After Raglan’s Dave Currie asked New Zealand athletes Alexis Pritchard (boxing), Richie Patterson (weightlifting) and flag bearer Nick Willis to don their number ones and head to the Olympic Village, they had a surprise audience with the Queen today.
The team was advised of the visit only hours before the arrival HRH Queen Elizabeth who was joined in the athletes’ main dining hall by Prince Philip and Princess Anne. She charmed the dozens of athletes from 10 Commonwealth nations invited to the meeting.
“She was just wonderful,” said Dave Currie, Chef de Mission of the New Zealand team. “She’d done her homework and knew the athletes. She congratulated Nick on being named flag bearer.
“Impressively, she’d only returned to the palace at 2am following the Opening Ceremony and had that morning already been to watch the swimming competition and to meet Team GB. That’s not bad for someone who is 86 years old.
“Princess Anne, an Olympian herself, was much more casual and even helped herself to a tray of food in the athletes dining hall.”
Currie said the fact the team had dressed to impress made an impact on the Queen. “We showed respect for Her Majesty and dressed accordingly in our formal uniform. She certainly spent more time with the New Zealand athletes than the others.”
The 86-year-old monarch shook hands with New Zealand flag bearer Nick Willis, team boss Dave Currie, boxer Alexis Pritchard and weightlifter Richie Patterson and athletes from other nations on her visit to the massive dining hall.
Willis, who led the New Zealand team into the Olympic Stadium on Friday night, tweeted details of the visit.
“As the Queen shook my hand, a table, full of athletes trying to get a view, came crashing down. She didn’t even flinch!” he said.
The visit came as New Zealand competition kicked off in London. Day two looks bright with more action at Rowing, Equestrian Eventing, Football and Swimming with new athletes taking to the field of play tomorrow in Sailing, Hockey, Women’s Road Race, Canoe Slalom and Tennis.