New Zealand at the Olympics

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 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.

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.{{cite news |last1=Johannsen |first1=Dana |title=The almost Olympians: How the NZOC's selection criteria scuppered Olympic dreams |url= https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/in-depth/516451/the-almost-olympians-how-the-nzoc-s-selection-criteria-scuppered-olympic-dreams |access-date=15 July 2024 |work=Radio New Zealand |date=10 May 2024}}

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|-

|align=left| {{flagicon|Sweden}} {{GamesName|SOG|1912}}

|-

|align=left| {{flagicon|Belgium}} {{GamesName|SOG|1920}} || 4 || 0 || 0 || 1 || 1 || 22

|-

|align=left| {{flagicon|France}} {{GamesName|SOG|1924}} || 4 || 0 || 0 || 1 || 1 || 23

|-

|align=left| {{flagicon|Netherlands}} {{GamesName|SOG|1928}} || 10 || 1 || 0 || 0 || 1 || 24

|-

|align=left| {{flagicon|US}} {{GamesName|SOG|1932}} || 21 || 0 || 1 || 0 || 1 || 22

|-

|align=left| {{flagicon|Nazi Germany}} {{GamesName|SOG|1936}} || 7 || 1 || 0 || 0 || 1 || 20

|-

|align=left| {{flagicon|UK}} {{GamesName|SOG|1948}} || 7 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || –

|-

|align=left| {{flagicon|Finland}} {{GamesName|SOG|1952}} || 14 || 1 || 0 || 2 || 3 || 24

|-

|align=left| {{flagicon|Australia}} {{GamesName|SOG|1956}} || 53 || 2 || 0 || 0 || 2 || 16

|-

|align=left| {{flagicon|Italy}} {{GamesName|SOG|1960}} || 37 || 2 || 0 || 1 || 3 || 14

|-

|align=left| {{flagicon|Japan}} {{GamesName|SOG|1964}} || 64 || 3 || 0 || 2 || 5 || 12

|-

|align=left| {{flagicon|Mexico}} {{GamesName|SOG|1968}} || 52 || 1 || 0 || 2 || 3 || 27

|-

|align=left| {{flagicon|West Germany}} {{GamesName|SOG|1972}} || 89 || 1 || 1 || 1 || 3 || 23

|-

|align=left| {{flagicon|Canada}} {{GamesName|SOG|1976}} || 80 || 2 || 1 || 1 || 4 || 18

|-

|align=left| {{flagicon|Soviet Union}} {{GamesName|SOG|1980}} || 4 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || –

|-

|align=left| {{flagicon|US}} {{GamesName|SOG|1984}} || 130 || 8 || 1 || 2 || 11 || 8

|-

|align=left| {{flagicon|South Korea}} {{GamesName|SOG|1988}} || 83 || 3 || 2 || 8 || 13 || 18

|-

|align=left| {{flagicon|Spain}} {{GamesName|SOG|1992}} || 134 || 1 || 4 || 5 || 10 || 28

|-

|align=left| {{flagicon|US}} {{GamesName|SOG|1996}} || 97 || 3 || 2 || 1 || 6 || 26

|-

|align=left| {{flagicon|Australia}} {{GamesName|SOG|2000}} || 151 || 1 || 0 || 3 || 4 || 46

|-

|align=left| {{flagicon|Greece}} {{GamesName|SOG|2004}} || 148 || 3 || 2 || 0 || 5 || 24

|-

|align=left| {{flagicon|China}} {{GamesName|SOG|2008}} || 182 || 3 || 2 || 4 || 9 || 25

|-

|align=left| {{flagicon|UK}} {{GamesName|SOG|2012}} || 184 || 6 || 2 || 5 || 13 || 15

|-

|align=left| {{flagicon|Brazil}} {{GamesName|SOG|2016}} || 199 || 4 || 9 || 5 || 18 || 19

|-

|align=left| {{flagicon|Japan}} {{GamesName|SOG|2020}} || 213 || 7 || 6 || 7 || 20 || 13

|-

|align=left| {{flagicon|France}} {{GamesName|SOG|2024}} || 195 || 10 || 7 || 3 || 20 || 11

|-

|align=left| {{flagicon|US}} {{GamesName|SOG|2028}}

|-

|align=left| {{flagicon|Australia}} {{GamesName|SOG|2032}}

|-

!colspan=2| Total !! 63 !! 40 !! 54 !! 157 !! 22

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{{Medals table

| caption =

| team = Sport

| hide_rank = yes

| leading = yes

| gold_1 = 15 | silver_1 = 7 | bronze_1 = 11 | name_1 = {{GamesSport|Rowing|Format=d}}

| gold_2 = 11 | silver_2 = 4 | bronze_2 = 13 | name_2 = {{GamesSport|Athletics|Format=d}}

| gold_4 = 14 | silver_4 = 3 | bronze_4 = 2 | name_4 = {{GamesSport|Canoeing|Format=d}}

| gold_3 = 9 | silver_3 = 9 | bronze_3 = 7 | name_3 = {{GamesSport|Sailing|Format=d}}

| gold_5 = 3 | silver_5 = 2 | bronze_5 = 5 | name_5 = {{GamesSport|Equestrian|Format=d}}

| gold_6 = 2 | silver_6 = 1 | bronze_6 = 3 | name_6 = {{GamesSport|Swimming|Format=d}}

| gold_7 = 3 | silver_7 = 7 | bronze_7 = 5 | name_7 = {{GamesSport|Cycling|Format=d}}

| gold_8 = 1 | silver_8 = 1 | bronze_8 = 2 | name_8 = {{GamesSport|Boxing|Format=d}}

| gold_9 = 1 | silver_9 = 2 | bronze_9 = 2 | name_9 = {{GamesSport|Triathlon|Format=d}}

| gold_10 = 1 | silver_10 = 0 | bronze_10 = 0 | name_10 = {{GamesSport|Field hockey|Format=d}}

| gold_11 = 0 | silver_11 = 1 | bronze_11 = 1 | name_11 = {{GamesSport|Shooting|Format=d}}

| gold_12 = 1 | silver_12 = 1 | bronze_12 = 1 | name_12 = {{GamesSport|Golf|Format=d}}

| gold_13 = 2 | silver_13 = 2 | bronze_13 = 0 | name_13 = {{GamesSport|Rugby sevens|Format=d}} |leading_13 = yes

| gold_14 = 0 | silver_14 = 0 | bronze_14 = 1 | name_14 = {{GamesSport|Tennis|Format=d}}

| gold_15 = 0 | silver_15 = 0 | bronze_15 = 1 | name_15 = {{GamesSport|Gymnastics|Format=d}}

}}

{{col-2}}

{{Medals table

| caption =

| team = Sport

| hide_rank = yes

| leading =

| gold_1 = 0 | silver_1 = 1 | bronze_1 = 0 | name_1 = {{GamesSport|Alpine skiing|Format=d}}

| gold_2 = 1 | silver_2 = 0 | bronze_2 = 1 | name_2 = {{GamesSport|Freestyle skiing|Format=d}}

| gold_3 = 1 | silver_3 = 1 | bronze_3 = 1 | name_3 = {{GamesSport|Snowboarding|Format=d}}

}}

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• 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

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite web |title=New Zealand |date=27 July 2021 |publisher=International Olympic Committee |url=https://www.olympic.org/new-zealand }}
• {{cite web |title=New Zealand |publisher=Olympedia.com |url=http://www.olympedia.org/countries/NZL }}
• {{cite web |title=Olympic Analytics/NZL |publisher=olympanalyt.com |url=http://olympanalyt.com/OlympAnalytics.php?param_pagetype=MedalsByGames¶m_country=NZL }}
• [http://www.teara.govt.nz/1966/A/AthleticstrackAndField/AthleticstrackAndField/en Athletics in the 1966 Encyclopaedia of New Zealand has a paragraph on each Olympiad and Empire Games to 1964]
• [http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/node/6057 The Olympics (NZHistory.net.nz)]
• [http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/media/photo/best-best-kiwi-olympians The Joseph Romanos list of our best Olympians]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20080411010556/http://www.databaseolympics.com/country/countrypage.htm?cty=NZL Medal Count for NZ at DatabaseOlympics.com (total of 78 not complete)]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20120508203720/http://www.olympic.org.nz/nzoc/olympic-museum-app New Zealand Olympic Committee's Museum App]
• {{cite web |title=New Zealand |publisher=Sports-Reference.com |url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/countries/NZL |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200417092755/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/countries/NZL/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=17 April 2020 }}

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