In this Issue

	Road to Bangkok - Issue No.2
	SPARC support Bangkok campaign
	Thai Airways supports the Games
	Thai Culture 2 - the 'Wai'
	Bangkok Info 2
	Athlete Information
	Singapore Staging Camp
	Golden Moments at the World University Games - No.2

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Thursday 19 July, 2007

Road to Bangkok - Issue No.2

Welcome to the second edition of the 'Road to Bangkok', a newsletter for members of the NZ Team and others associated with or interest in the Team. The third and final edition will be sent to you on Thursday 26 July.

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SPARC support Bangkok campaign

SPARC, the government's sports agency, have generously continued their financial support of the NZ Team to the World University Games in Bangkok following the success of their first investment for Izmir in 2005.

The excellent level of health care (doctors, physios & massage therapists) you will receive is funded by SPARC and comes at no cost to individual team members or their sports. SPARC funding is also covering the costs of athlete support and media services as well as the costs of NZ referees and judges attending the Games.

2 members of SPARC staff - athete support member Nicola Sutherland and media manager Julia King - will be part of the Team in Bangkok.

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Thai Airways supports the Games

43 members of the NZ Team will travel to Bangkok with Thai Airways on discounted fares negotiated as part of the airline's overall sponsorship of the Games. USNZ is grateful to Thai Airways staff in Auckland for their assistance with these bookings.

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Thai Culture 2 - the 'Wai'

Thais greet each other and visitors with a sign of respect called the 'Wai' (pronounced 'why'). This involves a slight bow with palms pressed together in a prayer like manner. The higher the hands are placed in relation to the face, the more respect the giver is showing.

Thais appreciate receiving a wai in return - you will experience your first wai as soon as you set foot off the plane in Bangkok - your team manager has been taught so he/she can show you on the plane!

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Bangkok Info 2

-  Bangkok is 5 hours behind New Zealand time
-  A direct flight from Auckland to Bangkok takes 11.5 hours
-  The Thai currency is the Baht - NZ$1 buys around 24 Baht
-  The Athletes' Village is based at Thammasat University's Rangsit campus, around 50km north of the city centre. The Village, which has been completely renovated, was built as the Village for the 1998 Asian Games and has been used as student accommodation since.

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Athlete Information

Doping Control  -  A reminder to all competitors that the Games are run to WADA regulations and as part of that, you are required to supply national level Therapueutic Use Exemptions (TUEs or aTUEs depending on medicine) certified by Drug Free Sport NZ. For those of you who have not done so, please ensure a copy of your TUE/aTUE is provided immediately to health team co-leader Dr Lynne Coleman whose contact details are available from the medical form on the USNZ website.

Vaccinations  -  A reminder to read and note the information in USNZ's vaccinations policy for Bangkok. Our current advice is that Malaria and Dengue Fever should not be major threats given the urban location of the Athletes' Village and sports venues. However it is vital that you adhere to Team rules regarding the wearing of high protection insect repellant which will be provided to you in Bangkok.

Water Reservoirs  -  USNZ is supplying each NZ competitor with a 2 litre water reservoir to be used in conjunction with your teamwear backpack. Hydration is the most important part of your personal management in Bangkok so please use these whenever possible.

Water Bottles  -  thanks also to the Uniform Group, suppliers of the teamwear, for providing water bottles to all team members.

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Singapore Staging Camp

The athletics, men's basketball and women's football teams will undertake a pre-Games camp based at the Singapore Sports School. As part of the camp, the basketball and football teams will play matches against the respective Singaporean national teams.

USNZ is grateful to the School and also to the Singapore Sports Council for their assistance in making this camp possible.

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Golden Moments at the World University Games - No.2

In 2005 Kimberley Smith won New Zealand's second ever gold medal during the 23rd World University Games in Izmir, Turkey. Smith's victory in the women's 5,000m marked two important 'firsts' for New Zealand:

1. The first ever gold medal in Athletics at the World University Games (Mary Davies's bronze in the 10,000m two days earlier was the first ever NZ athletics medal).

2. The first World University Games record by a Kiwi in any sport - Smith's winning time of 15:29:18 broke the previous record of 15:29:86 set by Romania's Gabriela Szabo in Fukuoka, Japan in 1995. Szabo went on win gold in the 5,000m at the Sydney Olympics in 2000.

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