10 Jul 2024

Olympians on the final stretch until Paris

From Nine To Noon, 10:12 am on 10 July 2024

It's just a couple of weeks before about two hundred of New Zealand's top athletes suit up for the Paris Olympics, and the final training regimes are in full force.

Raglan-based surfer Billy Stairmand is competing in the games for a second time, but he's not heading to Paris.

The surfing heats are being held fifteen thousand kilometres away from Paris, in Tahiti. Billy Stairmand's Olympic debut was in Tokyo, which was the first time surfing was included in the games - he placed ninth.

For diver Lizzie Roussel, the Paris games are also her second time competing at the Olympic level.

She was the first New Zealand diver to compete at the Olympic Games in 24 years when she contested the three-metre springboard diving event in Rio on her 18th birthday.

She later qualified for the Tokyo games, but pulled out when she found out she was pregnant.

Billy and Lizzie chat to Kathryn about whether they're managing to keep calm with just weeks to go. 

Olympians Billy Starimand and Lizzie Rousell gear up for the 2024 Paric Olympics

Photo: Photosport