12 August 2004
By KEVIN NORQUAY and ALAN PERROTT
New Zealand's Olympic team will fall in behind the national flag in Athens this weekend despite the contentious views of their leader, Dave Currie.
The team's chef de mission has attacked the New Zealand flag as a throwback to this country's colonial days and called for its replacement with something more distinctly Kiwi.
Speaking on the Holmes programme last night, he said New Zealand should adopt a flag which showed the nation was not part of Britain and avoided confusion with that of Australia.
"Our uniforms identify who we are, but our flag doesn't," he said.
Earlier, Mr Currie said he would "far rather walk under the black flag with the silver fern, but the reality is we've got a New Zealand flag and we're proud of it."
He claimed most team members would support his view.
The controversy deepened after a ceremony honouring those who died in Greece during World War II when the chef de mission cast doubt on the view that New Zealanders died for the flag in war-time.
"It's a personal thing, nothing to do with the team, but I can't quite get my head around that you did it for a flag, you do it for your country and your family, and whatever," he said.
In a subsequent statement, Mr Currie said he had not intended any criticism of the Return Services Association and said he would be honoured to march behind the traditional flag.
The New Zealand flag was hoisted at the athletes' village last night and will be carried into Olympic Stadium at the opening ceremony on Saturday morning (NZ time).
New Zealand's Olympic athletes have marched behind three different flags over the years.
At the 1908 and 1912 Games, the New Zealand and Australian teams competed as Australasia with a banner featuring the Union Jack, the Southern Cross and the crown of the royal House of Tudor.
When New Zealand joined the boycott of the 1980 Moscow Olympics, an unofficial team competed independently and marched behind the flag of the New Zealand Olympic Committee, which was black with a silver fern above the Olympic rings.
All other New Zealand teams have carried the national flag.
The New Zealand Herald
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