New Zealand at The Olympics

New Zealand At The Olympics

New Zealand first participated at the Olympic Games in 1908, and has sent athletes to compete in every Summer Olympic Games since then. For its first two Games, in 1908 and 1912, New Zealand competed with Australia in a combined Australasia team. New Zealand first sent an independent team in 1920.

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 also participated in most Winter Olympic Games since 1952, missing only the 1956 and 1964 Games. In 1988 the team included Bobsleighers; the first entry in a winter sport other than Alpine Skiing.

New Zealand athletes have won a total of 103 medals at the Summer Games. The most successful sport have been athletics with 21 medals in total and 10 gold medals, with rowing following closely behind, also with 21 medals in total but only 9 gold medals. New Zealand has won a single medal at the Winter Games; the silver medal won by Annelise Coberger in alpine skiing at the 1992 Winter Olympics was the first medal won at the Winter Games by a Southern Hemisphere nation.

The 100 medals won by New Zealand put New Zealand at Number 32 on the all-time Olympic Games medal table for total number of medals and Number 27 when weighted by medal type.