Olympian Ussher pinned down

MARTIN DE RUYTER/Nelson Mail

PROOF: Olympian Richard Ussher, left, was presented with his Olympic participation award by Nigel Muir, right, from the Tasman Regional Sports Trust and Nelson Mayor Kerry Marshall.

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There's another side to Nelson's world-class multisportsman Richard Ussher that some people might not be aware of – he's also competed at an Olympic Games.

Ussher represented New Zealand in the moguls freestyle skiing event at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan, where he finished 25th.

But because of competitive commitments he was among the nine no-shows when 13 of the region's 24 Olympians attended the Tasman ceremony at the Nelson Suburbs AMI Football Pavilion at Saxton Field in June honouring their Olympic involvement.

The 2008 Olympic Games marked 100 years of New Zealand Olympic history and at Beijing, the 1000th Olympian wore the silver fern. This year, the New Zealand Olympic Committee, together with the Olympians Club of New Zealand, has honoured each of the country's 1111 Olympic athletes through a series of 17 functions around New Zealand.

Each Olympian was presented with an exclusively designed Olympic pin featuring the rings and fern and the Olympian's unique number.

They also received a commemorative certificate signed by IOC president Jacques Rogge and NZOC secretary general Barry Maister. Ussher finally received his pin at a special presentation yesterday at the Nelson City Council – two days after defending his Genesis Energy Lake to Lighthouse title involving a 184km two-day multisport race from Lake Waikaremoana to Wairoa.

It's been 11 years since Ussher strapped on skis at Nagano, but he was delighted by the recognition. "To be honest, I'm not really the sort of person that looks back so much, so it almost feels like a different lifetime that all this went on."

Now one of New Zealand's top multisportsmen, Ussher's competitive nature is always simmering close to the surface.

"At the time I was really disappointed with my Olympic experience. When you set the goal to go to the Olympics, you don't set a goal to come 25th, you set a goal to make a medal.

"It took me a long time to appreciate what a special journey it was just to get there, even though the result wasn't really what I wanted. I'd skied for less than four years and made it, so that was probably what was special about my journey rather than the result."

Watching French-Canadian Jean-Luc Brassard win the moguls gold medal on television at Lillehammer four years earlier had inspired Ussher to qualify for Nagano.

"At Nagano, I was the next skier after him in the gate so I basically watched his run from the start gate. There were about 14,000 screaming people and more TV cameras than I'd seen in my life. That was pretty special but I think probably the overriding emotion at the time was absolute terror."

He imagines that now, 11 years on, things would be much different for the three-time Coast-to-Coast champion.

"Knowing what I know now and having had all the experience that I have now, I'd be a far better competitor at the Olympics than I ever was in those days."

Next Tuesday, Ussher and his wife Elina, Nathan Fa'avae and Ohakune's Marcel Hagener head overseas for the Abu Dhabi Adventure race – Elina having also retained her women's Genesis Energy Lake to Lighthouse title at the weekend. "Elina and I have been in the winning team for the last two years. We'd definitely like to make it three in a row and it would be a nice Christmas present if that happens."

Then Ussher's focus will switch to Ironman as he attempts to qualify for next October's Hawaiian Ironman event at Kona.

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