Four Kiwis who disregarded the odds

• Published date: 23 July 2021
• Publication title: Sports Tab

Natalie Rooney

Rio, 2016

Natalie Rooney was truly one out of the box.

Leading into the Rio Games, most of the talk centred on the rowers, sailors, cyclists, sevens players and kayakers, with hopes that a medal or two could be snagged among the track and field contingent and perhaps the women’s hockey team.

But Rooney stole the early headlines, claiming New Zealand’s first medal of the 2016 Games.

Just 18 months earlier, the Waimate product had been ranked 64th in the world.

A series of solid results pushed her into Olympic contention, before she beat the best Australians to gain the precious Oceania quota spot.

Once in Rio, Rooney rose to the occasion.

She nailed 68 of a possible 75 targets in qualifying, one of six women from the 21-strong field to reach the semifinal. The 27-year-old then progressed to the gold-medal match, finally falling to Australian Catherine Skinner by one shot after holding an early advantage.

It was a quintessential underdog story.

Rooney had been competing internationally for a decade, but apart from a one-off $20,00 grant in December 2015, had not attracted support from funding agencies and had trained on a custom-built facility on her father’s property, as there were no automatic traps in the South Island.

Rooney was New Zealand’s second shooting medallist, after smallbore marksman Ian Ballinger in Mexico in 1968.

Paul Kingsman

Seoul, 1988

Before the 1988 Games, New Zealand had managed just two swimming medals.

In one of the most competitive Olympic sports, only Malcolm Champion (gold, 1912), competing for Australasia, and Jean Hurring (bronze, 1952) had visited the podium.

In Seoul, Paul Kingsman was not expected to challenge that statistic, ranked 20th in the world in the 200m backstroke that year.

From a field of 44 competitors, Kingsman did well to make the final, recording the seventh-fastest time. The decider was a battle of the giants, major nations such as the Soviet Union (two), East Germany (two), West Germany, United States and Brazil represented.

But the 21-year-old Aucklander was not overawed and had a solid race plan, aiming for 2min flat.

From a difficult spot in lane one, Kingsman managed the performance of his life. He was among a cluster of swimmers behind the leading trio in the first 100m of the race, before accelerating in the second half.

In a thrilling final push, he overhauled former world record-holder and 1987 European champion Sergei Zabolotnov to claim the bronze.

The margin was just 0.04sec and...