Heard of him?
The headline: Mystery at sea after celebrated NZ sportsman missing in boating disaster
I bring this to your attention in the hope that I may learn – and again am wrong.
I suspect this story demonstrates, graphically, just why the slime are held in such low esteem in Godzone.
I make no comment about the gentleman but offer his family my condolences for having lost a loved one.
I make no comment because, frankly, I’ve never heard of Mr Wickenden. Apparently he was a Commonwealth Games boxer. That is about the same as being 2nd reserve for the local clubs 5th grade rugby team.
Mr Wickenden was no doubt a nice fellow, a good guy and a successful man (a 50′ cat. means serious success) but a “celebrated New Zealand sportsman”?
Slow news day, pathetic bone-idle lazy NZ slime or both?
Or am I wrong again?
No Minister 
No you are wrong.
The term “celebrated sportsman” can mean both a sportsman who was celebrated for his life in general and a man who was celebrated for his sporting achievements in particular. I think that David Wickenden meets the first definition.
While David Wickenden may not have achieved significant national or international sports accolades, he was celebrated by friends and family and that can justify the use of the term in a broader sense.
There is also the perfectly legitimate old Latin saying “De mortuis nil nisi bonum,” “Of the dead, say nothing but good.”
We could do a very accurate and hard nosed assessment of where Mr. David Wickenham’s sport achievements rank in human history and whether or not a place in the Commonwealth boxing team equals being 2nd reserve for the local clubs 5th grade rugby team. But because he is dead and died tragically at sea we won’t.
Nah not buying that. If he was celebrated by friends and family then you wouldn’t say celebrated sportsman. The line clearly suggests he was celebrated as sportsman not as a friend and family member. Sloppy writing doesn’t need an apologist.