Commonwealth Games gold medallist Eliza McCartney has no whakapapa Māori, but has spent years learning te reo Māori, saying it’s a language all New Zealanders should learn.
“It’s funny, I think overseas, te reo, te ao Māori, just our culture in general, is far less maybe controversial than it can be at home, which I think is a little ironic.”
McCartney is Aotearoa’s most decorated pole vaulter, with an Olympic bronze, a Commonwealth gold and five national championship titles under her belt.
She first went viral in 2024 after delivering a mihi in te reo Māori at the Paris Olympics. More recently, she made headlines for her mihi after winning Commonwealth gold in the women’s pole vault.
“When each new athlete group is welcomed into the games, there is a whakatau, and of course, you have an opportunity to respond. And so somewhat naively, I said, well, I can give it a go.”
McCartney reflects on the decade since winning bronze at the Rio 2016 Olympics, saying Te Kapa o Aotearoa has come a long way in embracing and embedding te ao Māori in its practices.
“In Paris, Oriini Kaipara was our cultural lead, and she just created such a lovely, safe, inclusive space where you can just give these things a go.”
She says delivering her mihi in Scotland was particularly special because she has whakapapa there.
“I tino āmaimai au mō te mihi ki Glasgow, nō te mea i kaha ake ngā tūmanako i muri i taku mihi ki Parī, so I was quite anxious, engari nā Te Kapa o Aotearoa au i tiaki.”
Te ako i te reo Māori
McCartney’s journey started with te reo Māori classes at school, but it wasn’t until she was overseas that she decided to take learning the language more seriously.
“I had spent some time in Germany and I’d started learning German. And at the back of my head I always thought, ‘I’ll also learn Māori one day,” she explains.
“It kind of got to a point where I thought, “Why am I learning German right now?” I don’t live in Germany, [I] live in Aotearoa and I want to be able to speak our language.”
Ka haere ngātahi te reo me ngā tikanga Māori
Over the years, she has used opportunities to speak with fluent friends and strengthen her reo Māori. She has also completed courses with Te Wānanga o Raukawa.
“You have days where you feel like you’re actively going backwards.”
But McCartney approaches learning te reo Māori much like she approaches sport.
“You just have to put in a little bit of work every day or just a little bit of work frequently enough that you actually kind of get somewhere.”
McCartney says it was a high school teacher who first helped her understand the depth of learning te reo Māori.
“He really taught me that you learn a language and its culture as one.”
She says it brings an understanding and connection that you need in a bicultural society.
“He matapihi ki tētahi atu ao, and I think when you can see the world from someone else’s viewpoint, ka whai mai ngā māramatanga.”
Mā te haratau, ka mārama
After her mihi in Glasgow, McCartney was approached by former New Zealand cricketer Katie Perkins about starting a rōpū where athletes could speak and practise te reo Māori together.
“Lucy Matehaere, one of our kayakers - we call her our gold star - she is an amazing contributor.”
McCartney says the group meets once a week, and she has already noticed an improvement in her fluency.
“It’s been amazing seeing how, between me and her who don’t speak fluent Māori, how we’ve been able to improve already just from this group.”
McCartney hopes to do a full immersion reo Māori course in the future.
