Toni Street ‘How I learnt to listen to my body'

As she prepares to host TVNZ’s coverage of the Olympic Games, our beloved broadcaster talks to Emma Clifton about the secret weapon she’s found to combat her new health crisis.

- Emma Clifton

The phrase “against the odds” crops up often when it comes to discussing Olympic success stories, but only occasionally in history can it been used to describe the actual Games themselves. However, coming after a year’s postponement, in the midst of a pandemic, the words will be very apt when the sporting event kicks off in Japan on July 23, with spectators banned and the country in a state of emergency.

Toni Street, part of the TVNZ 1 team who will be covering the very different and difficult Tokyo Games, sums it up perfectly: “When you talk to people about the Olympics, they say, ‘Oh, my gosh, I can’t believe they’re still on... but I’m so excited to watch!’”

Staying in Aotearoa, Toni and fellow presenter Sarah Cowley Ross will be bringing us the latest Games news from the Auckland studio, while their colleague Kimberlee Downs will be reporting from the ground, flying out for the Japanese capital shortly after our photoshoot.

The continuation of the Olympics, despite the challenges and controversy, work as a not-too-subtle metaphor for the world we now find ourselves in – where a lack of certainty in our day-to-day lives and a heightened appreciation for when times are good to have become the theme of the past 15 months.

Dealing with the swift changes that come from a health crisis is nothing new for Toni, who was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease in 2015, following the birth of her second daughter Mackenzie, when the low hum of minor symptoms she had been dealing with for years suddenly sat up and roared.