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On Thursday 22 July 2021 we celebrated the Olympics in centre.

Mary Fisher, Para Swimmer, visited our Koru, Rakau and Ngahere Rooms to share her medals and her experience at the Paralympics. Mary represented New Zealand in backstroke and freestyle in the London Olympics in 2012 and again in the Rio De Janeiro Olympics in 2016. She has won 2 gold medals, 2 silver medals and 1 bronze medal, and made many swimming world records.

Today she shared one of her silver and one of her gold medals with us. Both medals are tactile and the gold medal has small balls inside it so that it can make a special sound. Both medals have braille on them, making them accessible to Paralympians such as Mary who is vision-impaired. Our tamariki enjoyed holding special medals, feeling the designs on them, and shaking the gold one. They were heavier and larger than we expected!

Mary answered questions from our Ngahere children about her primary school, the pounamu she was wearing, braille, her cane and swimming. It was such as special visit. Mary re-enacted the official medal ceremony with some tamariki who were especially interested in wearing the medals.

We look forward to watching and learning more about the Olympics and Paralympics, supporting our athletes in Tokyo.