The Paris Olympics 2024 is making headlines for all the right reasons. While Manu Bhaker and Sarabjot Singh have made India proud by winning bronze, there is another reason for Kiwi-Indians to feel proud – Ramesh Unka Patel and Mohan Patel, the first Indian New Zealanders to win an Olympic gold.
Ramesh Unka Patel and Mohan Patel, both Gujaratis, proudly represented Kiwi-Indians at the Montreal Olympics in 1976.
Now 70 and fit as a fiddle, Ramesh walks us through his garage filled with old photographs, reminiscing his hockey days.
“It felt unreal. We knew we had won a silver medal already, but to win a gold…” Ramesh smiles.
“I was only 22 years old when I won the gold medal.”
On July 30, 1976, New Zealand beat Australia in the Olympic final at Montreal.
Back in those days, recalls Ramesh, there was a lot of “negativity around the New Zealand Hockey team before we even left for Olympics ”, as they had never won a medal before.
The challenges to overcome the public perception was not an easy one, but Ramesh shared that the team was confident.
After beating Australia in the Montreal Olympics 1976, the hockey landscape changed in New Zealand. It was much easier to overcome the general perception that New Zealand is a laggard in hockey.
But the challenges for New Zealand Hockey did not end after winning the gold medal.
“Two years after the Olympics was the World Cup in 1978 in Argentina, but we, the Olympic winners, did not have enough money so we did not go to the 1978 World Cup,” Ramesh shares.
“Sports administration in those days was run by one or two people. I do not blame them either. It was just really difficult.”
Back in the 70s, all the players were full-time working professionals. They had other jobs to support themselves because they “never earned anything by playing just hockey”.
Photo: Ramesh Unka Patel with Hockey team players
Being a mathematics teacher at Auckland Grammar School, Ramesh used to manage his timings around the training sessions to prepare for the Olympics.
“We trained in the mornings, during lunch breaks we had physical training and evenings were for skill training.” In 1988, he left his teaching career to become the New Zealand Hockey Federation's development officer.
He played a crucial role in establishing the national hockey academy in the late 1980s. In 1989, he was appointed chief executive of New Zealand Hockey. He stayed with the organisation until 2010.
“The headmaster at school gave me two years to see if this new role in hockey administration is something I’d pursue. But he told me, ‘I don’t think you will come back.’ And he was right,” Ramesh quips.
Ramesh’s tenure marked a pivotal era for national hockey. The men's and women's national bodies had recently merged, a complex process that demanded meticulous organisation. At that time, both the men's and women's test teams were struggling to perform to their full potential.
One of his key goals, Patel says, was to elevate their standings in the world rankings. Bringing the team back to the global stage required funds, expansion of administrative work and promotion of the sport after the 1976 Olympic win.
“It costs a lot of money to run the team. We were broke. Hockey administrators all around the region contributed money to help us stay afloat, and the team also started getting sponsorships.”
Ramesh excelled as both a junior cricketer and hockey player, earning spots in Auckland representative age teams in both the sports. In 1971, he was selected for the New Zealand Brabin Cup under-21 cricket team, alongside future internationals Gary Troup, Brian McKechnie, and Paul McEwan. However, hockey ultimately prevailed, largely due to his family's deep-rooted connection to the sport.
Ramesh’s passion for hockey began at the age of nine, nurtured by his family's strong hockey background. His family had migrated to Aotearoa from the western Indian state of Gujarat in the 1940s.
As Ramesh walks up to a cupboard lined neatly with frames full of his archival photos, he carefully takes out his gold medal, gazing at it with deep admiration. It has been meticulously preserved in one corner of his cosy apartment, cherished after all these years.
“Too many people get hung up on not getting selected. As a player I tell everyone to just go out, play and have fun.”