New Zealand at the Olympics

Sporting event delegation

New Zealand at the
Olympics

IOC code| NZL
NOC| New Zealand Olympic Committee
Website| www.olympic.org.nz
Medals
Ranked 25th|

Gold

Silver

Bronze

Total
163
Summer appearances

* 1908
* 1912
* 1920
* 1924
* 1928
* 1932
* 1936
* 1948
* 1952
* 1956
* 1960
* 1964
* 1968
* 1972
* 1976
* 1980
* 1984
* 1988
* 1992
* 1996
* 2000
* 2004
* 2008
* 2012
* 2016
* 2020
* 2024

Winter appearances

* 1952
* 1956
* 1960
* 1964
* 1968
* 1972
* 1976
* 1980
* 1984
* 1988
* 1992
* 1994
* 1998
* 2002
* 2006
* 2010
* 2014
* 2018
* 2022
* 2026

Other related appearances
Australasia (1908–1912)
The New Zealand rowing team at the 1932 Summer Olympics

New Zealand first sent an independent team to the Olympics in 1920. Before this, at the 1908 and 1912 Summer Olympics, New Zealand and Australian athletes competed together in a combined Australasia team. New Zealand has also participated in most Winter Olympic Games since 1952, missing only the 1956 and 1964 Games.

The New Zealand Olympic Committee (NZOC) is the National Olympic Committee for New Zealand. The NZOC was founded in 1911, and recognised by the IOC in 1919.

New Zealand athletes have won a total of 163 medals, with 157 won at the Summer Games and six at the Winter Games. The most successful sport has been rowing with 33 medals, with athletics second with 28 medals. Before the 2022 Winter Olympics, the 140 medals won by New Zealand put the country at number 32 on the all-time Olympic Games medal table for total number of medals and number 24 when weighted by medal type.

Following the 2020 Summer Olympics, 1519 competitors represented New Zealand at the Olympic Games. Harry Kerr is considered[1] the first Kiwi Olympian[2] and Adrian Blincoe the 1000th.[3] On 11 June 2009 it was reported that of the 1111 Olympians to that date, 114 were deceased and the whereabouts of 21 were unknown.[3] By 25 June 2009, only 9 Olympians had not been located.[4] There are no living Kiwi Olympians from before the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne.[3][5]

## New Zealand at the Summer Games

[edit]

The first person from New Zealand to compete at the Olympic Games was Victor Lindberg, who was a member of the Osborne Swimming Club, which represented Great Britain in water polo at the 1900 Summer Olympics and won gold.

Three New Zealanders won medals competing for Australasian teams in 1908 and 1912. New Zealand sent its first independent team to the VII Olympiad in 1920, comprising two runners, a rower, and a 15-year-old swimmer.

Due to its location in the South Pacific and distance from the early Olympic host cities in Europe and North America, New Zealanders needed to undertake long sea voyages to participate. Since the advent of international jet air travel in the 1950s, and the greater number of Olympic sports, the size of New Zealand Olympic teams has increased substantially. New Zealand, like other Southern Hemisphere countries, has had the disadvantage of needing to peak to compete in summer sports that are held during their winter months. Only three Olympics have been held in the Southern Hemisphere, the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, and the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

New Zealand's participation in the 1976 Games was controversial, and led to a boycott of the Games by most African countries, who protested against sporting contacts between the All Blacks and apartheid South Africa.

## New Zealand at the Winter Games

[edit]

New Zealand has had a much smaller participation in the Winter Olympics, owing to its oceanic climate and Southern Hemisphere location requiring athletes to peak in the middle of the New Zealand summer. The nation did not assemble its first Winter Olympic team until 1952. In 1988 the team included bobsleighers; the first entry in a winter sport other than alpine skiing.

In 1992, Annelise Coberger of New Zealand became the first person from the Southern Hemisphere to win a medal at the Winter Olympics when she won silver in the slalom at Albertville in France.

In 2018, Zoi Sadowski-Synnott won New Zealand's second Winter Olympic medal in the inaugural big air snowboarding competition in Pyeongchang, South Korea, winning bronze. Later on the same day, 16-year-old Nico Porteous won New Zealand's third Winter Olympic medal in the men's ski halfpipe, also taking bronze.

Four years later in 2022, Zoi Sadowski-Synnott also won New Zealand's first-ever Winter Olympics gold medal, in the women's slopestyle. Nico Porteous later won New Zealand’s second-ever Winter Olympics gold medal, again in the men’s ski half pipe.

## Athlete selection and sport funding

[edit]

Athletes are chosen by the national sporting bodies and nominated to the NZOC for selection. The selection process was overhauled after the disappointing performance at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia, where the 151 New Zealand athletes returned with just four medals (one gold and three bronze). The NZOC devised rules by which an athlete would only be selected if they had a chance to reach the final 16 in an Olympic competition. It also resulted in an overhaul of the way high-performance sport is funded, with Sport and Recreation New Zealand (SPARC) set up to change from a block funding model to targeted investments. This also forced some sporting bodies to amalgamate as SPARC would only deal with one funding body per sport.[6]

## Participation

[edit]

### Timeline of participation

[edit]

Date | Team

|

1900–1904 |  Australia (AUS) |
1908–1912 |  Australasia (ANZ)
1920– |  Australia (AUS) |  New Zealand (NZL)

## Medal tables

[edit]

### Medals by Summer Games

[edit]

| Games  | Athletes  |  Gold |  Silver |  Bronze | Total  | Rank

|
|
|
|
|
|

1896 Athens | did not participate
1900 Paris
1904 St. Louis
1908 London | as part of  Australasia (ANZ)
1912 Stockholm
1920 Antwerp | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 22
1924 Paris | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 23
1928 Amsterdam | 10 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 24
1932 Los Angeles | 21 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 22
1936 Berlin | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 20
1948 London | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | –
1952 Helsinki | 14 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 24
1956 Melbourne | 53 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 16
1960 Rome | 37 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 14
1964 Tokyo | 64 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 12
1968 Mexico City | 52 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 27
1972 Munich | 89 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 23
1976 Montreal | 80 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 18
1980 Moscow | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | –
1984 Los Angeles | 130 | 8 | 1 | 2 | 11 | 8
1988 Seoul | 83 | 3 | 2 | 8 | 13 | 18
1992 Barcelona | 134 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 10 | 28
1996 Atlanta | 97 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 26
2000 Sydney | 151 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 46
2004 Athens | 148 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 24
2008 Beijing | 182 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 9 | 25
2012 London | 184 | 6 | 2 | 5 | 13 | 15
2016 Rio de Janeiro | 199 | 4 | 9 | 5 | 18 | 19
2020 Tokyo | 213 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 20 | 13
2024 Paris | 195 | 10 | 7 | 3 | 20 | 11
2028 Los Angeles
2032 Brisbane
Total | 63 | 40 | 54 | 157 | 22

### Medals by Winter Games

[edit]

| Games  | Athletes  |  Gold |  Silver |  Bronze | Total  | Rank

|
|
|
|
|
|

1924 Chamonix | did not participate
1928 St. Moritz
1932 Lake Placid
1936 Garmisch-Partenkirchen
1948 St. Moritz
1952 Oslo | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | –
1956 Cortina d'Ampezzo | did not participate
1960 Squaw Valley | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | –
1964 Innsbruck | did not participate
1968 Grenoble | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | –
1972 Sapporo | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | –
1976 Innsbruck | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | –
1980 Lake Placid | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | –
1984 Sarajevo | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | –
1988 Calgary | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | –
1992 Albertville | 6 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 17
1994 Lillehammer | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | –
1998 Nagano | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | –
2002 Salt Lake City | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | –
2006 Turin | 18 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | –
2010 Vancouver | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | –
2014 Sochi | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | –
2018 Pyeongchang | 21 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 26
2022 Beijing | 15 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 17
2026 Milano Cortina | future event
2030 French Alps
2034 Salt Lake City
Total | 2 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 37

### Medals by Summer Sport

[edit]

Leading in that sport

| Sport| Gold| Silver| Bronze| Total

|
|
|
|

Rowing| 15| 7| 11| 33
Canoeing| 14| 3| 2| 19
Athletics| 11| 4| 13| 28
Sailing| 9| 9| 7| 25
Cycling| 3| 7| 5| 15
Equestrian| 3| 2| 5| 10
Rugby sevens| 2| 2| 0| 4
Swimming| 2| 1| 3| 6
Triathlon| 1| 2| 2| 5
Boxing| 1| 1| 2| 4
Golf| 1| 1| 1| 3
Field hockey| 1| 0| 0| 1
Shooting| 0| 1| 1| 2
Gymnastics| 0| 0| 1| 1
Tennis| 0| 0| 1| 1
Totals (15 entries)| 63| 40| 54| 157

### Medals by Winter Sport

[edit]

| Sport| Gold| Silver| Bronze| Total

|
|
|
|

Snowboarding| 1| 1| 1| 3
Freestyle skiing| 1| 0| 1| 2
Alpine skiing| 0| 1| 0| 1
Totals (3 entries)| 2| 2| 2| 6

## Summary by sport

[edit]

### Rowing

[edit]

Games  | No. Sailors  | Events | Gold | Silver | Bronze  | Total  | Ranking

|
|
|
|
|
|
|

1896 Athens | Not held
1900 Paris | 0 | 0/5 / (a) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
1904 St Louis | 0 | 0/5 / (a) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
1908 London | 0 | 0/5 / (a) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
1912 Stockholm | 0 | 0/4 / (a) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
1916 | Games Cancelled
1920 Antwerp | 1 | 1/5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 7
1924 Paris | 0 | 0/7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
1928 Amsterdam | 0 | 0/7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
1932 Los Angeles | 16 | 3/7 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 7
1936 Berlin | 0 | 0/7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
1940 | Games Cancelled
1944 | Games Cancelled
1948 London | 0 | 0/7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
1952 Helsinki | 5 | 1/7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
1956 Melbourne | 8 | 3/7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
1960 Rome | 1 | 1/7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
1964 Tokyo | 15 | 3/7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
1968 Mexico City | 14 | 2/7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6
1972 Munich | 19 | 4/7 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3
1976 Montreal | 18 | 3/14 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 10=
1980  | 0 | 0/14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
1984 Los Angeles | 22 | 6/14 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 5
1988  | 15 | 5/14 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 13
1992 Barcelona | 12 | 4/14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
1996 Atlanta | 11 | 5/14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
2000 Sydney | 2 | 2/14 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6=
2004 Athens | 11 | 5/14 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7=
2008 Beijing | 16 | 8/14 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 8
2012 London | 26 | 11/14 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 2
2016 Rio | 38 | 11/14 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 2
2020 Tokyo | 30 | 8/14 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 1
2024 Paris | 20 | 9/14 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 4
Total  | 300 | 264 | 15 | 7 | 11 | 33 | 6

### Sailing

[edit]

Games  | No. Sailors  | Events | Gold | Silver | Bronze  | Total  | Ranking

|
|
|
|
|
|
|

1896 | Scheduled but event wasn't held
1900 | 0 | 0/13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
1904 | Not Scheduled
1908 | 0 | 0/4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
1912 | 0 | 0/4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
1916 | Games Cancelled
1920 | 0 | 0/14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
1924 | 0 | 0/3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
1928 | 0 | 0/3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
1932 | 0 | 0/4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
1936 | 0 | 0/4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
1940 | Games Cancelled
1944 | Games Cancelled
1948 | 0 | 0/5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
1952 | 0 | 0/5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
1956 | 5 | 2/5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4
1960 | 3 | 2/5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
1964 | 3 | 2/5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3
1968 | 3 | 2/5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
1972 | 9 | 4/6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
1976 | 8 | 4/6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
1980 | 0 | 0/6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
1984 | 11 | 6/7 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 2
1988 | 13 | 7/8 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3
1992 | 17 | 10/10 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 4
1996 | 16 | 10/10 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 12
2000 | 18 | 11/11 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 12
2004 | 12 | 8/11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
2008 | 9 | 7/11 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6
2012 | 15 | 9/10 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 5
2016 | 12 | 7/10 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 4
2020 | 10 | 6/10 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 11=
2024 | 12 | 9/10 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 8=
Total | 176 | 106 / 205 | 9 | 9 | 7 | 25 | 6

## See also

[edit]

* List of flag bearers for New Zealand at the Olympics
* List of New Zealand Olympic medallists
* Category:Olympic competitors for New Zealand
* New Zealand Olympic Committee
* New Zealand at the Paralympics

## References

[edit]

1. ^ The New Zealand Olympic Committee records all athletes chosen for the Olympics, numbered sequentially. Harry Kerr is identified as "New Zealand Olympian: 1".
2. ^ New Zealand Olympic Committee: Harry Kerr
3. ^ a b c Leggat, David (11 June 2009). "21 Kiwi Olympians fail to register". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 30 October 2011.
4. ^ "New Zealand Olympic Committee: 1111 Olympians Honoured this Week". Archived from the original on 12 April 2010. Retrieved 14 September 2009.
5. ^ "Obituary". Stuff/Fairfax. 24 July 2021.
6. ^ Johannsen, Dana (10 May 2024). "The almost Olympians: How the NZOC's selection criteria scuppered Olympic dreams". Radio New Zealand. Retrieved 15 July 2024.

## External links

[edit]

* "New Zealand". International Olympic Committee. 27 July 2021.
* "New Zealand". Olympedia.com.
* "Olympic Analytics/NZL". olympanalyt.com.
* Athletics in the 1966 Encyclopaedia of New Zealand has a paragraph on each Olympiad and Empire Games to 1964
* The Olympics (NZHistory.net.nz)
* The Joseph Romanos list of our best Olympians
* Medal Count for NZ at DatabaseOlympics.com (total of 78 not complete)
* New Zealand Olympic Committee's Museum App
* "New Zealand". Sports-Reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020.

* v
* t
* e

New Zealand at the Olympics

| Summer Olympic Games|

* 1908
* 1912
* 1920
* 1924
* 1928
* 1932
* 1936
* 1948
* 1952
* 1956
* 1960
* 1964
* 1968
* 1972
* 1976
* 1980
* 1984
* 1988
* 1992
* 1996
* 2000
* 2004
* 2008
* 2012
* 2016
* 2020
* 2024

|

Winter Olympic Games|

* 1952
* 1956
* 1960
* 1964
* 1968
* 1972
* 1976
* 1980
* 1984
* 1988
* 1992
* 1994
* 1998
* 2002
* 2006
* 2010
* 2014
* 2018
* 2022
* 2026

Australia and New Zealand participated together as Australasia during the 1908 and 1912 Summer Olympics.

* v
* t
* e

National Olympic Committees that have competed at the Olympic Games

* Nations at the Summer Olympics
* Nations at the Winter Olympics
* tropical nations

Africa|

* Algeria
* Angola
* Benin
* Botswana
* Burkina Faso
* Burundi
* Cameroon
* Cape Verde
* Central African Republic
* Chad
* Comoros
* Congo
* DR Congo
* Djibouti
* Egypt
* Equatorial Guinea
* Eritrea
* Eswatini
* Ethiopia
* Gabon
* The Gambia
* Ghana
* Guinea
* Guinea-Bissau
* Ivory Coast
* Kenya
* Lesotho
* Liberia
* Libya
* Madagascar
* Malawi
* Mali
* Mauritania
* Mauritius
* Morocco
* Mozambique
* Namibia
* Niger
* Nigeria
* Rwanda
* São Tomé and Príncipe
* Senegal
* Seychelles
* Sierra Leone
* Somalia
* South Africa
* South Sudan
* Sudan
* Tanzania
* Togo
* Tunisia
* Uganda
* Zambia
* Zimbabwe

Americas|

* Antigua and Barbuda
* Argentina
* Aruba
* Bahamas
* Barbados
* Belize
* Bermuda
* Bolivia
* Brazil
* British Virgin Islands
* Canada
* Summer
* Winter
* Cayman Islands
* Chile
* Colombia
* Costa Rica
* Cuba
* Dominica
* Dominican Republic
* Ecuador
* El Salvador
* Grenada
* Guatemala
* Guyana
* Haiti
* Honduras
* Jamaica
* Mexico
* Nicaragua
* Panama
* Paraguay
* Peru
* Puerto Rico
* St. Kitts and Nevis
* St. Lucia
* St. Vincent and the Grenadines
* Suriname
* Trinidad and Tobago
* United States
* Summer
* Winter
* Uruguay
* Venezuela
* Virgin Islands

Asia|

* Afghanistan
* Bahrain
* Bangladesh
* Bhutan
* Brunei
* Cambodia
* China
* Chinese Taipei
* Hong Kong
* India
* Indonesia
* Iran
* Iraq
* Japan
* Jordan
* Kazakhstan
* Kuwait
* Kyrgyzstan
* Laos
* Lebanon
* Malaysia
* Maldives
* Mongolia
* Myanmar
* Nepal
* North Korea
* Oman
* Pakistan
* Palestine
* Philippines
* Qatar
* Saudi Arabia
* Singapore
* South Korea
* Sri Lanka
* Syria
* Tajikistan
* Thailand
* Timor-Leste
* Turkmenistan
* United Arab Emirates
* Uzbekistan
* Vietnam
* Yemen

Europe|

* Albania
* Andorra
* Armenia
* Austria
* Azerbaijan
* Belarus
* Belgium
* Bosnia and Herzegovina
* Bulgaria
* Croatia
* Cyprus
* Czech Republic
* Denmark
* Estonia
* Finland
* France
* Georgia
* Germany
* Summer
* Winter
* Great Britain
* Greece
* Hungary
* Iceland
* Ireland
* Israel
* Italy
* Kosovo
* Latvia
* Liechtenstein
* Lithuania
* Luxembourg
* Malta
* Moldova
* Monaco
* Montenegro
* Netherlands
* North Macedonia
* Norway
* Poland
* Portugal
* Romania
* Russia
* San Marino
* Serbia
* Slovakia
* Slovenia
* Spain
* Sweden
* Switzerland
* Turkey
* Ukraine

Oceania|

* American Samoa
* Australia
* Winter
* Cook Islands
* Fiji
* Guam
* Kiribati
* Marshall Islands
* Micronesia
* Nauru
* New Zealand
* Palau
* Papua New Guinea
* Samoa
* Solomon Islands
* Tonga
* Tuvalu
* Vanuatu

Other|

* Independent Olympians
* Mixed teams
* Korea
* Olympic Athletes from Russia
* Russian Olympic Committee
* Refugee Olympic Team

Historical|

* Australasia
* Bohemia
* British West Indies
* Republic of China
* Czechoslovakia
* East Germany
* Netherlands Antilles
* North Borneo
* North Yemen
* Rhodesia
* Russian Empire
* Saar
* Serbia and Montenegro
* South Yemen
* Soviet Union
* West Germany
* Unified Team
* United Team of Germany
* Yugoslavia

Olympic Games portal

* v
* t
* e

National sports teams of New Zealand

* A1 GP
* American football
* Australian rules football
* Badminton
* Baseball
* Basketball
* M
* MU-19
* MU-17
* M 3x3
* W
* WU-18
* WU-17
* W 3x3
* Beach handball
* M
* W
* Beach soccer
* Cricket
* M
* MU-19
* NZA
* W
* WU-19
* Blind
* Field hockey
* M
* W
* WU-21
* Floorball
* MU-19
* Football
* M
* MU-23
* MU-20
* MU-19
* MU-17
* W
* WU-20
* WU-17
* Futsal
* M
* W
* Handball
* M
* MU-21
* MU-19
* W
* Ice hockey
* M
* MU-20
* MU-18
* W
* WU-18
* Inline hockey
* Korfball
* Netball
* M
* W
* Roller derby
* Roller hockey
* Rugby league
* M
* MU-20
* W
* Wheelchair
* Rugby union
* M
* MU-21
* MU-20
* MU-19
* Schoolboys
* M 7s
* W
* W 7s
* Softball
* M
* MU-23
* MU-18
* W
* WU-18
* Squash
* M
* W
* Surf lifesaving
* Tennis
* M
* W
* X
* Volleyball
* M
* W
* WU-18
* Water polo
* M
* W
* Wheelchair basketball
* Wheelchair rugby

* Olympics
* Paralympics
* Deaflympics
* Commonwealth Games

* v
* t
* e

Sport in New Zealand

Team sports|

* Association football
* Australian rules football
* Baseball
* Basketball
* Cricket
* Netball
* Rugby league
* Rugby union

Individual sports|

* Cycling
* Horse racing (Thoroughbred and Harness)
* Motor sport
* Professional boxing
* Skiing

International competitions|

* Olympics
* Paralympics
* Deaflympics
* Commonwealth Games
* Cricket World Cup
* FIFA Confederations Cup
* FIFA World Cup
* Rugby World Cup

* Sportspeople

*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template