nothing to do with football but just for cernys sake here is a distraction New Zealand farmers group sees sheep shearing as Olympic demonstration sport By Associated Press, Updated: Tuesday, January 17, 7:43 PM WELLINGTON , New Zealand â A New Zealand farming lobby group says sheep shearing has the potential to become an Olympic demonstration sport and the âtime has come to elevate shearingâs sporting status to the ultimate world stage.â New Zealand produces some of the worldâs best shearers and its national championship, the Golden Shears, receives substantial local media coverage.. New Zealand Federated Farmers said in a statement Monday that the worldâs top shearers were âathletes who take it to another level.â New Zealand will host the world shearing championships in March and Federated Farmers Meat and Fiber chairwoman Jeannette Maxwell said it was an appropriate time for the sport to press for wider international recognition. Maxwell said menâs and womenâs world record-holders Ivan Scott of Ireland and Kerri-Jo Te Huia of New Zealand showed the athleticism necessary to reach the top of world shearing. âIvan regained his world eight-hour solo lamb title by shearing 749 lambs, seven more than the previous world record,â she said. âKerri-Jo smashed the womenâs eight-hour solo lamb shearing world record by shearing 507 lambs, 37 more than the previous record.â Maxwell said New Zealandâs government sports funding agency Sparc recognized shearing as a sport and Australia had previously pressed for its inclusion in the Commonwealth Games. âIn 2008 it was mooted by Sports Shear Australia but, surely, the time has come to elevate shearingâs sporting status to the ultimate world stage,â she said. âOne way would be to make shearing a demonstration sport at a Commonwealth Games, if not, the Olympics itself.â Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Australia v NZ v Wales for the medals, no other competitors. Do they have to drug test the sheep for shampoo and conditioner?
ireland as well. automatic entry for being current record holders, i would assume twins you should be proud
just googled him and he is from donegal . . . After shearing his final lamb at 5pm yesterday, Ivan Scott sat back, cracked open a beer, and took his first sip as the freshly-crowned world record holder. The New Zealand-based Irish shearing champion bettered the world eight-hour solo lamb shearing record of 742 that Cam Ferguson set in a King Country woolshed on January 10 last year. The scene was Opepe Station, a touch southeast of Taupo, on State Highway 5. The 30-year-old was given the all-clear after a trial shear comfortably exceeded the minimum 0.9kg of wool per lamb. Scott, who previously held the record at 736 shorn in December 2008, faced four, two-hour runs, with two half-hour smoke breaks and an hour for lunch. The shearing rate was rapid – one lamb every 38.8 seconds or quicker to beat Ferguson's count. Three Kiwi judges and one from Australia were on hand to ensure each lamb was shorn to standard. Judge John ***an said Scott looked "very fit" as he stepped into the pen. "He was very well prepared which you have to be with this sort of effort. It has been measured years ago as the equivalent of two back-to-back marathons." Five of Scott's lambs weren't up to standard and were discounted, yet he still pipped the record. "He took it down to the wire – he did it the hard way." Scott came to New Zealand 10 years ago from the Irish county of Donegal and has been shearing fulltime since then, mostly near Christchurch. For the past four years he's also been shearing the summer season in Rotorua. Scott said yesterday morning leading up to that first cut was "tense" and the pressure didn't let up. Only after his final strike, when the crowd erupted, did it ease. "She was a pretty big moment," he said last night. "It was pretty emotional. "The old body feels pretty good. The arms are a bit sore, but it feels good considering." Scott celebrated his win with a couple of pints and a meal in Taupo. Two more record attempts are coming up this month.
