By David

For the second weekend in succession the Herald on Sunday has published a “feel-good” public relations hand-out on behalf of Sport New Zealand. Both the PR communiqués were written by Michael Burgess, a football and rugby league writer for the Herald on Sunday. Last week’s story contained so many factual errors that I wrote the Swimwatch story “Figures Can’t Lie But Liars Can Figure”. I also forwarded a copy to Michael Burgess hoping it would alert him to the dangers of accepting the spin, verging on lies, that originate from Sport New Zealand.

Clearly he did not read my story properly or did not understand its message. This is his email reply.

Hi David, Thanks for your email – not sure if you meant to send it to me but you make some interesting points. The stats are impressive from 1984-1996… And swimming has to be under pressure, though Boyle is keeping them afloat. Regards Michael

Well the story did go to the right place but its point was clearly lost. This week Michael Burgess has written, and the Herald on Sunday has published, a second round of Sport New Zealand PR spin. The new Burgess story begins with the line “if imitation is indeed the best form of flattery”. No, the best form of flattery is conning a national newspaper into publishing your corporate PR spin without checking the facts or investigating the context. For the Herald on Sunday to fail this most basic duty of good journalism twice in two weeks, and after being warned, is professionally careless.

But let’s look more closely at their second story titled “What are we doing right?”

Sport New Zealand spin doctor, Alex Baumann, convinced the Herald on Sunday that, “something special is brewing here and other countries want to know the recipe. Until 2012, we were under the radar to a degree,” HPSNZ chief executive Alex Baumann said. “We were known for great achievements but London [13 medals, including six golds] took things to a new level.”

But did it? New Zealand has won thirteen medals before at an Olympic Games. At the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul New Zealand won thirteen medals in five sports – sailing, canoeing, equestrian, rowing, and swimming. In London New Zealand also won thirteen medals; this time in six sports – rowing, sailing, athletics, canoeing, cycling and equestrian. And so Baumann’s spin that, “London” (with 13 medals) “took things to a new level” simply isn’t true. So why, without analysis or research, did the Herald on Sunday publish Sport New Zealand’s propaganda? A week ago we warned them – if the information comes from Sport New Zealand check it before you put it in your newspaper.

But what about the gold medal tally. Baumann is reported as saying that the six gold medals in London also “took things to a new level”. And that’s really, really not true. In the 1984 Olympic Games New Zealand won eight gold medals in four sports – canoeing, equestrian, sailing and rowing. Baumann’s “new level” in London was in fact six gold medals; two less than in 1984. The London gold medals were won in five sports – rowing, athletics, sailing, canoeing and cycling. And so, six gold medals is not a “new level”. It is 25% less than New Zealand won in 1984, before there was a Sport New Zealand or a Peter Miskimmin handing out state donations. So why, without analysis or research, did the Herald on Sunday publish Sport New Zealand’s propaganda? A week ago we warned them – if the information comes from Sport New Zealand check it before you put it in your newspaper.

Sport New Zealand and Baumann are desperate to sell the argument that Olympic sport in New Zealand is doing better than ever as a result of the government’s millions; that New Zealand’s brand of sporting socialism works best. It will be a hard sell. Why? Because it’s not true.

The sport that has followed the centralised, “focussed” policy, promoted by Baumann, longest is swimming. And just look at the resulting shambles. SwimVortex, one of the world’s most respected swimming websites, reported Lauren Boyle’s world record being broken by Mireia Belmonte with the following comment, “The standard had stood at 15:22.68 to part-time training partner this season past, New Zealand’s Lauren Boyle, currently training in Australia while her country attempts to find a solution to a crisis of management.”

Over the last 18 months, HPSNZ may have “hosted delegations from seven countries, including Australia, Canada, the Netherlands and Japan.” That says nothing about the conclusions the delegates reached as a result of their visits. Perhaps they too detected a “crisis of management.” I bet the Dutch delegation was never taken anywhere near the government’s Millennium swim school. Or at least I hope it wasn’t.

What an embarrassment. On one hand we have New Zealand – one of the worst national swim schools in the world; a swimming program that can’t hold on to a decent swimmer no matter how much the state pays; a program as unmanned and abandoned as the Marie Celeste. Baumann would need to bus in a rent-a-crowd to sell the New Zealand swimming program. Last week at the Doha World Championships our best swimmers decided they weren’t fit enough to attend and the two that did, failed to make a final.

And on the other hand a delegation from Holland. Their swim team won two gold, one silver and one bronze at the London Games, two gold in Beijing, two gold, three silver and two bronze in Athens and five gold, one silver and two bronze in Sydney. In Doha the Dutch woman’s team won twelve medals, five of which were gold, and set three world records.

Given those results can you imagine the sheer blind arrogant stupidity of Baumann’s next comment?

“But how open can New Zealand afford to be? Some countries are notorious for acquiring information and then overtaking their rivals so New Zealand needs to be cautious. “We have to be careful what we give away,” Baumann said. “Anything on the innovation side is not something we would share because that is a competitive advantage for us. We believe in sharing information but it has to be a win-win situation.”

I’m sure the delegation from Holland returned to Amsterdam trembling with fear that New Zealand was about to produce a swim team capable of upsetting Veldhuis, Kromowidjojo and Heemskerk. Clearly the whole idea is ridiculous. So why, without analysis or research, did the Herald on Sunday publish Sport New Zealand’s propaganda? A week ago we warned them – if the information comes from Sport New Zealand check it before you put it in your newspaper.