AIMEE FISHER AND DAME LISA CARRINGTON

Most followers of New Zealand sport will know that Dame Lisa Carrington and Aimee Fisher are racing a best of three series to decide who will represent New Zealand in the 2022 World Canoeing Championships. There have been two races this past weekend. Fisher won the first and Carrington the second. The decider is on Thursday. Whoever wins that is off to the World Championships.

Should New Zealand have a favourite? No, of course not. Both these women are superb athletes. Either one would represent the country with distinction. Either one could well win the World Championship race. Win or lose, both deserve the full support of all of us.

I guess every reader knows there is a “BUT” coming next. But, in my case, I will be supporting Fisher. I hope she wins race three on Thursday by a country mile. A country mile in this sort of competition would be anything over a second. You may well be asking, why am I so committed to a Fisher victory? What has Carrington done wrong?

As I have explained there is no sporting justification for my bias. Sadly, it is all to do with politics. You see, along with rowing and cycling, canoe racing (CRNZ) has allowed itself to become a flag bearer for Sport New Zealand’s (SNZ) infiltration and takeover of New Zealand sport. CRNZ has sold its soul for SNZ’s money. The SNZ centralised model is fixed policy in the CRNZ Board Room. Without SNZ money there is no CRNZ. CRNZ is as committed to centralised control as China is to the Communist Party. Philosophically there is no difference. Raelene Castle is the Xi Jinping of New Zealand sport.

For example, financially $2,474,393 of the sport’s total income of $2,843,923 (87%) comes from SNZ. Only $21,765 (7.6%) comes from the members. Carrington’s coach Gordon Walker is employed by CRNZ and shares in the $1,070,000 paid in wages with SNZ’s money. There are 10 management profiles shown on CRNZ’s website. That’s an average of $100,000 each. Gordon Walker is bought and paid for. A committed member of the CRNZ politburo standing committee.

It is impossible to tell how much Carrington is paid by her centralised SNZ and CRNZ benefactors. What we do know is that CRNZ allocated $1,111,387 to “Direct costs associated with athletes”. Carrington will have received her share of that pot of socialist gold. To her credit Carrington stayed in Auckland to train and refused to troop off to Cambridge like the sheep in cycling and rowing.

However, the Carrington clan are flag bearers for the SNZ centralised programme. Her success is used by SNZ to sell the benefits of centralisation. In cycling and swimming, we have seen the damage centralisation has done. Carrington’s performance in three races on Lake Karapiro should not be allowed to gloss over the death of a talented New Zealand cyclist or the barren careers of a score of New Zealand swimmers. And that, is why I want her to lose on Thursday.

Aimee Fisher, on the other hand, has paddled her own canoe. Fisher quit the SNZ and CRNZ centralised program before the Tokyo Olympic Games over concerns about athlete’s welfare. From my experience those concerns were probably well justified. In the typical manner of all bullies and confirming Fisher’s allegations, CRNZ responded with a threat – to be eligible for selection for Tokyo, Fisher was required to be part of the CRNZ’s centralised programme. Join the Communist Party, or else.

To her eternal credit Fisher refused. On her own and in a safer environment, Fisher’s action and independence said she could win without Gordon Walker and his politburo mates. And she has won. She won the K1 500 World Championships held shortly after the Tokyo Olympic Games and she has won one of the two races against Carrington this weekend. Carrington may be a flag bearer for Chinese style centralised rule. But Fisher’s flag represents the independence, grit and courage that has always been the true spirit of New Zealand sport. Her story is what her country is all about. It is not without irony that all this has come to a head on ANZAC weekend. I wonder which policy those men and women fought to uphold. Independence or state rule?

My guess is the average Kiwi identifies best with the Fisher story. We are a country that admires a “do it yourself” spirit. Lydiard, Jelley, Allen, Dalton, Robertson and now Fisher took on the world with their own programme and won. Certainly, I would hope that any person I coach ends up with a slice of the Fisher spirit. In Rhi, Jane, Eyad and Alison that has certainly been the case. And that is why I want Fisher to win on Thursday – because she better represents me and the values, I think are important in sport.

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