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Accuracy

Gymnasts Charlotte Sullivan and Courtney McGregor have no choice but to be sticklers for accuracy.  In their precision sport of womens artistic gymnastics, critical eyes judge their every movement the difference between success and failure can be the slight bend of a leg, or a tiny step on a landing.

We train up to seven hours a day, constantly repeating the skills over and over again, so they become more precise; and so we can execute them on the day, because you only get one chance, McGregor says.

Judged on difficulty and execution, the more accurate a gymnasts routine, the higher they score. No matter how agile, flexible and co-ordinated they are, accuracy can be the deciding factor.

You have to stay in the moment and just focus on the skill that you are doing at that point in time, McGregor says. Especially near the end of a routine, it takes a lot of endurance, and youre really tired going into that last tumbling pass, but you just have to give it everything youve got.

Charlotte Sullivan became the first New Zealander to win a medal at a World Cup event, with a bronze on the balance beam in Portugal this year. With practice, perseverance and precision, she hopes to inspire other young gymnasts. I intend to be the inspiration to all the younger kids out there by continuing to compete at a high level and to show them that it is possible for them too.

Accuracy is continuously put to the test in the sport of shooting. Ian Ballinger won New Zealands only shooting Olympic medal, in Mexico City in 1968.  The first marksman New Zealand had sent to an Olympics, the 43-year-old Christchurch gun store owner competed in the 50m prone rifle event. Although he began the competition badly, he employed nerves of steel and an eagle eye to equal the Olympic record and secure bronze.

Archery also requires accuracy and consistency. New Zealands most successful archer, Neroli Fairhall, made history in Los Angeles, 1984, as the first paraplegic to compete at an Olympics. In a wheelchair since a motorbike accident at the age of 24, Fairhalls aptitude for concentration, calmness and accuracy saw her win gold at the 1982 Brisbane Commonwealth Games.

The worlds best crew rowers strive for perfect synchronisation and co-ordination. The men who made up the New Zealand eight at the 1972 Munich Olympics produced a virtually faultless performance at Feldmoching to win gold.

The eights crew - Trevor Coker, Athol Earl, John Hunter, Tony Hurt, Dick Joyce, Gary Robertson, Wybo Veldman, Lindsay Wilson, and cox Simon Dickie were never threatened in the final; they burst off the start-line, held their lead at the halfway mark of the 2km race, and finished three seconds clear of the Americans and East Germans.

The emotional victory, which Veldman later described as a race of perfection, was celebrated with another special moment the first time the God Defend New Zealand national anthem was played at an Olympic medal presentation.

 


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