Trailblazing Canterbury sportswoman Melissa Ruscoe and triathlon pioneer John Hellemans, who coached multiple world champions and Olympians, have been named Sporting Legends of Canterbury.

They were officially inducted during the May 23 Canterbury Sport and Recreation Awards at the Air Force Museum of New Zealand in Ōtautahi/Christchurch.

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Ruscoe holds the rare distinction of captaining Aotearoa/New Zealand across three sporting codes: football, rugby and rugby sevens.

“When you get those representative honours, it’s extremely proud and humbling as it is tonight,” she told broadcaster Lesley Murdoch at the induction ceremony. “But it’s never about you as the individual because, as we’ve heard before, it takes a village.”

Renowned for her natural mana and captaincy style, Ruscoe said she liked to lead by example.

“There’s a team of leaders when you’re in a team environment like that; everyone has their role and responsibilities. So, I was never a big talker, I don’t think.

“Actions speak louder than words and I was always, ‘If I’m expecting others to do things and to train and do all that sort of stuff and then perform on the field, then I’ve got to be doing the same thing.’ So, I think I was a leader by my actions.”

Ruscoe retired from international football in 2000 after being capped 23 times for the New Zealand national team.

She returned to high-performance sport in 2003, transitioning to rugby union and quickly rising through the ranks to debut for the Black Ferns. She retired in 2010, ending a career in which she won two Rugby World Cups, became a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit and one of Aotearoa’s most recognisable athletes.

Hellemans is renowned for his dual legacy as an elite triathlete and world-class coach.

The Netherlands native represented New Zealand at the 1990 Commonwealth Games and won six national titles.

Hellemans also went on to coach Olympic triathletes and world champions, including Erin Baker and Andrea Hewitt.

“It was a total surprise to me,” Hellemans told Newstalk ZB of his induction.

“We ended up first at the airport, where my daughter from North Island stepped off the plane – that was a lovely surprise. And then we rocked up to the Air Force Museum, and there were many of the athletes I’ve coached over the years [who] were meeting me there, so that was fantastic and it’s just sinking in now, what happened last night,” he said on Saturday.

Hellemans told Murdoch of how he came to be a triathlete.

“In my native, Holland, I was a swimmer and a water polo player, and one of my goals was to be a national champion – I never quite made that,” he said.

“Then I came to New Zealand, my first job was in Blenheim at Wairau Hospital, where they didn’t have a water polo club - so I started running with the Marlborough Harriers and found out I was quite good at it.

“Around the same time, triathlon came to our shores. I watched it on television, and my ears picked up and I thought, ‘I’d quite like to do that.’”

Hellemans flew to Auckland at the first opportunity to compete in his maiden triathlon. He won the event, and the rest is history.

“One has to do something with one’s life and sport seems to be my thing,” Hellemans added.

Ruscoe and Hellemans join Julie Seymour and Graham Condon as the latest Sporting Legends of Canterbury inductees.

Article added: Thursday, May 29, 2025