Olympique Daily: It's all Ellesse, no dramas

PLUS: The GOAT adds to her collection, the boats are stoned and someone told me there's a test this weekend.

A very quick missive today as I am hay-fevered up the wazoo, which is a shame because there was a lot to cover.

Ellesse Andrews, winner. Getty Images

First things first, I enjoyed last night’s Olympic action so much I forgot to go to sleep, which probably hasn’t helped with the above.

Ellesse Andrews was immense. So much so that I fired off a message to a friend lucky enough to be at the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines National Vélodrome.

I haven’t really improved on that sentiment since.

The keirin is an event that thrives on chaos, on making six riders toggle that fine line between tactics and blind, unthinking speed.

Andrews, coached by her father Jon, who gave a great post-race interview, eliminated the drama by getting to the front early and giving it sprint cycling’s version of Thous Shalt Not Pass. He was so confident, he left his position as soon as she hit turn three, not bothering to watch the final 100m so he could get to the apron quicker to congratulate his progeny.

Andrews still has the sprint (prelims start tonight with a time trial), which by her own admission she hasn’t mastered yet. She may leave Paris without adding to her gold and silver in the team sprint — and her keirin silver from Tokyo — but I wouldn’t be making that bet.

She’s got an undeniable presence about her on the track and at 24 and with at least the LA28 cycle left in her, Andrews could establish herself as one the country’s greatest Olympians.

I’m here for it, no matter what the hour.

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Speaking of the country’s greatest Olympians, Lisa Carrington added to her collection at a more reasonable hour last night with another sensational performance in the bow of the K4.

It goes without saying that just as the men’s rowing eight doesn’t win that final in Tokyo without Hamish Bond, the K4 does not win last night without Carrington, who won her sixth gold and seventh medal overall.

The New Zealand Olympic Committee has been sending teams to both the summer and winter games since 1920 (and before that as part of Australasia), so it is a mind warp to think that Carrington has won 11 percent of all golds won by New Zealanders.

It wasn’t her reaction that I was most taken by, however. At the back of the boat sat Tara Vaughan, 20, who comes from a surf lifesaving family but only took up the flatwater sport a couple of years ago.

All in a day’s work for Vaughan (back of the boat). Getty Images

As they celebrated on the water, and even back at the pontoon, Vaughan had an inscrutable look that suggested she was expecting it all along. The whole “it hasn’t sunk in yet” has become the ultimate fallback cliche when athletes are inevitably asked, “How does it feel?” With Vaughan though, I think we can assume that, yeah, the enormity of her achievement hadn’t sunk in yet.

Meanwhile, with the K2 500m semis set to start in a little more than an hour, Stuff is here to remind you why Carrington and Aimee Fisher, favoured to finish one-two in tomorrow night’s finals, are not sharing a boat. 

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It was also fun to watch Lydia Ko in the mix as she guns for a full set of Olympic golf medals. Long may that continue as we await the start of the third round with her at -5, three shots behind surprise leader Morgane Metraux of Switzerland.

What was less enthralling, but nevertheless provided some nice celebration shots, was the medal race for the mixed multihulls, which saw Micah Wilkinson and Erica Dawson bring home bronze, the second medal won off Marseille by New Zealand this regatta. As for the race, it was like the whole race was hopelessly stoned off its head, as organisers were forced to start in ultra-light conditions just to ensure they completed the programme. Sometimes you had to squint really hard to make sure the boats were moving at all.

READ MORE: ‘We always had belief.’

Dawson and Wilkinson have been competing together for five years and finished 12th in Tokyo.

“There [have] been a lot of ups and downs in this journey but we always had belief that we could do it and so many people around us did as well, so happy we could pull it out of the bag,” said Dawson.

Dawson said the pair have looked up to previous Kiwi sailors and have dreamed about winning an Olympic medal since they were kids.

“We looked at each other and burst into tears and said, ‘We did it!’”

Wilkinson said he didn’t believe they had won a medal until they crossed the finish line.

“We’ve worked like crazy… to be able to peak for this event and sail our little hearts out right in the key moment was amazing,” said Wilkinson.

Bless.

There is a test tomorrow — apparently!

There’s been, you know, a big event happening (so I’m told), and while I normally find All Black team naming day as exciting as anybody else, this time it passed with a quick shrug of the shoulders and a makes-sense-I-guess mental note to self.

Luckily, Scotty Stevenson was there for me on 1news.co.nz to find a point of interest in the team: TJ Perenara is not a sentimental selection - the All Blacks need his experience and decision-making.

Yes, it’s a feel good story - the Wellington boy getting the nod to start in his hometown a week after announcing this season will be his last in New Zealand – but his selection is one for the realists more than the romantics.

Mr Experience meets Mr Excitement. Getty Images

It is Perenara’s experience, both in the rigours of test rugby and the unique conditions in Wellington, that the selectors have gone for, even while they look to develop the talents of Cortez Ratima (who earns a spot on the bench) and Noah Hotham, who has not made the squad this week despite a captivating test debut against Fiji.

The test environment is no development ground, and a certain pragmatism pervades the picks for this opening match against an [Argentine]  side that knows its best chance to earn a result in the two-test series comes on Saturday night.

For me, the most interesting position as Robertson looks to create a template from which to play the sort of rugby that New Zealand fans demand, is centre. The selection of veteran Anton Lienert-Brown suggests that we’re no closer to understanding whether Rieko Ioane — he of 71 tests — will ever become more than an excellent wing converted to an adequate midfielder. Certainly, distribution has never been his trump card but while that can be masked against teams that play with comparatively passive line speed, it has been exposed time and again versus the blitz.

Robertson et al know what Lienert-Brown can do, but for that reason, I’m slightly surprised Billy Proctor wasn’t asked to build upon his eye-catching work in San Diego.

Prior to the All Blacks, the Wallabies put their four-test streak on the line  against South Africa in a decidedly Olympics-friendly kickoff time at Suncorp Stadium. Smart.

Australia v SA, Brisbane, tomorrow 4.30pm, SS Select

NZ v Argentina, Wellington, tomorrow 7.05pm, SS1

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One of the more excitable press releases landed in my inbox this morning via an incredulous former colleague.

It is from Auckland FC and is in regard to signing All Whites keeper Alex Paulsen on loan. The move is subject to approval but forget all that and just marvel at the audacity of the second paragraph.

Paulsen, 22, made one the greatest leaps in the history of New Zealand sport when plucked from a Wellington-based A-League Men’s team to join AFC Bournemouth on a multi-year deal.

Reading that, I couldn’t get one of the greatest lines in film history out of my head.

Exactly — get your hand off it.

Let’s start at the “one of the greatest leaps in the history of New Zealand sport” line. The estate of the late Yvette Corlett nee Williams might like a word. So might Sam Whitelock (lineout, semifinal v South Africa, 2015) and Joanah Ngan-Woo (Lineout, final v England, 2021). Even if we ignore the semantics of what is a leap and what is a move, it might also be time to evaluate what constitutes a stunning move.

Yes, football is the global game and the Premier League is the League to Rule Them All™ but AFC Bournemouth, south coast overachievers and all that, have won a sum total of one second-tier championship, one third-tier championship, one Football League Trophy (which I only became aware existed after watching Welcome to Wrexham) and, famously, the Third Division South Cup upon the resumption of football after World War II. This is no knock on Paulsen and his cat-like qualities, but “leaping” to Real Madrid he is not.

Which is when it struck me that what Auckland FC are offering is their version of chutzpah. That dawned on me when the Phoenix were not called the Phoenix but were described only as a “Wellington-based A-League Men’s team”. Suddenly it all made sense.

The new team doesn’t just need news, it needs a rivalry, a raison d’etre. The A-League has tried and failed miserably in Auckland before, getting to the start line in shaky fashion and slowly petering out on 100 backpasses worth of apathy.

This time, they’re determined to create a buzz. The idea of an Auckland-Wellington clash of not just teams but cultures offers headline-generating opportunities. 

Paulsen appears to be along for the ride, presumably signing off on this direct quote without actually saying it himself.

“There is so much excitement around the club and what we’re building here. I’ve only been home for a few days, and I’ve seen people walking around in the new home strip and you can feel the energy around the club and the city.”

I’d suggest the only way you’ve “seen people walking around in the new home strip” is if you’ve been among your teammates at the training ground, but hey, I get it. The hype train has pulled into Britomart, not the central station at that city on the bottom of the North Island where Parliament sits.

All aboard. 

AMA: Last-ish chance for questions

Depending on what happens in the next 12 hours, a healthier version of The Bounce might arrive tomorrow to fill in some of the gaps left this evening.

In the meantime, feel free to keep firing me questions either in the comments or via email to be into win one of two giveaway copies of Samuel Whitelock: View From the Second Row (HarperCollins). The AMA will run early next week, along with a short extract. I already have interesting inquiries to ponder, so thanks.