Realisation of Games dream

It is the pinnacle of sport, and well worth the dedication required to witness first hand, writes Raylene Bates.

When you are young, you dream about what you want to do when you grow up, where you want to be and what that might look like. I always dreamed about going to the Commonwealth Games and Olympics.

Having spent hours as a child watching my idols on television and then meeting some of them during the International Track Series that was held in New Zealand during the 1970s and '80s, I was in awe. I would watch intently every Commonwealth Games and Olympic Games, not just the athletics, but the swimming, gymnastics, cycling ... I was obsessed. I even collected all the newspaper clippings from these events and made scrapbooks to read at a later date.

Although I was to become a senior national and Oceania champion, joining an elite group of athletes to win national medals in three throwing events, the ultimate prize for me was to represent New Zealand at a Commonwealth Games or Olympic Games. Let's face it, it is the ultimate for every aspiring sportsperson.

I remember hearing the news that Auckland had been given the 1990 Commonwealth Games and saying to my parents ''I am going to go to those Games''.

It was so close, and yet proved so far away. In the event I missed selection for the team.

However, 16 years later when I was asked to lead the athletics team for the Melbourne Commonwealth Games as head coach, the first part of my dream had come true. The emotion of walking into that stadium, which was like a home games for New Zealand, was something very special. The cheer and roar from the crowd was overwhelming.

Then to be asked to lead the team to the Beijing Olympics and Paralympics was even more special. I had finally realised my ultimate dream. However, due to the timing of the athletics programme and environmental factors in Beijing, the athletics team decided not to go to the opening ceremony and only arrived in Beijing and the village once competition was well under way.

Instead, we spent the evening of the opening ceremony sitting in a public arena in Hong Kong watching intently as the teams filed past on a big screen, only for the coverage to go to a commercial break as the New Zealand team walked into the stadium.

Four years later I was again very privileged to lead the athletics team for the London Olympics and Paralympics. This time not only were we in London for the opening ceremony, but Nick Willis, our 1500m silver medallist from Beijing was the flag bearer. To walk into the stadium with 80,000 people cheering the Kiwis on, and to see a very special friend sitting in the lower stand, screaming and waving madly, was very emotional.

I finally realised the dream of 40 years earlier had just come true. The pride and joy made all those hours spent coaching in the cold, wind, rain and sometimes dark, the hours spent as an administrator helping organise the sport, all worthwhile.

Not just for me, but for my coach, my husband and sons and most of all my mum, late dad and brother, as they all had sacrificed as much as I had through the years while I had been in pursuit of my dream. This indeed was the best day of my life.

• Raylene Boyle is an athletics coach and administrator.

- Tell us about your best day. Write to odt.features@odt.co.nz. We ask correspondents not to nominate weddings or births; of course they were the best days.