Nick Willis @ The Olympics

Kia ora koutou,

It has been a four year wait, but the 2012 London Olympics are finally here. What a spectacular start with Nick Willis carrying the flag for New Zealand in the Opening Ceremony. He is an exceptional athlete, and will no doubt be hoping to better his silver medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

For all of you who do not know, Nick Willis was our “celebrity” speaker on the very first day that Amesbury school was open. It seems so long ago! Nick Willis is one of New Zealand’s best ever middle distance athletes. He recently broke his New Zealand 1500m record by nearly 1.5secs. That is a huge chunk of time to take off your personal best in a 1500m when you are competing at Nick’s level.

On Friday, 3 August, at 8:05pm (Saturday 7:05am our time) Nick will be competing in the first round of the Men’s 1500m heat. This is followed by the semi-final on the Sunday (Monday our time) and the final on The Tuesday (Wednesday our time). The 1500m is always a hotly contested event with some incredibly fast African (Kenyan and Ethiopian) runners, however, Nick is a very good tactical runner with a bit of a kick at the end, which is what wins Olympic 1500m races.

This week we will be getting the students to write Nick a message wishing him all the best for the Olympics. If you would like to do the same thing you can send him a tweet @nickwillis or you can join the NZ Olympic facebook page and send a message that way. Please do support our New Zealand Olympic team. In my experience it is really motivating and encouraging to get messages from people back home, especially when you are thousands of kilometers away.

Go Nick Willis!!! Go Team Kiwi!!!