Hawke’s Bay’s small but immensely talented Olympic contingent heads to Paris with real medal-winning prospects.
Eight Hawke’s Bay athletes will compete at the games: rowers Emma Twigg and Tom Mackintosh, kayakers Aimee Fisher and Hamish Legarth, middle-distance runner George Beamish, hockey players Dominic Dixon and Sean Findlay, and paddler Peter Cowan (Paralympian).
All up New Zealand is sending 195 athletes to the 2024 Olympic Games, which start next week, few of whom boast a better chance of winning gold than Twigg and Mackintosh.
Twigg is the defending champion in the women’s single sculls, after winning in Tokyo in 2021, while Mackintosh is the world’s third-ranked men’s single sculler. Mackintosh also won gold in Tokyo, as part of New Zealand’s men’s eight crew.
Fisher, a former world champion, will race in the K1-500 and K2-500 in Paris. She finished fifth in the K1-500 at the Rio Olympics in 2026. Fellow New Zealander Lisa Carrington is the defending champion in both the events Fisher is competing in. New Zealand has qualified two boats on the K2-500, meaning Fisher and Carrington will be racing against one another.
Legarth, meanwhile, is competing in his first Olympic Games and will contest the men’s K2-500 and K4-500. For the uninitiated, K1 means a single boat, K2 a pair and K4 a four.
Beamish could have run three events at these Olympics, but is only lining up in the men’s 3000-metre steeplechase. Gold medalist in the 1500-metres at the World Indoor Championships in March, Beamish also qualified for Paris in the 5000-metres. Ultimately, the selectors opted to deploy him in just the steeplechase. New Zealand hasn’t had a runner in that event since Peter Renner, at Los Angeles in 1984.
This is Findlay’s second Olympiad as a member of the men’s Black Sticks, having been part of the team that finished ninth in 2021. The midfield player is joined in the 2024 team by goalkeeper Dominic Dixon. Head coach Greg Nicol and assistant coach Shea McAleese complete the Black Sticks’ Hawke’s Bay contingent.
Paddler Peter Cowan is also off to Paris, as part of New Zealand’s Paralympic team. Cowan, a member of the Haeata Ocean Sports Club and Hawke’s Bay Kayak Racing Club will compete in the VL3 200m after finishing second in that event at the Para Canoe World Championships. This is the first Paralympics for Cowan, who lost a leg after being hit by a car training for the IronMaori Triathlon, in 2010.
And HB’s Nigel Avery is the New Zealand Olympic team’s chef de mission, a role that ensures the smooth running of New Zealand’s Olympic campaign, drawing on his own experiences to ensure our athletes and their support teams have the experience of a lifetime. Damon Harvey profiled champion weightlifter Nigel and his Olympic role in this BayBuzz feature.
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