List of New Zealand Olympic medallists
New Zealand Olympic medallists have achieved considerable sporting success for New Zealand, often considered to be notable due to the relatively small population of the country (5.08 million as of June 2020). Being located in the remote South Pacific, New Zealanders needed to endure long sea voyages to attend the early Olympics. It was not until the VII Olympiad in 1920 that New Zealand sent its first team. Prior to that, three New Zealanders won medals competing for Australasian teams in 1908 and 1912. On only two occasions since 1920 has New Zealand failed to win a medal at the Summer Olympics, in 1948 at London and in 1980 at Moscow, when only four competitors were sent as a result of the 1980 Summer Olympics boycott.[1]
| New Zealand at the Olympics | |
|---|---|
 | |
| IOC code | NZL |
| NOC | New Zealand Olympic Committee |
| Website | www |
| Medals |
|
| Summer appearances | |
| Winter appearances | |
| Other related appearances | |
 Australasia (1908 · 1912) | |
New Zealand has had a much smaller participation in the Winter Olympics, due to the country's temperate climate, not generally experiencing the severe winters to lowland levels, common in many countries in the Northern Hemisphere. The first New Zealand team to attend a Winter Olympics was in 1952. The nation has only won medals at two Winter games, in 1992 and in 2018.
The sporting rivalry between New Zealand and bigger neighbour Australia has been evident at many Olympic Games. In 1984, some Australian media outlets poked fun at the New Zealand 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 pointed out that New Zealand had finished 8th on the final medals table, and Australia only 14th. New Zealand has finished higher than Australia on the medals table only in 1976, when Australia failed to win a gold medal, and Los Angeles in 1984.
Medallists
At the 1972 Summer Olympics, 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.
Pre-NZOC medals
- Gold
- 1912 Stockholm
- Malcolm Champion, swimming, member of Australasian 4 × 200 m freestyle relay team
- 1900 Paris
- Victor Lindberg, water polo, member of Great Britain's Osborne Swimming Club
- Bronze
- 1912 Stockholm
- Anthony Wilding, tennis, singles, member of Australasian team
- 1908 London
- Harry Kerr, athletics, 3500 m walk, member of Australasian team
Milestones
- First medal (by a New Zealander): Victor Lindberg (1900, for Great Britain)[2]
- First Gold medal (by a New Zealander): Victor Lindberg (1900, for Great Britain)
- First medal (for New Zealand): Clarence Hadfield D'Arcy (1920)
- First Gold medal (for New Zealand): Ted Morgan (1928)
- First female medallist: Yvette Williams (1952)
- First female Gold medallist: Yvette Williams (1952)
- First double medallist: Peter Snell (1960, 1964)
- First double Gold medallist: Peter Snell (1960, 1964)
- First double Gold medallist at a single Games: Peter Snell (1964)
- First triple medallist: Peter Snell (1960, 1964)
- First triple Gold medallist: Peter Snell (1960, 1964)
- First triple medallist at a single Games: Ian Ferguson (1984)
- First triple Gold medallist at a single Games: Ian Ferguson (1984)
- First quadruple medallists: Ian Ferguson & Paul McDonald (1984, 1988)
- First quadruple Gold medallist: Ian Ferguson (1984, 1988)
- First quintuple medallist: Ian Ferguson & Paul McDonald (1984, 1988)
- First Winter medallist: Annelise Coberger (1992)
- First female double medallist: Vicky Latta (1992, 1996)
- First female triple medallist: Barbara Kendall (1992, 1996, 2000)
- First female double Gold medallists: Caroline & Georgina Evers-Swindell (2004, 2008)
- First female double medallist at a single Games: Lisa Carrington (2016)
- First male Winter medallist: Nico Porteous (2018)
Youngest medallists
| Name | Age | Date of birth | Medal date | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nico Porteous | 16 years, 91 days | 23 November 2001 | 22 February 2018 | |
| Zoi Sadowski-Synnott | 16 years, 353 days | 6 March 2001 | 22 February 2018 | Youngest female medallist |
| Danyon Loader | 17 years, 100 days | 21 April 1975 | 30 July 1992 | Youngest Summer medallist |
| Terina Te Tamaki | 19 years, 79 days | 1 May 1997 | 8 August 2016 | Youngest female Summer medallist |
| Lydia Ko | 19 years, 118 days | 24 April 1997 | 20 August 2016 | |
| Eliza McCartney | 19 years, 252 days | 11 December 1996 | 19 August 2016 | |
| Bruce Kendall | 20 years, 42 days | 27 June 1964 | 8 August 1984 | |
| Annelise Coberger | 20 years, 157 days | 16 September 1971 | 20 February 1992 | |
| Paul Kingsman | 21 years, 99 days | 15 June 1967 | 22 September 1988 | |
| Danyon Loader | 21 years, 100 days | 21 April 1975 | 30 July 1996 | Youngest gold medallist |
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 |
| Valerie Adams | 2 | 1 | - | 3 |
| Mark Todd | 2 | - | 3 | 5 |
| Simon Dickie | 2 | - | 1 | 3 |
| Mahé Drysdale | 2 | - | 1 | 3 |
| Lisa Carrington | 2 | - | 1 | 3 |
| Dick Joyce | 2 | - | - | 2 |
| Alan Thompson | 2 | - | - | 2 |
| Caroline Evers-Swindell | 2 | - | - | 2 |
| Georgina Evers-Swindell | 2 | - | - | 2 |
| Hamish Bond[3][4] | 2 | - | - | 2 |
| Eric Murray[4][3] | 2 | - | - | 2 |
| Blyth Tait | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| Barbara Kendall | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Andrew Nicholson | - | 1 | 2 | 3 |
See also
References
- "1980 Moscow". Archive.is. 2 May 2007. Archived from the original on 2 May 2007. Retrieved 15 December 2017.
- "Original NZ Olympian celebrated". The Northland Age. 9 October 2014. Retrieved 5 October 2015.
- "Rowing | New Zealand Olympic Team". Olympic.org.nz. Retrieved 8 March 2017.
- "coxless pair (2-) men - Olympic Rowing". Olympic.org. Retrieved 8 March 2017.
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