New Zealand at the Olympics

Sporting event delegation
New Zealand at the
Olympics
IOC codeNZL
NOCNew Zealand Olympic Committee
Websitewww.olympic.org.nz
Medals
Ranked 26th
Gold
55
Silver
35
Bronze
53
Total
143
Summer appearances
Winter appearances
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. Prior to 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 143 medals, with 137 won at the Summer Games and six at the Winter Games. The most successful sports has been rowing with 29 medals, with athletics second with 26 medals. Prior to 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 had represented New Zealand at 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 1948 Olympics in London.[3]

New Zealand at the Summer Games

The first person from New Zealand to perform at the Olympic Games was Victor Lindberg, who competed for the Osborne Swimming Club of Great Britain which won the Water Polo at the 1900 Summer Olympics.

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 endure long sea voyages to participate. New Zealand sent its first independent team to the VII Olympiad in 1920, comprising two runners, a rower, and a 15-year-old swimmer. Prior to 1920, three New Zealanders won medals competing for Australasian teams in 1908 and 1912. 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, as with other Southern Hemisphere countries, has had the disadvantage of needing to peak to compete in summer sports which are held during their winter months. Only three Olympics have ever 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

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 their 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 in 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.

Participation

Timeline of participation

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

Medal tables

Medals by Summer Games

Games Athletes  Gold  Silver  Bronze Total Rank
Kingdom of Greece 1896 Athens did not participate
France 1900 Paris
United States 1904 St. Louis
United Kingdom 1908 London as part of  Australasia (ANZ)
Sweden 1912 Stockholm
Belgium 1920 Antwerp 4 0 0 1 1 22
France 1924 Paris 4 0 0 1 1 23
Netherlands 1928 Amsterdam 10 1 0 0 1 24
United States 1932 Los Angeles 21 0 1 0 1 22
Nazi Germany 1936 Berlin 7 1 0 0 1 20
United Kingdom 1948 London 7 0 0 0 0 –
Finland 1952 Helsinki 14 1 0 2 3 24
Australia 1956 Melbourne 53 2 0 0 2 16
Italy 1960 Rome 37 2 0 1 3 14
Japan 1964 Tokyo 64 3 0 2 5 12
Mexico 1968 Mexico City 52 1 0 2 3 27
West Germany 1972 Munich 89 1 1 1 3 23
Canada 1976 Montreal 80 2 1 1 4 18
Soviet Union 1980 Moscow 4 0 0 0 0 –
United States 1984 Los Angeles 130 8 1 2 11 8
South Korea 1988 Seoul 83 3 2 8 13 18
Spain 1992 Barcelona 134 1 4 5 10 28
United States 1996 Atlanta 97 3 2 1 6 26
Australia 2000 Sydney 151 1 0 3 4 46
Greece 2004 Athens 148 3 2 0 5 24
China 2008 Beijing 182 3 2 4 9 25
United Kingdom 2012 London 184 6 2 5 13 15
Brazil 2016 Rio de Janeiro 199 4 9 5 18 19
Japan 2020 Tokyo 213 7 6 7 20 13
France 2024 Paris future event
United States 2028 Los Angeles
Australia 2032 Brisbane
Total 53 33 51 137 25

Medals by Winter Games

Games Athletes  Gold  Silver  Bronze Total Rank
France 1924 Chamonix did not participate
Switzerland 1928 St. Moritz
United States 1932 Lake Placid
Nazi Germany 1936 Garmisch-Partenkirchen
Switzerland 1948 St. Moritz
Norway 1952 Oslo 3 0 0 0 0 –
Italy 1956 Cortina d'Ampezzo did not participate
United States 1960 Squaw Valley 4 0 0 0 0 –
Austria 1964 Innsbruck did not participate
France 1968 Grenoble 6 0 0 0 0 –
Japan 1972 Sapporo 2 0 0 0 0 –
Austria 1976 Innsbruck 5 0 0 0 0 –
United States 1980 Lake Placid 5 0 0 0 0 –
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia 1984 Sarajevo 6 0 0 0 0 –
Canada 1988 Calgary 9 0 0 0 0 –
France 1992 Albertville 6 0 1 0 1 17
Norway 1994 Lillehammer 7 0 0 0 0 –
Japan 1998 Nagano 8 0 0 0 0 –
United States 2002 Salt Lake City 10 0 0 0 0 –
Italy 2006 Turin 18 0 0 0 0 –
Canada 2010 Vancouver 16 0 0 0 0 –
Russia 2014 Sochi 15 0 0 0 0 –
South Korea 2018 Pyeongchang 21 0 0 2 2 26
China 2022 Beijing 15 2 1 0 3 17
Italy 2026 Milan–Cortina future event
Total 2 2 2 6 37

Medals by Summer Sport

SportGoldSilverBronzeTotal
Rowing1451029
Athletics1031326
Canoeing103215
Sailing98623
Equestrian32510
Swimming2136
Cycling15410
Rugby sevens1203
Boxing1124
Triathlon1124
Field hockey1001
Golf0112
Shooting0112
Gymnastics0011
Tennis0011
Totals (15 entries)533351137

Medals by Winter Sport

SportGoldSilverBronzeTotal
Snowboarding1113
Freestyle skiing1012
Alpine skiing0101
Totals (3 entries)2226

Summary by sport

Sailing

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=
Total 9 8 6 23 9

See also

References

  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 2010-04-12. Retrieved 2009-09-14.

External links

  • "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 2020-04-17.
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