Waikato Herald
  • Waikato Herald home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Rural
  • Lifestyle
  • Lotto results

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Lifestyle
  • Lotto results

Locations

  • Hamilton
  • Coromandel & Hauraki
  • Matamata & Piako
  • Cambridge
  • Te Awamutu
  • Tokoroa & South Waikato
  • Taupō & Tūrangi

Weather

  • Thames
  • Hamilton
  • Tokoroa
  • Taumarunui
  • Taupō

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Waikato News / Sport

How Phillipa Gray's life changed after gold

Nikki Preston
Hamilton News·
2 Jan, 2013 11:10 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save
    Share this article
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Phillipa Gray's whole life changed when she won gold at the Paralympics. The visually impaired cyclist has been inundated with speaking requests after her triumphant Games.

As soon as the 23-year-old paralympian arrived back in New Zealand she was sought after for speaking engagements, and the demand hasn't died down.

All of New Zealand wanted to share in her success of winning gold with pilot Laura Thompson after the pair smashed the world record in London in the tandem pursuit qualification ride.

They also won a silver and a bronze medal.

"It's been pretty crazy ... I didn't expect the support from New Zealand either. I didn't expect that once you won a gold medal you became New Zealand's property and there are a lot more expectations of you.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"And it's amazing the people who actually want you to speak or listen to you speak," the visually impaired woman said.

The speaking engagements have taken her around the country including her old school, Turua Primary School near Thames, and addressing the Thames District Council at the launch of their new disability policy.

While staying at her parents' Turua farm in late November/early December, she had 10 speaking engagements in 11 days.Ms Gray said she was a comfortable public speaker and spoke about day-to-day living with a disability.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

But she was always taken aback by the quality of questions some of the young children asked, which included her inspirations, role models, food she ate, as well as how fast she went and if she ever crashed.

Since arriving back from London, she has also become the ambassador for the youth adventure programmes Outward Bound and the Spirit of New Zealand, which involved giving more motivational talks.

During the first few months after her victory, Ms Gray's training also went on the back-burner as she caught up on studies for the second year of her bachelor of therapeutic and sports massage and diploma in sport and exercise at the Southern Institute of Technology in Invercargill.

But by December the young Waikato woman was back training on her wind bike and planning a two-month holiday to Melbourne where she will also train with other cyclists as she sets her sights on breaking further records with her partner at the Road World Cup in the United States in April.

She was also hoping to get sponsorship to purchase a tandem bike, valued at about $15,000, to enable her to train on the road.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"Laura and I are both on individual training programmes so we don't train together that often, so it doesn't really affect what we do.

"We kind of have our own lives and come together when it's time to do business. And we work that in when it suits Laura at the cafe [she runs with her family in the Catlins]."

Ms Gray said she was also keen to compete at the paralympics in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, but was unsure who her pilot would be.

Save
    Share this article

Latest from Sport

Sport

'All the hard work is starting to pay off': Taupō boxer eyes Games spot

04 May 01:00 AM
Sport

Hamilton premier indoor netball season kicks off with new teams, players

01 May 01:42 AM
Sport

‘Deeply saddened': Chiefs assistant's move to Munster called off

30 Apr 08:58 PM

Sponsored

Future of wealth in NZ: A conversation with ASB CEO Vittoria Shortt

03 May 11:20 PM
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Sport

'All the hard work is starting to pay off': Taupō boxer eyes Games spot
Sport

'All the hard work is starting to pay off': Taupō boxer eyes Games spot

Connor Campbell was the only Kiwi to reach the World Boxing Cup quarter-finals in Brazil.

04 May 01:00 AM
Hamilton premier indoor netball season kicks off with new teams, players
Sport

Hamilton premier indoor netball season kicks off with new teams, players

01 May 01:42 AM
‘Deeply saddened': Chiefs assistant's move to Munster called off
Sport

‘Deeply saddened': Chiefs assistant's move to Munster called off

30 Apr 08:58 PM


Future of wealth in NZ: A conversation with ASB CEO Vittoria Shortt
Sponsored

Future of wealth in NZ: A conversation with ASB CEO Vittoria Shortt

03 May 11:20 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Waikato Herald e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Waikato Herald
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • NZME Digital Performance Marketing
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2026 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP