Sports Call - The day of reckoning looms for New Zealand at the Rio Olympics.
Akira Ioane reacts after defeat in the men’s sevens quarter-final match between Fiji and New Zealand during the Olympic Games. Photo: AFP
New Zealand's success or failure at these Olympics could well be decided tomorrow, when Hamish Bond and Eric Murray should win the country's first Olympic gold medal of 2016.
Fourteen plus was the medal target for New Zealand at these Games and to meet that there needed to be more to show by now than the current two silver medals.
The list is growing of those who were expected to deliver but have failed to do so, with the men's rugby sevens side undoubtedly at the top.
The women's sevens side was up to scratch but the men's effort - knocked out in the quarter-final by Fiji - was unfathomable.
They were lucky to make it that far after losses to Japan and Great Britain, and while gold was never assured a medal was a must have.
It underlines how, with the sport now at the Olympics, other nations have invested time and money in the format and New Zealand has been overtaken.
There's also a question of whether New Zealand Rugby made sevens enough of a priority. Oh, what coach Gordon Tietjens would have given to have the likes of Beauden Barrett, Ardie Savea and Ben Smith at his disposal.
Others to have underperformed included world champion cyclist Linda Villumsen finished a disappointing sixth in the women's time trial.
World champions Zoe Stevenson and Eve Macfarlane in the double scull failed to even reach the finals.
Sir Mark Todd and the NZ equestrian team's medal hopes were dashed. Photo: AFP
Equestrian was expected to win a medal in either the team's or individual and a team gold was in the offing when Sir Mark Todd began his showjumping - but when Leonidas decided to do his Spinning Rhombus impersonation, knocking down four rails, those expectations were quashed.
As Sir Mark reflected after his round, "at least in 92 in Barcelona we won a [silver] medal", even though Spinning Rhombus with Andrew Nicholson on board knocked down nine rails.
A lack of medals will also, no doubt, create some nervous times for the high-performance funding from the government in future.
Hamish Bond and Eric Murray have a chance to lift New Zealand's medal hopes. Photo: AFP
Much now rests on the strong shoulders of the New Zealand men's rowing pair of Bond and Murray if New Zealand is to re-ignite its Rio campaign.
They are odds-on favourites to win gold, but as these Games have shown there are no guarantees.
The Olympics are a different beast than the world championships. With over 10,000 athletes coming together to live in their own village, the Games bring greater pressure and greater scrutiny. While some athletes don't enjoy it, others embrace it.
New Zealand team sports psychologist Gary Hermansson said the high expectations the Olympics created could make athletes more preoccupied.
"Sometimes that can have a bigger effect than it normally does," Professor Hermansson said.
"It's just pressure, pressure, pressure and sometimes that can have an effect and sometimes you can see through it and make it work."
Nothing would cure some of those pre-occupations better than a gold medal, and Bond and Murray are just the ones to deliver it.
