A century after our Olympic story began at the 1908 London Games, New Zealand's 1000th Olympian is set to compete in Beijing. Kiwi athletes have produced plenty of memorable moments over the years, but the Summer Games have also been marred by boycotts, controversy and tragedy.
New Zealand athletes prepare for the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Vancouver, Canada. Among the athletes featured are Olympic gold medallists Yvette Williams and Murray Halberg.
For most of
their history, the Olympic Games welcomed only those who competed for pleasure
and spurned all monetary rewards. Until the late 20th century, officials
pursued professionals far more vigorously than drug cheats.
Several New Zealand athletes competed – and
won medals – as part of ‘Australasian' teams at the 1908 and 1912 Olympics. But
this country's first official team made its debut at Antwerp in 1920.
Violet Walrond
was New Zealand's first female Olympian. She was only 14 when selected and 15 when
she swam at the 1920 Antwerp Games. Standing 1.6-metres tall, she weighed just 48.5
kg.
New Zealand missed the first three modern Olympiads in Athens (1896), Paris (1900) and St Louis (1904).
In the 1908 Games in London, New Zealanders competed as part of an ‘Australasian'
team.
One of our greatest athletes,
Berlin Olympic gold medallist Jack
Lovelock led a remarkably full life before his tragic death in 1949, just a few days shy of
his 40th birthday.
The sports writer Peter Heidenstrom rated Yvette Williams as his 'New
Zealand Athlete of the Century'. There is no doubt that she was one of
our greatest-ever athletes - and probably the most versatile.
The cult of masculinity had one positive spin-off: Arthur Lydiard. A runner of iron will but limited natural ability, he discovered that as he ran further he got fitter.
Women's sport matured in New Zealand after 1945. Mass participation in a period of prosperity, and increased mobility thanks to the now-common motor car, were crucial factors.
Sports participation and spectatorship were the only daytime leisure activities to rival home-centred pursuits such as gardening in this period. New Zealand's hosting of the Commonwealth Games in 1950 encouraged participation in sport and confidence in our ability to compete at international level.
