By David

TV3 has just broadcast a news item on the plight of the New Zealand rower, Emma Twigg. In case you missed seeing the item here is a summary of what the news clip said:

Kiwi rower Emma Twigg is settling in to university life in Leicester.

She’ll continue to train with her sights still set on gold in Rio, but while she’ll be finished her studies in time to try to qualify at next year’s World Championship, Rowing New Zealand is holding firm on its decision she won’t be eligible for selection for the event.

“I’ve come over here knowing that it’s going to be a challenge, and I think that mentally the freshness it’s going to provide and being away from Karapiro where I’ve been for the last 10 years doing the same old thing day in, day out is hopefully going to be the difference between me winning a gold medal and not winning a gold medal.”

Twigg will train twice a day while completing a FIFA master’s course in sports management, which will see her study in England, Italy and Switzerland.

But that has put her chances of Olympic selection in jeopardy. Despite being the single sculls world champion and a finalist for World Rowing Female Crew of the Year, Rowing New Zealand won’t let her compete at next year’s World Championships if she doesn’t take part in the national programme this summer.

Chief executive Simon Peterson says there will be no exceptions to the rules.

“We’ve talked about it in depth, but no, once you start I think you’ve got to ask yourself what makes up your high-performance culture, and your centralisation [and] the commitment to Karapiro for all the athletes at all levels is key to our culture,” says Mr Peterson.

The 27-year-old says she performs better when rowing is not the be-all and end-all of life.

Twigg’s just hoping she gets the opportunity to be on that start line so she can realise her dream of being Olympic champion.

And so, if you were in any doubt, take a look at the future. New Zealand has a world champion rower who wants to complete, what sounds like, an exceptional degree in Europe. Her comments sound well balanced and intelligent. No wonder she’s a world champion sportswoman. But no matter how good her past performances, no matter how well she trains and races, no matter how just her cause, simply because she is not part of Miskimmin’s rowing school at Karapiro she will not be able to row for her country. The right to represent your country is bought with performance; not Miskimmin’s money.

Except in this case, Miskimmin’s money trumps Twigg’s performance. Miskimmin’s ideology trumps the national interest. I don’t know anything about, Simon Peterson, the Chief Executive of Rowing New Zealand, except that he came to rowing from a warm and cosy corner of the Miskimmin empire. His previous job was CEO of Sport Auckland, a wholly owned subsidiary of Miskimmin’s Sport New Zealand. It would be unusual to see a career administrator like Peterson stand up to Miskimmin who, after all, made his cushy number possible. And sure enough he didn’t. He has learned Miskimmin’s lines perfectly. Without hesitation the party line was recited without a glitch:

“Your centralisation [and] the commitment to Karapiro for all the athletes at all levels is key to our culture”.

For years Swimwatch have argued the point that Miskimmin’s plan is not about fine athletes coming from diverse backgrounds and beating the world. In Miskimmin’s world Colin Meads could never have continued farming in Te Kuiti and played for our country. Brian Lahore could never have stayed at home in the Wairarapa and captained the All Blacks. It must gall the life out of Miskimmin that Nick Willis does his thing in the United States, Valerie Adams trains happily in Switzerland and Corry Main is right at home in Florida.

Emma Twigg sends New Zealand sport and swimming especially a clear message. When Miskimmin has the power over a sport that he currently has over rowing there will be no deviation from the party line. It will be his way or the highway. Remember – “centralisation is key to our culture”. This is not about individual athletes winning gold medals for New Zealand. This is not about performance, or effort, or dedication. This is about Miskimmin’s dogma. This is about Miskimmin’s power. For as long as Emma Twigg lives in the UK the Miskimmin party line seems to be that it would be better for New Zealand to lose an Olympic Gold medal than have Emma Twigg win and encourage the thought that Miskimmin’s Karapiro was not the only pathway to success. You must admit, the Emma Twigg story does seem to support the idea that New Zealand is not all that far removed from the old East German policy. Communist gold medals were not individual triumphs. They were recognition of the dominance of the state; proof of their superior system. Emma Twigg bucked the system and, World Champion or not, that was never going to be allowed.

Miskimmin could not pull off the same trick with Valerie Adams. She was too good and managed to get the Minister of Sport to take her side. The story of her struggle for athletic independence is a fascinating portion of her autobiography. Much as I suspect Miskimmin would like to, he can’t pull the same tricks in swimming – not just yet anyway. Swimming is not good enough. If Miskimmin tried to do an “Emma Twigg” on swimming it would be a joke – no Corry Main, no Glen Snyders, no Kane Radford. Even Lauren Boyle finished her preparation for the Commonwealth Games being coached by a Frenchman in Spain. An “Emma Twigg” in swimming would mean no swim team.

But given a chance I am certain Miskimmin would like nothing more than to see 17 Antares Place transformed into a swimming “Karapiro”. I’m even more confident that Layton, Renford, Villanueva, Lyles and Bouzaid would love it even more. But imagine the cost of their ambition. If the “Emma Twigg” education principle applied to swimming, the sport would have refused to select Antony Moss (he went to Stanford to study), Paul Kingsman (Cal), John Steel (USC), Lauren Boyle (Cal), Cory Main (Florida), Simon Percy (Arizona), Gary Hurring (Hawaii), Lincoln Hurring and on and on it goes.

The big advantage of the Emma Twigg story is that it gives us a clear signal of Miskimmin’s intentions. They are sick and sad, but it’s what he wants. Saving swimming from the “Emma Twigg” syndrome is up to the Regions of Swimming New Zealand. I just hope those responsible have the balls to do something about it.