentina they were in it until the end and showed enough to suggest they can beat Spain in their final pool match tonight and book their place in the top eight.

The men's hockey team, stung by Ryan Archibald's absence and an initial 4-1 humbling by Australia, turned in an epic against the world No 2, the Netherlands, in a classic in which a couple of umpiring decisions played a vital part in their 4-3 loss.

They hit back to beat Argentina 3-1 and then, in a classic match, Simon Towns celebrated his 200th international appearance by leading his side to an amazing 2-1 win over many-times Olympic champions India, which sadly, later proved not enough to earn them a shot at the medals.

If nothing else, the efforts by the two basketball teams and the men's hockey team have brought a host of barely recognisable New Zealand sportsmen and women into the public eye.

The collective team effort in Athens might, in the end, come up empty in terms of medals won, but these teams will not be judged on that alone.

Our men and women have shown enough to justify their selection and - more importantly at a time of some ordinary efforts by those rated better prospects - have injected some well-deserved interest in sports that do not always get the profile they deserve.