SpeechHon MICHAEL WOODHOUSE (National): Thank you Mr Speaker. On behalf of the New Zealand National Party it's my great pleasure to join with the Minister in his congratulations for our athletes and to strongly support this motion. As a young boy I have a strong memory of huddling around a 14-inch TV with about thirty other people as the whole country stopped and watched the opening ceremony of the Christchurch Commonwealth Games in 1974 and then of course seeing that fantastic 10000-metre event won by New Zealand's Dick Tayler. It's a lifetime memory and I've got no doubt that it sparked a passion in young athletes to be like him and those athletes and compete for New Zealand on the world stage.I reckon there are a lot of youngsters around the country this week who have been similarly inspired by the fantastic performances of our team at Birmingham in 2022 and boy wasn't there a lot to inspire us: from the cycling team who did so phenomenally well to our swimmers shotputters squash players cricketers boxers bowlers. There's so much that I can't go through them all but I do want to single out a few of them starting with the whole cycling team.Now cycling has had a pretty torrid time over the past few years and to perform so consistently well throughout the Games both on the track and on the road is I hope a sign that things are changing there. Both the Minister and I agree that we owe it to the Podmore family and to Olivia's memory for that to occur and if Birmingham is anything to go by we are heading very much in the right direction not just for winning but for the obvious joy in competing and the support that they showed each other that was on display. Cyclist Aaron Gate comes home as our most successful individual competitor at any Commonwealth Games wining an amazing four golds in his cycling races and he was deservedly awarded the honour of carrying the flag last night at the closing ceremony.The swimmers were great. In Lewis Clareburt Joshua Willmur Sophie Pascoe Andrew Jeffcoat and others we have genuine world-beaters. But it's not just the gold medals we should acknowledge. I love watching the women's pole vault: Imogen Ayris our 21-year-old pole vaulter bringing home bronze. We learnt afterwards that not only was she competing with a broken hand that she knew of; she was competing with a broken foot that she didn't know about and that's an amazing feat of resilience and character. After the disappointment of the T20 semi-final loss to Australia the White Ferns delivered what I think was one of the most imperious performances against the highly fancied home team England. While not winning the bowls team brought home nine bronze medals and as the Minister said Sam Tanner's self-assessment of his personal best in the 1500 metres really summed up those games.I join with the Minister in thanking all of those who have supported the athletes in Birmingham but also to their family members at home and the tremendous amount of community support that is provided to our athletes as they train tirelessly hour after hour after hour. They've no doubt lit a fire in so many young Kiwis and for that they deserve our heartiest thanks and congratulations.