And our women certainly have.
Yet again, Kiwi women have been at the fore of the Paralympics, winning our opening three medals in Paris this week.
Cyclist Anna Taylor started things off when she gained silver in the C4 3000m individual pursuit. In qualifying for the race, she shaved more than 6sec off her national record with a time of 3min 42.137sec.
When you hear Taylor’s back story — like so many para athletes — it makes her achievements that more impressive.
As an able-bodied athlete, Taylor had dreams of rowing at the Olympics and overcame a hip labral tear in 2015 followed by eight months of rehab.
That was followed by a severe disc prolapse that compressed her spinal cord, and surgery in 2016 for cauda equina syndrome, which caused neurological weakness below the point of injury.
"It is very hard to pick yourself back up after you get knocked down many times, although sometimes that is what is life is all about," Taylor said after the race.
"Just being part of the New Zealand Paralympic team, I am part of something bigger than any hardware I have got today."
Inspirational, in every sense of the word.
Sprinter Danielle Aitchison also won silver in the T36 200m final and set a Paralympic record — which was beaten by gold medallist Yiting Shi in the final — of 28.21sec in the heats.
Aitchison holds the world record of 27.47sec from the world championships earlier this year, 0.03sec faster than Shi in Paris.
Despite the drama of forgetting her prosthetic, cyclist Nicole Murray still sliced 2.5sec off her national record in the C5 3000m individual pursuit qualifiers.
With her prosthetic intact, Murray went on to win bronze and further lowered her national record to 3min 36.201sec in the final.
Breaking records in the pressure moments is no mean feat.
Dunedin runner Anna Grimaldi claimed bronze in the T47 100m yesterday, her first Paralympic track medal, shattering the Oceania record with her time of 12.20sec.
As you are reading this, there could be another medallist in Dunedin’s Holly Robinson, who competed in the F46 shot put late last night.
But it is not just the glitz and glamour of medals that we should talk about.
Shooter Neelam O’Neill became the first woman to represent New Zealand in air pistol at the Paralympics.
She broke more ground as the first Kiwi female to compete in a rifle event in 40 years.
O’Neill finished 10th in the P2 air pistol SH1 and 21st in the R3 mixed 10m air rifle prone SH1 at her debut games in Paris.
Gabby Smith also placed seventh in the SB9 100m breaststroke.
It is so much bigger than just sport.
It is the connections, the emotions, the hard work, the determination and the resilience.
Sport is the vehicle for New Zealand para athletes to show just what they are made of.
It is the young girls sitting at home living with a disability who can watch on 18,000km away from Paris and can see someone like them on the big stage and know one day they could be the next Anna Grimaldi or Nicole Murray.
"It changed my life and I think it has the possibility to change nearly everyone’s," Grimaldi said.
"I want every kid in New Zealand to grow up watching the Paralympic Games and seeing disability in a new light and what it really means to be disabled.
"Because it’s not a box, it doesn’t have to keep you down. There’s opportunities for you."
There is more to come — and our women will continue to give you something to talk about.
