Kiingi Tūheitia has landed in Paris for the 2024 Olympics.
He was welcomed with a pōwhiri at the Olympic Village, with many international athletes watching the ceremony with awe.
He is the first Māori monarch to attend the Olympic Games.
The NZ Olympic committee had invited Kiingi Tūheitia to support athletes after he blessed the newly-made korowai for the New Zealand flag-bearers earlier this year.
Master weaver and New Zealand Olympic Committee kuia Rānui Ngārimu told Te Ao Māori News the new korowai pays homage to the previous korowai Mahutonga, which was blessed by Kiingi Tuheitia’s mother Queen Te Atairangikahu for the 2004 Olympics in Athens.
“It’s about providing something that allows our athletes to go out there on the world stage and represent us in the best way that they can.”
She has named the new kākahu Te Hono ki Matariki and it was worn alongside Mahutonga by the New Zealand team’s flagbearers at the opening ceremony of the Paris games.
Last week Ngira Simmonds, who is part of the King’s delegation in Paris, said Māori needed to be present.
“Mēnā he kaupapa Niu Tiireni ki te ao, me haere te Māori, ka tika. Ko tātou te Māori te kanohi o Aotearoa.”
“If New Zealand has a global agenda, It’s only right that Māori be present. Māori are the face of New Zealand.”