Commonwealth Games: Dunedin welcomes home golden girl

Alison Shanks had to be coaxed into taking New Zealand's first gold medal of the Delhi Commonwealth Games from the pocket of her black and white tracksuit.

"Come on then, where is it?" a man in the small crowd called, joking, soon after the individual pursuit cycling champion arrived at Dunedin International Airport yesterday.

"We want to make sure you really got it."

The applause swelled when she held aloft the medal she won in the gut-busting 3000m individual pursuit race against Wendy Houvenaghel, of Northern Ireland, whom she beat in the world championship final year.

It was the first of six gold medals New Zealand won at the games and, along with that won by sevens team member Ben Smith, one of two that found their way back to Dunedin.

Shanks blushed - perhaps more than she did when about 20 of her family and friends sang "for she's a jolly good fellow" - before the hugs and kisses started all over again.

"It's just fantastic. It feels really, really good to be home," Shanks said between hugs.

"It's been an incredible time. Delhi was an experience and it had its challenges, but I'm looking forward to a little bit of rest."

Shanks (27) left Dunedin to ride in the United States in June.

She was in Bordeaux, France, when she had to decide whether she should go to Delhi.

"In the week before I left for Delhi there was a lot of speculation, and you saw the worst of the worst - the mess at the village, the security fears - on television," Shanks said.

"It did make me nervous and for a couple of days there I totally thought I was not going, but the [New Zealand Olympic] committee did a lot of work and things were sorted out.

"Going was definitely the right decision."

Not everything in the just-built Games village was finished, but it was "functional, fine, and the food hall and food were great".

Shanks said she was "absolutely motivated" to win a Commonwealth Games individual pursuit medal while she could.

"The individual pursuit is just about a dying event, it's not in the Olympics any more, so it could have been one of the last chances to compete for a medal at the Commonwealth Games."

Shanks said she would celebrate sister Nicola's 25th birthday yesterday before settling into a week of doing "as little as possible".

After that, she will start preparing for December's world championships as the next step towards the women's team pursuit at the London Olympics.

Shanks won the gold medal ride in 3min 30.875sec, 1.262sec quicker than Olympic silver medallist Houvenaghel.

It was Shanks' best time of the year.

• Dunedin City Council staff and Mayor-elect Dave Cull will today discuss planning an event to recognise the achievements of the city's Commonwealth Games gold medallists, marketing communications agency manager Debra Simes confirmed yesterday.

When - and if - it happened would depend on when Shanks and Smith were available, she said.