'Pounamu' pendants remind New Zealand athletes of home during Paris Games

PARIS : No matter where they finish in their Olympic events, the entire New Zealand team will head away from Paris with something precious around their necks - "pounamu" pendants made by a Maori tribe to remind them of home as they competed for medals.

The 550 pendants given to the athletes and their support teams were hand-crafted over the course of a year by the Te Runanga o Ngai Tahu Maori tribe and are made from Tahutahi pounamu or snowflake jade, a rare green stone found in New Zealand. 

"It's a really real privilege to be gifted one, it's sort of a sign of respect, and everyone in the team received these when we arrived here in Paris," Kiwi rower Phillip Wilson told Reuters at the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium. 

"It's all part of the culture that the wider New Zealand Olympic team builds to make sure everyone feels special and feels part of what is an amazing team to be part of."

Racing in the men's pairs in the rowing regatta, both he and his racing partner Dan Williamson wore their pendants around their necks, although Williamson said his was not the one he had been gifted in Paris. 

"This one's actually a personal one gifted to me by family about six or seven years ago, I haven't taken it off since. It's just a little reminder of home, your piece of home wherever wherever you go around the world," Williamson said. 

"It's special to line up against the best athletes from all over the world, and to look down and know that you're from where we're from, from little New Zealand.

"(There's) a lot of pride to wear the silver fern, to be able to wear pounamu around our neck and represent our country."

One of the traditions associated with pounamu stones is that they should be gifted rather than bought. In Paris, the