Chris Rattue: Sport's winners and losers - Zoi Sadowski-Synnott is a big breath of fresh air

From left, silver medalist United States's Julia Marino, gold medalist New Zealand's Zoi Sadowski Synnott and bronze medalist Australia's Tess Coady. Photo / AP

OPINION:

Chris Rattue runs through the winners and losers of the past week of sport.

WINNER: Zoi Sadowski-Synnott a big breath of fresh air

Our first Winter Olympic gold medallist epitomises a fresh-faced joy amongst the snow sport competitors.

The other Beijing slopestyle medallists smothered the Wanaka Wonder after her final jump, with silver winner Julia Marino of the USA saying: "She's the one taking the sport to the next level - I'm just happy to be part of it."

Double slopestyle gold medallist Jamie Anderson of the US was a distant ninth and - while naturally upset - was also "genuinely" happy for the pacesetters.

A lot of us - brought up watching brooding and aloof rugby players - still associate sports like snowboarding with recreation rather than the elite sporting endeavours they have become in certain parts of the world.

Anderson reflected this high-level pressure, saying: "I don't want to freaking compete anymore, it's so stressful".

Yet whatever the stress, there's a genuine warmth to these competitors. Their quotes just sound a lot less scripted and more generous than the minuscule amounts of grudging credit given by many of the world's older, usually male, team-sports stars.

Intense, grumpy, vindictive rivalries and no-holds-barred competitiveness have their place, creating great drama.

But it is also very nice to strike something so different.

New Zealand's Zoi Sadowski Synnott celebrates after winning a gold medal in the women's slopestyle at the 2022 Winter Olympics. Photo / AP

Sadowski-Synnott hasn't just won gold. She is now a world star, and one raising the bar.

In her early days, she talked about not feeling pressure during competitions. After winning in Beijing, she admitted to feeling the "weight" of expectation, around winning New Zealand's first ever gold.

It is tougher at the top, but the 20-year-old, already secure in the Kiwi sports pantheon, appears as someone who will never make it seem that way.

LOSERS: Warning signs for Moana Pasifika

Many fears came to the surface as the new Super Rugby side were blasted off the park by the Chiefs in a Tonga fundraiser.

And an All Black great has told me the wider community needs to support them through the tough early times.

The initial omens are not good for this hastily assembled Super Rugby outfit, because inevitable weaknesses will be brutally exposed by well-honed opponents.

It could get worse before it gets better, and any key injuries will be devastating.

I was talking to the Blues legend Keven Mealamu last week, mainly about his new boxing career, but he was happy to chat about the new SR team and also sound something of a warning.

Mealamu, who was chased by Manu Samoa before embarking on his brilliant 132-test All Black career, said: "The Blues will always be my team but I'll definitely be there to support Moana Pasifika.

"It's pretty exciting to finally see a Pacific Islands team in Super Rugby, it gives more people opportunity, for Pacific Island people to play closer to home as well. That's the first awesome thing I see.

"The expectation of them doing well will be high, but some things take time.

"We're going to need to support them, until they can stand on their own two feet in this competition.

"They need the support of the people, not only rugby people... the right support so they can be in this competition for a long time."

LOSERS: Fading NRL club identity

The way the new Brisbane club has been able to raid the Melbourne Storm says a lot about the NRL.

The competition has become a merry-go-round of players and coaches, to the point clubs are losing their identities.

Kiwi brothers Kenny and Jesse Bromwich are among those on the move to Queensland as the amazing Storm continues to be ripped apart.

Coach Craig Bellamy and co. have done incredible things in a league outpost, but they've now been left exposed by an unsophisticated salary cap which has turned the NRL into an unsightly free-for-all.

WINNER: Ai Weiwei's poignant stand

The Chinese artist/activist is making his long-awaited debut in this column.

His lament at the way the Birds Nest Olympic Stadium he optimistically helped design is now in the hands of a Chinese regime which has veered backwards, in an authoritarian direction, was a compelling protest.

Symbolism is so powerful, and the sense of freedom his stadium invoked has become a tragic irony.

But I don't place much store in a lot of the other hand wringing going on, about China's human rights record.

It's a lot of belated fluff designed to make the protestors feel better about themselves.

China turned back down this path a long time ago. Getting all excited a few weeks out from the Games ranks as a token gesture, and a totally pointless one at that.

China will feel even stronger, having seen how weak the opposition is and how easily they could brush it off.

Protest used to mean enduring endeavour and sacrifice. Now it involves a quick blast on Twitter.

LOSERS: Australian cricket's latest mess

If the rumours are correct and successful Aussie coach Justin Langer was forced out by player power, then the lunatics really are running the asylum over there.

And it puts the new coach in a really tough position, of having to look over his shoulder all the time.

LOSER: Wayne Pivac's struggling Welsh

Another winning coach under the gun. Wales won the last Six Nations but they are treading water.

The All Blacks started banging nails in their coffin last year and they were badly outclassed by Ireland in the Six Nations over the weekend.

LOSER/WINNER: Surfing gets Olympic nod as Kiwis fail to rise

Okay. This might seem like a red herring in the afterglow of Sadowski-Synnott's triumph. But why can't New Zealand produce top surfers in a sport which struggles to rise much above its recreational status in this country.

Not that it really matters. It is what it is. But this topic has always been a bit of a Kiwi sports mystery.

Which leads us to (drum roll) American superstar Kelly Slater who keeps on keeping on and has just won the glamour Hawaiian Pipeline a few days before his 50th birthday. Amazing.

Afterwards, Slater said he absolutely loves surfing, and he can absolutely hate it. Many great sports people are obsessive.

WINNER: Curling takes centre stage

The ice rink sport got in early at the Beijing Games, and could be viewed simultaneously on three Sky channels last week in a publicity coup for a Kiwi niche pursuit.

It is a sedate sport that involves a lot of yelling, the trouble being that it's impossible to know what most of the competitors are screaming about given the language barriers.