Olympic gold medalist and rugby sevens star Alena Saili has been named the 2022 ILT Southland senior sportsperson of the year. 

The 23-year-old attended Southland Girls’ High School and is a two-time Southland junior sportsperson of the year.

She became the first Southland woman to win an Olympic gold as part of the New Zealand women’s sevens team in Tokyo last year. 

A regular in the Black Ferns since 2017, Saili was recently confirmed in the squad for the Birmingham Commonwealth Games and is hoping for a repeat of her gold medal at the last Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast. 

Training commitments meant she was unable to attend Friday night’s awards in person, however she was represented by proud parents Sefo Saili and Maima Afutu and joined the 400-strong crowd at the Ascot Park Hotel by video call. 

The evening got off to a rousing start with performances from the Southland Girls’ High School kapa hapa group. 

Guest speaker Bailley Unahi shared her story of suffering a spinal cord injury during the Six60 balcony collapse in Dunedin in 2016, to now aiming to become the first New Zealand female sit-skier to compete at a Winter Olympics. 

New Zealand secondary schools netball representative Losa Fifita won the Vodafone Junior Sportsperson of the Year, while cyclist Ronan Shearing was honoured with the Mike Piper Trophy for integrity, excellence and commitment which is presented each year to an Academy Southland athlete. 

Nationally regarded athletics coach Chris Knight was named Ricoh Coach of the Year, for the second time in three years. 

The Southland Kia Team of the Year award went to the Cycling Southland under 17 boys sprint pairing of Magnus Jamieson and George Manson, who twice broke the New Zealand record on the way to winning the national title. 

Te Anau’s Gail Kirkman, who continues to compete at a world class level in athletics despite turning 70, took home the NZME Masters Achievement award. 

The BDO Administrator of the year award went to Southern Steel events manager Sonya Fleming, while the Creation Signs Official of the year award was won by Barbara Grieve, the only New Zealander, and one of only a handful of women, to officiate in weightlifting at the Tokyo Olympics. 

The late Will Impelmans, who was a driving force behind developing mountainbike tracks on Bluff Hill, won the Southland Times Unsung Hero award, which was decided by public vote. 

Active Southland Services to Sport awards were presented to former Olympic cyclist and Southland Triathlon and Multisport Club stalwart Glenn McLeay, Golf Southland’s Linda Suddaby, longtime Southland Cricket Association administrator and volunteer Allan Faithful and Southland Racing Club president Sean Bellew. 

The Awards are the longest running of their kind in New Zealand and are presented annually by Active Southland on behalf of the Southland Amateur Sports Trust. 

Active Southland chief executive Brendon McDermott congratulated all the finalists and category winners. 

“The aim of these awards is to inspire the Southland community and you can’t help but be inspired by the dedication, commitment and resilience showcased by these awards, from the grassroots right through the highest levels of sport,” he said. 

“This night is all about coming together as a sporting community to connect and celebrate, and that’s really important because as a province we are at our best when we work together.”