Scratched 
The star of the 1990 Commonwealth Games was a young New Zealand gymnast whose shock win catapulted her to national celebrity status. But Nikki Jenkins wasn’t our only gymnastic champion that year – this is the story of Angela Walker, New Zealand’s forgotten gold medalist. When you see an athlete competing at an Olympics or … Read more
The star of the 1990 Commonwealth Games was a young New Zealand gymnast whose shock win catapulted her to national celebrity status. But Nikki Jenkins wasn’t our only gymnastic champion that year – this is the story of Angela Walker, New Zealand’s forgotten gold medalist. When you see an athlete competing at an Olympics or … Read more
Watch all the episodes released so far from Scratched, The Spinoff’s video series celebrating New Zealand sporting heroes who never got their due – but whose legacies deserve to be in lights. Tuariki Delamere’s somersault long jump In the 1970s, a young New Zealand athlete introduced the world to a radical new long jump technique. … Read more
Watch the trailer below, featuring Meda McKenzie, Tuariki Delamere, Lee Ralph and more. Watch episode one: Meda McKenzie vs the Cook Strait Watch episode two: Tuariki Delamere’s somersault long jump One morning in 1978, 15-year-old Meda McKenzie got into the water off the coast of Wellington and started swimming. Just over 12 hours later, she … Read more
At a college track and field meet in 1974, a New Zealand long jumper representing Washington State University did something that had never been done in competition before – a somersault. Years before he joined NZ First and became a member of parliament, Tuariki Delamere was a promising long jump athlete with a scholarship at … Read more
Not many people have swum across the Cook Strait – fewer still have turned around and swum all the way back again too. Scratched meets Meda McKenzie, endurance swimmer. Meda McKenzie could swim. She was never a particularly fast swimmer, and never went to an Olympics or Commonwealth Games. It was her stamina and endurance … Read more
All this week we’re looking back on some of the best videos published on The Spinoff in 2020. Today, when Scratched caught up with Joeli Vidiri, the greatest All Black that never was. Most customers at Mitre 10 Mega in Pukekohe don’t realise they’ve just been greeted by one of the most exciting talents in … Read more
From tennis champions to dance craze inventors, Scratched celebrates New Zealand sporting heroes who never got their due – but whose legacies deserve to be in lights. This month, Joeli Vidiri, the greatest All Black that never was. Most customers at Mitre 10 Mega in Pukekohe don’t realise they’ve just been greeted by one of … Read more
From tennis champions to dance craze inventors, Scratched celebrates New Zealand sporting heroes who never got their due – but whose legacies deserve to be in lights. This month, Ruia Morrison meets Serena Williams. Watch the original Ruia Morrison episode of Scratched here. At the ASB Classic winner’s ceremony, Serena Williams, having just won her first title … Read more
Catch up on Scratched, The Spinoff’s video series celebrating New Zealand sporting heroes who never got their due – but whose legacies deserve to be in lights. Ruia Morrison: An unlikely tennis journey from Rotorua to Wimbledon Meet Ruia Morrison, the first New Zealand woman and first Māori tennis player to compete at Wimbledon. Raised … Read more
From tennis champions to dance craze inventors, Scratched celebrates New Zealand sporting heroes who never got their due – but whose legacies deserve to be in lights. This month, Barbara Cox, the matriarch of New Zealand football. New Zealand’s first women’s football team wasn’t formed until 1975. Barbara Cox was the captain, and led the … Read more
From tennis champions to dance craze inventors, Scratched celebrates New Zealand sporting heroes who never got their due – but whose legacies deserve to be in lights. This month, quadruple Commonwealth Games medal winner, Chunli Li. Chunli Li moved to New Zealand in 1987 to retire from table tennis, aged 25. Instead, she was asked … Read more
From tennis champions to dance craze inventors, Scratched celebrates New Zealand sporting heroes who never got their due – but whose legacies deserve to be in lights. This month, aerobics world champion and creator of Jump Jam, Brett Fairweather. Every New Zealander under the age of 30 knows at least one Jump Jam song. “Witch … Read more
From tennis champions to dance craze inventors, Scratched celebrates New Zealand sporting heroes who never got their due – but whose legacies deserve to be in lights. This month, the world’s winningest road runner, Anne Audain. Anne Audain has won more races than she’s lost. In fact, of the 112 road races that Audain ran … Read more
Introducing Scratched, an original web series that finds and celebrates the lost sporting legends of Aotearoa. There are many sportspeople whose names are uttered regularly by New Zealanders, and whose stories have been told over and over again. But what about the athletes whose lives and careers have faded from the national memory? New … Read more