Punching Above Our Weight

Paralympians Gerry Tinker and Curtis Palmer celebrate winning gold at the Athens 2004 Games.

Win medals. In a nutshell, that's the thinking behind New Zealand sending 30 Paralympians to Beijing: one athlete fewer than Athens four years ago.

"We are targeting medal-winning performances. We are not taking any wildcards," iterates Fiona Allan, Chief Executive of Paralympics New Zealand (PNZ). All the athletes on the 2008 team are proven performers at either Paralympic Games or World Championship level. Many were medalists in Athens: including the Wheel Blacks; shooter Michael Johnson; athletes Tim Prendergast and Matt Slade; boccia players Maurice Toon, Jeremy Morriss and Liam Sanders; and swimmer Daniel Sharp.

"These Games will be tougher than ever before. Paralympic sport is growing tremendously. World standards are going up pretty much every world championships or major international event. Athletes are pushing the standards, breaking the records," she says. The Games are also getting increasingly global: at Beijing, there will be over 4000 athletes from 132 nations.

PNZ has worked with the seven sports New Zealand will be represented in (athletics, boccia, cycling, power-lifting, shooting, swimming, wheelchair rugby) to set a precise target for the team: win 13 or more medals. That compares to a haul of 10 medals in Athens – six gold, one silver and three bronze.

"It's a tough target. But we're on track. We've been tracking the performances of all our athletes as well as their competitors, in events all around the world. We're going into the Games confident from the information we have, that we are on track to perform," says Allan.

Of course, victory isn't confirmed in the planning room. "There's always the unknown," she says. "We believe China will be putting in a very strong team. Just like in the Olympics some of those athletes may have gone under the radar and not been seen in major events prior to the Games.

"That's the word of caution [in the medal target]: there is the potential of not knowing the unknown," says Allan.

She notes that on a per capita basis, New Zealand "punches well above our weight" in Paralympic sport. At the end of the Athens Games, we were ranked third on the gold medal per capita list, having won one gold medal to every 685,000 people, only marginally behind Hong Kong (one to 634,000) and the Czech Republic. By contrast, China won one gold medal to every 20.9 million people. Great Britain won one to 1.7 million.

Fiona Allan outside Paralympics New Zealand headquarters.

Admittedly, on the overall (gold, silver, bronze) medal count, New Zealand was slightly further down, in seventh place. But that's out of more than 100 nations. Australia topped the overall medal per capita table, with one to every 200,000 people; we scored one medal to every 411,000.

Looking to 2008, one of the performance edges New Zealand has been exploring is limb prosthesis technology. New high-tech prosthesis will be used by cyclist Paula Tesoriero, Kate Horan and Sophie Pascoe.

"There has been a lot of work with athletes, sports scientists, the New Zealand Artificial Limb Board and overseas experts. There's the prosthesis, then there's the biomechanics of the setup." This is the first time the Limb Board has actively supported Paralympics preparation. The crown entity is the sole national provider of artificial limbs in New Zealand, and has provided crucial expertise, Allan says.

High performance prosthesis are "most definitely" sport specific. Hundreds of hours have been spent in the development and trialing of the new artificial limbs. "It's a big challenge - but a big opportunity too," she reckons.

Paralympics New Zealand is a National Sports Organisation (NSO) and as such has been funded by SPARC for the Beijing campaign. Like their Olympic counterparts, elite Paralympians are carded with the New Zealand Academy of Sport and many receive PEGs funding and Prime Minister's Scholarships.

Notwithstanding this support, elite disabled sport is still fundamentally amateur and – as in the past - many athletes on the 2008 team hold down jobs or are students. Looking ahead, as the world standards continue to surge up, that may have to change.

"It is becoming more challenging to train to the required level. Many of the athletes have taken a big break from work to prepare for the Games," Allan points out.

In such an environment, every dollar counts. She credits PNZ principal sponsor Mitsubishi Motors New Zealand, State, Air New Zealand and Lion Foundation as providing vital backing (not direct athlete sponsorship). "Mitsubishi have been absolutely fantastic; they're supporting us right through to 2012. We've also had assistance from their advertising agency Clemenger BBDO."

New Zealand's 30 Paralympians have all followed sport specific buildups, unlike Athens where PNZ brought the team together for a pre-Games sports-wide training camp. In 2008, the cyclists have been in Perth, before heading to Beijing. The athletes and swimmers will acclimatize in Hong Kong. The Wheel Blacks and boccia athletes go straight from New Zealand, as does power-lifter George Taamaru; while shooter Michael Johnson travels direct to the Games from Korea.

"It's been based on an individual athlete's plans. We have learned from Athens. While the Paralympics is a multi-sport event, the athletes prepare in their individual sport. That's the challenge of the Chef de Mission, to bring together the dynamics of the different athletes, officials and sports," Allan explains.

As they say, "the king is dead – long live the king." While Beijing is the current ruling focus, planning is underway for London 2012. To ensure there's a new wave of athletes coming through, the fundamental long term challenge of PNZ is to support National Sports Organisations, their respective Regional Sports Organisations, and Regional ParaFed Organisations – to drive up grassroots participation in disabled sport.

"Overall, there are fewer disabled athletes participating in structured sport than there used to be," Allan reveals. "We need to change that. We have talent ID programmes that identify and harness new potential, by supporting athletes to the elite level. We need to build up the base."

SPARC has recently invested sport development funding for No Exceptions, building up the regional strength of the Regional ParaFed network. As Allan says, "it's about inspiring new athletes and having the support structure in the clubs and regions - helping people to get started in a sport."

"I call it the next generation. We know they are there. We need to break down the barriers, bridge the gaps between development and high performance."

One of the initiatives PNZ is instigating is to stretch the high performance development programme down a tier, to encompass the aspiring Paralympians, those who are close to the mark but not quite yet at it. These athletes can't be funded to the same degree as the proven elite, but they can be informed, monitored, and helped with their planning. This will be in place for 2012, and beyond.

Paralympics New Zealand has eight staff: six in Auckland and two in Christchurch. Fiona Allan credits the organisation as being extremely lucky to also have solid governance support from the PNZ Board and extensive voluntary support from Paralympians such as 2008 Chef de Mission Duane Kale.

Allan has headed PNZ since 2007. She has represented Scotland and Great Britain in the Heptathlon and currently enjoys the occasional run, bike and kayak to keep active. She lives in Auckland with her fiancé. "We put off our wedding because of Beijing – we couldn't afford the time this year!"

Updated | 11 Feb 2009.

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