New Zealand Olympic medallists

New Zealand at the Olympic Games

Flag of New Zealand – Flag bearers
IOC code  NZL
NOC New Zealand Olympic Committee
Website www.olympic.org.nz
Olympic history
Summer 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

*with Australia as Australasia
Winter Games
1952 • 1956 • 1960 • 1964 • 1968 • 1972 • 1976 • 1980 • 1984 • 1988 • 1992 • 1994 • 1998 • 2002 • 2006 • 2010

New Zealand Olympic medallists have achieved considerable sporting success for New Zealand, often considered to be particularly notable due to the relatively small population of the country (just over 4 million people in the 2006 census). Being located in the remote South Pacific, New Zealanders needed to endure long sea voyages to attend the early Olympics. It wasn’t until the VII Olympiad in 1920 that New Zealand sent its first team. Prior to that however, three New Zealanders had won medals competing for Australasian teams in 1908 and 1912. Since 1920 New Zealand has failed to win a medal at the Summer Olympics on only 2 occasions, London in 1948 and Moscow in 1980 when only 4 competitors were sent as a result of the 1980 Summer Olympics boycott.[1]

New Zealand is a temperate country, not generally experiencing the severe winters, to lowland levels, common in many countries in the Northern Hemisphere. As a result New Zealand has had a much smaller participation in the Winter Olympics. The first New Zealand team to attend a Winter Olympics was in 1952. 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. Her medal is included in the list below.

The sporting rivalry between New Zealand and Australia has also been evident at many Olympic Games. In 1984, some Australian media outlets poked fun at the Kiwi gold medallists, saying they had been sitting down on the job at the Los Angeles Games where they were successful in canoeing, equestrian, rowing and sailing. The New Zealand media simply retaliated by pointing out that New Zealand had finished 8th on the final medals table, and Australia only 14th. However, 1976, when Australia failed to win a gold medal, and Los Angeles in 1984, are the only years where New Zealand has finished higher than Australia on the medals tables.

Contents

Total medals

Gold Silver Bronze Total
36 16 35 87

New Zealand medal milestones

Gold

Silver

Bronze

Most successful Olympians

New Zealanders who have won two or more gold medals, or three or more medals:

Name Gold Silver Bronze Total
Ian Ferguson 4 1 - 5
Paul MacDonald 3 1 1 5
Peter Snell 3 - - 3
Danyon Loader 2 1 - 3
Mark Todd 2 - 2 4
Simon Dickie 2 - 1 3
Dick Joyce 2 - - 2
Alan Thompson 2 - - 2
Caroline Evers-Swindell 2 - - 2
Georgina Evers-Swindell 2 - - 2
Blyth Tait 1 1 2 4
Barbara Kendall 1 1 1 3

See also

Notes

  1. ^ New Zealand Olympic Committee: 1980 Moscow
  2. ^ Bruce Biddle originally finished fourth in the cycling road race. When the original Bronze medallist was subsequently disqualified for drug usage, Biddle should have been placed third. However he was not awarded the Bronze medal as he had not been asked to take a drugs test. Despite the continued efforts of the New Zealand Olympic Committee, the International Olympic Committee refused to overturn its decision.