NZ Olympic athletics squad in good shape for Paris

Finally New Zealand is leaving the Snell and Walker era behind, with a new generation of record-breaking athletes on the sceneNew Zealand could be looking at its best Olympics athletics team line up yet for Paris, after some startling success for kiwis on the world stage this yearIt won't be hard to spot a black singlet on the Olympic athletics track in Paris. Rather than being corralled into the throwing corner, our champions are running and jumping over a wealth of disciplines. For athletics commentator Hayden Shearman, the breadth of this team is the stand out factor. "It's almost like every event you need to tune in because we could well have a bolter who jumps up, sneaks a bronze medal, or we could have one of our medal favourites like the big four; Tom Walsh, Hamish Kerr, Eliza McCartney, Geordie Beamish; who could potentially snatch an Olympic title and become one of the big global athletics stars."That's what makes, I think, this year's Olympic year so exciting, is that there will be bolters, there will be some 'oh that didn't quite go to plan' for that athlete ... but that's the nature of sport and we've got such a big well-rounded team that there will be some great stories coming out of the team." Most of the track and field team for Paris has been named. With the addition of the 800 metre runner who's just broken Peter Snell's 62 year old record, there are now 16 athletes and another on the verge of selection. There's no sure-fire Dame Val Adams type superstar .... but could this be our best Olympic athletics team lineup yet? "I think there is a resurgence," says Shearman. "No longer are we just the middle distance - you know the Lydiard era from the '60s to the John Walker era in the 70s - we've got this beautiful spread, male and female, jumpers, throwers, sprinters, distance athletes, all competing at a very high level and a lot of our team are real chances of those medal hopes. While none are out-and-out favourites going into their events, "we've got a handful of athletes that we really do need to set our alarm clocks for," he says. A great deal of this pre-Games excitement was the World Indoor champs in Glasgow in March, where New Zealand recorded its best results ever - two golds, two silvers and third on the medal table. The sight of George (also known as Geordie) Beamish finishing with a magnificent kick in the 1500m - it's not even his favourite event - and Hamish Kerr bringing home the double with his high jump record got hearts beating faster back home. It's true that not every top athlete was at that meet. …Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details