With less than a week to go until the 2024 Paris Olympics, BMX champion Sarah Walker is looking back on her athletic accomplishments.

To date, Walker is New Zealand's only BMX Olympic medallist, having won silver in the 2012 London Games.

She joined Piney to talk about the challenges and accomplishments of her athletic career.

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With less than a week to go until the 2024 Paris Olympics, BMX champion Sarah Walker is looking back on her athletic accomplishments.
To date, Walker is New Zealand's only BMX Olympic medallist, having won silver in the 2012 London Games.
She joined Piney to talk about the challenges and accomplishments of her athletic career.
LISTEN ABOVE

Weekend Sport with Jason Pine on Newstalk ZB brings you all the action and reaction to the sporting weekend.

Weekend Sport with Jason Pine

Sarah Walker: Olympic BMX medallist on her athletic accomplishments

There's less than a week to go until the 2024 Paris Olympics, and sports fans are feeling the hype.

Sports broadcaster Joseph Romanos joined Piney to outline his predictions.

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There's less than a week to go until the 2024 Paris Olympics, and sports fans are feeling the hype.
Sports broadcaster Joseph Romanos joined Piney to outline his predictions.
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Joseph Romanos: sports broadcaster ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympics

​On the Weekend Sport with Jason Pine Full Show Podcast for 21st July 2024. The All Blacks have won their first three tests under Scott Robertson, after a convincing win over Fiji in San Diego. Former All Blacks coach Laurie Mains joins the show to assess how Razor has started his All Blacks coaching tenure.

The White Ferns are in complete disarray. They return from their tour to England with zero wins and eight losses. NZCs head of high-performance Bryan Stronach joins Piney to discuss where the team goes from here.

And Sarah Walker is our final guest on our Road to Paris feature, just one week out from the Olympics.

Get the Weekend Sport with Jason Pine Full Show Podcast every Saturday and Sunday afternoon on iHeartRadio, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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​On the Weekend Sport with Jason Pine Full Show Podcast for 21st July 2024. <a href="https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-air/weekend-sport-with-jason-pine/opinion/jason-pine-a-solid-start-to-the-all-blacks-new-regime/">The All Blacks have won their first three tests under Scott Robertson</a>, after a convincing win over Fiji in San Diego. Former All Blacks coach Laurie Mains <a href="https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-air/weekend-sport-with-jason-pine/audio/laurie-mains-former-all-blacks-coach-on-scott-robertsons-successful-run-at-the-helm/">joins the show to assess how Razor has started his All Blacks coaching tenure.</a>
<a href="https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-air/weekend-sport-with-jason-pine/opinion/jason-pine-the-white-ferns-are-in-a-risky-position/">The White Ferns are in complete disarray.</a> They return from their tour to England with zero wins and eight losses. NZCs head of high-performance Bryan Stronach <a href="https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-air/weekend-sport-with-jason-pine/audio/bryan-stronach-nz-cricket-head-of-high-performance-on-the-white-ferns-disappointing-run-against-england/">joins Piney to discuss where the team goes from here.</a>
And Sarah Walker is our final guest on our <a href="https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-air/weekend-sport-with-jason-pine/audio/sarah-walker-olympic-bmx-medallist-on-her-athletic-accomplishments/">Road to Paris feature, just one week out from the Olympics.</a>
Get the Weekend Sport with Jason Pine Full Show Podcast every Saturday and Sunday afternoon on iHeartRadio, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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Full Show Podcast: 21 July 2024

In trying to improve the consistency of the White Ferns, where should we be focusing our attention?

First and foremost, it seems to me that our domestic competition simply doesn't prepare our players for international cricket.

There are a couple of sides that dominate domestic women's cricket, but the overall standard of the domestic comp is simply too far below international cricket.

Scoring lots of runs and taking lots of wickets domestically isn't a good indicator as to whether a player is ready to contribute consistently at international level, because the gap is currently too big between the two.

The best elite sporting structures also create competition for places in the national side.

The realisation and crystal-clear knowledge that if you don't perform, there's someone waiting to take your place - and take their chance - simply doesn't exist right now.

And that in no way says that players don't care because they know they can't get dropped, but it's a simple fact that competition for places increases performance.

Bryan Stronach talked about addressing that - not only the Super Smash and Hallyburton-Johnstone Sheild - but the age-group comps and creating a bigger pool of talent.

But the word he used most was time, it takes time.

Unfortunately, in the instant gratification and results-driven business of elite sport, you're not always afforded that.

The worst thing that can happen here is for apathy to set in, in the White Ferns fan-base, especially its discretionary one.

Sports fans who will take interest and invest in a side they see is making progress, and is backed by an organisation with a constant search for improvement - my gut feel is that isn't how NZ sports fans feel about the White Ferns right now.

They are very much on the fence about watching them or not.

And there's only one thing worse than not performing and not progressing - and that is becoming irrelevant.

LISTEN ABOVE

In trying to improve the consistency of the White Ferns, where should we be focusing our attention?
First and foremost, it seems to me that our domestic competition simply doesn't prepare our players for international cricket.
There are a couple of sides that dominate domestic women's cricket, but the overall standard of the domestic comp is simply too far below international cricket.
Scoring lots of runs and taking lots of wickets domestically isn't a good indicator as to whether a player is ready to contribute consistently at international level, because the gap is currently too big between the two.
The best elite sporting structures also create competition for places in the national side.
The realisation and crystal-clear knowledge that if you don't perform, there's someone waiting to take your place - and take their chance - simply doesn't exist right now.
And that in no way says that players don't care because they know they can't get dropped, but it's a simple fact that competition for places increases performance.
Bryan Stronach talked about addressing that - not only the Super Smash and Hallyburton-Johnstone Sheild - but the age-group comps and creating a bigger pool of talent.
But the word he used most was time, it takes time.
Unfortunately, in the instant gratification and results-driven business of elite sport, you're not always afforded that.
The worst thing that can happen here is for apathy to set in, in the White Ferns fan-base, especially its discretionary one.
Sports fans who will take interest and invest in a side they see is making progress, and is backed by an organisation with a constant search for improvement - my gut feel is that isn't how NZ sports fans feel about the White Ferns right now.
They are very much on the fence about watching them or not.
And there's only one thing worse than not performing and not progressing - and that is becoming irrelevant.
LISTEN ABOVE

Sarah Walker: Olympic BMX medallist on her athletic accomplishments

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