With the 2012 London Olympics just around the corner, we thought we would look back at some of our favourite Olympic moments. Today, Otago Daily Times sports reporter Alistair McMurran looks at curling skip Sean Becker at the 2006 Turin Winter Games.
My favourite Olympic moment
The Patearoa farmer was given the honour of carrying the New Zealand flag at the opening ceremony and also filled the role at the closing ceremony.
"It was my first Olympics and I was overwhelmed at being selected," he said at the time.
Curling is in his blood, with both grandfathers, Jim Becker and Leslie (Digger) Creighton, and his parents, Peter and Wendy, representing New Zealand. His wife, Kathy, brother, Scott, and sister, Bridget, are also international curlers.
Becker was the skip of the New Zealand team that finished eighth at the world championships in Victoria, Canada, in 2005 to confirm its spot at the Olympics.
He wanted New Zealand to excel at its first Winter Olympics and spent a lot of time on the telephone working out strategies with fellow team members.
"The world championships is fine, but the Olympics is the ultimate prize for any sportsman," he said.
New Zealand came close to qualifying for the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics in 1994, when it finished 11th at the world championships.
"The problem then was that we did not believe we could do it," Becker said.
"This time we believed we could."
He was relieved when New Zealand won a closely fought final game against Denmark to qualify for the Olympics.
"It still hasn't sunk in what we have achieved. I'm sure it will one day," he said at the time.
Peter Becker, his father, was the coach of the New Zealand team and watched the championships with his wife, Wendy.
New Zealand finished 10th in Turin, losing all nine of its matches.
Sean Becker's international glory faded quickly when New Zealand curling adopted a different selection policy after the Olympics and picked the winning four from the national championships as the New Zealand team.
Dunedin's Dan Mustapic replaced Becker as skip and the Maniototo farmer stayed at home during the 2007 Asia-Pacific championships.
It was a blow to Becker, who was dubbed the Richie McCaw of the curling world when he was given the job of bearing the New Zealand flag at the opening ceremony in Turin.
However, his international career was not finished. He returned to the New Zealand team in 2008 and reached the international podium when he won a silver medal in the world mixed pairs with sister Bridget in 2010. The gold medal went to the home team Russia.
