The New Zealand team to the Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast next year is set to top 250, which will be the biggest team the country has sent to an Olympics or Commonwealth Games.
It's six months until the Games begins and New Zealand team chef de mission Rob Waddell expects the team will top 250 athletes by the final selections are made for the April event.
The largest team New Zealand has sent to a Commonwealth Games was 249 in Melbourne in 2006.
Waddell said the Games remain an important part of the high performance pathway for New Zealand athletes and the increasing number of athletes competing shows the "evolution of our high performance culture, that we are improving and having these quality athletes coming through."
Sevens Rugby players Niall WIlliams and Theresa Fitzpatrick who are set to be among the largest New Zealand team to compete at a Commonwealth Games. Photo: Photosport
"It's very important for New Zealand too. If you think about sports like squash and bowls and some of the wrestling disciplines that might not get to go to an Olympic Games, it's an essential pinnacle event for those sports."
Interest though to host the Games is waning with only Birmingham putting its name forward to host the 2022 event, after Durban in South Africa was stripped of its hosting rights by the Commonwealth Games Federation.
New Zealand last hosted the Comonwealth Games in 1990 in Auckland and the Gold Coast may be the closest thing to a home Games New Zealand gets for some time.
Rob Waddell speaking the media session for the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games. Photo: Sally Murphy/RNZ
While Waddell said he would personally like to see New Zealand host the event again but that was a decision for central government to make.
Waddell said the template for the Games was different to the Olympics.
"It's not as big as the Olympics so it's size and scale means it can be quite nimble. It's able to go to places like the Gold Coast, like Glasgow and use a lot of the existing facilities and not have to build a whole new raft of big white elephants which has always been a challenge around the Olympics."
-RNZ
