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National | Sports

Mother of helmsman Peter Burling proud of Team NZ victory

Heather Burling, mother to helmsman Peter Burling spoke to the Kawe Kōrero team about her son and New Zealand's America’s Cup victory.

Proud of her son’s achievement, Burling says although she hasn’t had much time with Peter Burling, she has had the time to congratulate him.

“We saw him this morning and told him enjoy the day and that’s pretty much us.  There’s so many media around at the village around, we’ve seen less and less of him because the media demands have been more and more. But yes he just goes out and does what he does and loves doing it.

They brought them up off the dock to go to the prize-giving stand and we made sure we got front seats.  We managed to pat him on the back, give him a hug and say nice one.”

But Mrs Burling says that it was definitely a collective effort that pulled Team New Zealand through against all odds.

“It’s a real David and Goliath story.  Team NZ had less money.  Everything has been against them throughout this campaign but they’ve designed a really aggressive boat and Peter was a part of that design process and Peter's just always loved sailing fast boats fast.  The whole package, the team, the camaraderie between the cyclists who trained incredibly hard to get huge thigh muscles to power that boat.  The designers, the engineers and everybody behind the scenes.  Honestly it’s a total team effort.”

As expected, Burling says she has received an influx of messages since the win.

“We’re just working through the messages now.  Really happy to see the number of messages from New Zealand and the supporters that Peter and the team have had.”

Now the question is, when will Team New Zealand return home?

Burling says, “They were talking about a special flight tonight, but I don’t know what day it’s going to be.  They have also started to talk about parades but I’m not sure of the details.”