Olympic Selection
On 30th May, Adrian Blincoe, New Zealand's 1000th Olympian, was selected for his second Olympic Games to represent New Zealand in London in the 5,000 metres. Adrian is the 30 year old son of Simon and Sharon Blincoe and eldest grandchild of Bert and Mary Blincoe. Although he has been a professional runner based in the USA for many years, Adrian has been a stalwart of New Zealand Athletics teams, having run at the Beijing Olympics, the Melbourne and Delhi Commonwealth Games and numerous World Cross Country Championships
Adrian was a finalist in the 1500 metres at both previous Commonwealth Games and holds the New Zealand 5000m record at 13m 10.19s.
Sadly, a week before the opening of the London Olympics, Adrian made the tough decision to officially withdraw from the New Zealand Olympic team after it became apparent that he would not be able to compete at a high level at the Olympic Games due to injury.
Adrian would have been very excited to be running for New Zealand in London and this must be an immense disappointment for him and his family. At least he was selected: our two other Olympic hopefuls, Sue Blinks of USA and Arlene Blencowe of Australia were not selected.