Standout sportspeople recognised in 2023 New Year Honours list

A trailblazing rugby star, Olympic legends and one of the best squash players in the world are the standout sportspeople recognised in the 2023 New Year Honours list.

Former Black Ferns great Farah Palmer becomes the first female rugby player to be appointed dame companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, joining the 12 previous men with links to rugby who have received knighthoods.

“There are lots of people who have gone before me who have done amazing things in women’s rugby and Māori rugby so I thought I would do it for them. Hopefully, I can represent them and do my best,” Dame Farah said.

Some may have expected to see members of the current Black Ferns among the list of New Year Honours recipients. However, there is no representation from the team to be seen because if any of the players or coaching staff were to be nominated, the proximity of the tournament to this round of Royal Honours ruled them out.

Olympic rowing greats Hamish Bond and Eric Murray have been made companions of the New Zealand Order of Merit. The duo won gold medals in the coxless pair at the 2012 and 2016 Olympic Games and were unbeaten between 2009 and 2016 with 69 consecutive wins, claiming seven consecutive World Rowing Championship titles. Bond was also a member of the gold medal-winning men’s eight crew at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, the only New Zealand male to win gold medals at three successive Olympics. He also claimed bronze in the road cycling time trial event at the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games.

Bond told NZME that he received a text from Murray just checking if he’d also received the accolade.

“He did message me to ask me if I got upgraded as well, so I guess he was making sure it wasn’t only him perhaps. That’s part of our story, we will be forever intertwined because we did spend so much time together and we built that run of success in the pair together over eight years. I don’t see Eric on a daily basis anymore, obviously, and it’s good to catch up with him when I get the chance.”

Bond though said that the accomplishment he’s most proud of in his career was without his pairs teammate.

“At this point and maybe because it was more recent history, but the eight was particularly special. Just the fact, I’m aware of the odds we had to overcome to get that over the line. It’s special to me because I know how many dominoes had to line up to fall absolutely perfectly for it to come off. To actually achieve it, I still don’t believe it myself sometimes, to be honest,” he said.

Bond was made a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2013 after winning his first Olympic gold and said the occasion at Government House was great as you get to hear the stories of what other people have done to earn their Honours. Based in North Carolina, Bond was hoping to make it to the next investiture.

“It’s not something you really put much thought to and to get an email or letter out of the blue from the Governor-General on the King’s behalf is something different. It’s special. It would be good to get along again and meet those other people. Sport is an avenue for an award but you hear the achievements of some of the other award-getters in the community and it’s really special to see what people do for others over a lifetime of achievement.”

Winter Olympic champions Nico Porteous and Zoi Sadowski-Synnott were both made members of the New Zealand Order of Merit.

Squash star Paul Coll has been appointed an officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit after another successful year in 2022, his 12th season representing New Zealand on the world stage.

Coll became the first New Zealand male to reach the number one position in the Professional Squash Association World Rankings in March before winning the Windy City Open in Chicago and then defending his British Open crown. He then won gold in the men’s singles and mixed doubles at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games in August.

“I had to pinch myself and think if this was actually real, or if it was a scam or something like that. It’s awesome. A real honour to finish the year with such a title,” Coll told NZME.

“It has felt like four years not one year when I look back from now until March when I became world number one. A lot has happened for me this year in a good way. Pretty special and this is just an amazing way to cap it off.”

Silver Ferns great Anna Harrison, a triple-code New Zealand representative, has been made a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit. Harrison first represented New Zealand in indoor volleyball as a teenager and debuted for the Silver Ferns at 19 in 2002. She played 88 tests over 15 years, including three Commonwealth Games, winning gold twice and silver once, and twice at the Worlds. Harrison also spent almost two and a half years on the FIVB international beach volleyball circuit.

Paralympic champion Corey Peters has also been made a member of the New Zealand Order of Merit. Peters is honoured for services to sit-skiing after winning men’s downhill gold and silver in the Super-G at the Beijing Winter Paralympics earlier this year to go with silver and bronze at the previous two Paralympics.

Kereyn Smith was made a companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to sports governance after 11 years as chief executive of the New Zealand Olympic Committee, overseeing New Zealand’s representation at the 2016 and 2020 Olympics and 2018 and 2022 Winter Olympics, as well as the 2018 Commonwealth Games team.

Former Silver Ferns coach Leigh Gibbs was made a companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit after more than 50 years of service in netball as a player, coach, umpire and administrator.