New Zealand at The Olympics - Participation

Participation

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, comprising two runners, a rower, and a 15-year-old girl swimmer. Prior to that however, three New Zealanders had 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 two Olympics have ever been held in the Southern Hemisphere, the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne and the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, with the upcoming 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janerio being the third to be held in the Southern Hemisphere.

As a temperate country New Zealand does not generally experience the severe winters, especially to low levels, common in many countries in the Northern Hemisphere. Consequently, a smaller proportion of New Zealanders experience winter sports (and learn to ski or skate) than the residents of some regions in the Northern Hemisphere. The same applies to many other Southern Hemisphere countries. New Zealand did not send their first Winter Olympic team until 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.

As of 5 December 2012 1111 competitors have represented New Zealand at the Olympic Games. Harry Kerr is considered the first Kiwi Olympian and Adrian Blincoe the 1000th. As at 11 June 2009 of the 1111 Olympians to that date 114 were deceased and the whereabouts of 21 were unknown. By 25 June 2009 only 9 Olympians had not been located. There are no living Kiwi Olympians from before the 1948 Olympics in London.