New Zealand at the
1972 Summer Olympics
IOC codeNZL
NOCNew Zealand Olympic and British Commonwealth Games Association
Websitewww.olympic.org.nz
in Munich
Competitors89 (82 men, 7 women) in 14 sports
Flag bearer David Aspin (Wrestling)
Medals
Ranked 23rd
Gold
1
Silver
1
Bronze
1
Total
3
Summer Olympics appearances (overview)
Other related appearances
 Australasia (1908–1912)

New Zealand competed at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany. For the first time at the Olympics, God Defend New Zealand was played instead of God Save the King/Queen. The New Zealand Olympic Committee was represented by 89 competitors, 82 men and 7 women, who took part in 63 events in 14 sports.[1]

Medal tables

Medal Name Sport Event Date
 Gold Tony Hurt
Wybo Veldman
Dick Joyce
John Hunter
Lindsay Wilson
Joe Earl
Trevor Coker
Gary Robertson
Simon Dickie (cox)		 Rowing Men's eight 2 September
 Silver Dick Tonks
Dudley Storey
Ross Collinge
Noel Mills		 Rowing Men's coxless four 2 September
 Bronze Rod Dixon Athletics Men's 1500 metres 10 September
Medals by sport
Sport Total
Rowing 1 1 0 2
Athletics 0 0 1 1
Total 1 1 1 3
Medals by gender
Gender Total
Male 1 1 1 3
Female 0 0 0 0
Total 1 1 1 3

Archery

Main article: Archery at the 1972 Summer Olympics

In the first modern archery competition at the Olympics, New Zealand entered one man in the competition.

Athlete Event Round 1 Round 2 Total Rank
30 m 50 m 70 m 90 m Total Rank 30 m 50 m 70 m 90 m Total Rank
Robin Sampson Men's individual 278 268 279 235 1060 53 309 210 289 247 1055 53 2115 53

Athletics

Main article: Athletics at the 1972 Summer Olympics

Track and road

Athlete Event Heat Quarterfinal Semifinal Final
Result Rank[i] Result Rank[ii] Result Rank[iii] Result Rank
Laurie D'Arcy Men's 100 m 10.77 5 did not advance
Rod Dixon Men's 1500 m 3:40.0 2 Q — 3:37.9 1 Q 3:37.5 3rd place, bronze medalist(s)
Jack Foster Men's marathon — 2:16:56 8
Sue Haden Women's 800 m 2:04.86 4 — did not advance
Penny Hunt Women's 400 m 52.82 2 Q 52.66 6 did not advance
Roger Johnson Men's 400 m hurdles 50.48 4 — did not advance
Terry Manners Men's marathon — 2:25:29 34
Brenda Matthews Women's 100 m 11.77 5 Q 11.87 8 did not advance
Women's 100 m hurdles 13.81 5 — did not advance
Dave McKenzie Men's marathon — 2:22:19 22
Tony Polhill Men's 1500 m 3:42.3 2 Q — 3:41.8 3 Q 3:41.8 9
Dick Quax Men's 5000 m 14:35.2 9 — did not advance
Bevan Smith Men's 200 m 21.17 3 Q 21.04 4 did not advance
Dick Tayler Men's 5000 m 13:56.2 10 — did not advance
Gavin Thorley Men's 5000 m 14:11.6 10 — did not advance
Men's 10,000 m DNF — did not advance
  1. ^ Ranks given are within the heat
  2. ^ Ranks given are within the quarterfinal
  3. ^ Ranks given are within the semifinal

Field

Athlete Event Qualification Final
Result Rank Result Rank
Les Mills Men's shot put 18.38 23 did not advance
Men's discus throw 59.22 14 Q 55.86 14
Robin Tait Men's discus throw 56.60 20 did not advance

Boxing

Main article: Boxing at the 1972 Summer Olympics
Athlete Event Round of 64 Round of 32 Round of 16 Quarterfinals Semifinals Final Rank
Opposition
Result 		Opposition
Result 		Opposition
Result 		Opposition
Result 		Opposition
Result 		Opposition
Result
Jeff Rackley Men's welterweight Bye  Meier (FRG)
L 0 – 5 		did not advance =17
Pat Ryan Men's featherweight Bye  Kobayashi (JPN)
L 1 – 4 		did not advance =17

Canoeing

Main article: Canoeing at the 1972 Summer Olympics
Athlete Event Heats Repechages Semifinals Final
Time Rank Time Rank Time Rank Time Rank
Donald Cooper Men's K-1 1000 m 4:12.45 5 R 4:02.48 1 Q 4:01.97 5 did not advance
Donald Cooper
Tom Dooney 		Men's K-2 1000 m 3:56.48 5 R 3:45.65 5 did not advance

Cycling

Main article: Cycling at the 1972 Summer Olympics

Eight cyclists represented New Zealand in 1972.

Road

Men's individual road race
Athlete Time Rank
Bruce Biddle 4:15:04 3[i]
Paul Brydon 4:17:03 50
Vern Hanaray DNF
Robert Oliver DNF
  1. ^ Biddle was classified as the third-placed finisher after Jaime Huélamo of Spain was disqualified for failing a drugs test. The bronze medal was, however, not awarded to Biddle as he had not been drug-tested.

Track

Men's 1000 m time trial
Athlete Time Rank
Harry Kent 1:09.10 16
Men's team pursuit
Athlete Qualification Quarterfinals Semifinals Final / BM
Time Rank Opposition
Time 		Opposition
Time 		Opposition
Time 		Rank
Paul Brydon
John Dean
Neil Lyster
Blair Stockwell 		4:35.11 14 did not advance

Brent Pascoe was the reserve rider, but did not compete.

Gymnastics

Main article: Gymnastics at the 1972 Summer Olympics

Men's individual

Apparatus qualifying and all-around
Athlete Floor Pommel horse Rings Vault Parallel bars Horizontal bar All-around
total 		All-around
rank
C O Rank C O Rank C O Rank C O Rank C O Rank C O Rank
Terry Sale 7.300 8.650 =104 6.500 8.050 =101 6.600 7.350 110 9.000 8.900 =71 6.650 8.500 110 6.150 8.400 110 92.050 110

Sale did not qualify for any of the apparatus finals.

Women's individual

Apparatus qualifying and all-around
Athlete Vault Uneven bars Balance beam Floor All-around
total 		All-around
rank
C O Rank C O Rank C O Rank C O Rank
Diane Foote 8.600 8.900 =69 7.950 7.800 113 8.400 8.100 94 8.350 8.750 =99 66.850 =104

Foote did not qualify for any of the apparatus finals.

Field hockey

Main article: Field hockey at the 1972 Summer Olympics

Men's tournament

Team roster
Jeff Archibald
Arthur Borren
Jan Borren
John Christensen
Greg Dayman
Chris Ineson
Ross McPherson
Barry Maister 		Selwyn Maister
Trevor Manning
Arthur Parkin
Ramesh Patel
Alan Patterson
Kevin Rigby
Ted Salmon
Warwick Wright
Head coach

Ross Gillespie

Group B
27 August 1972 (1972-08-27)
New Zealand  1–1  Australia
28 August 1972 (1972-08-28)
New Zealand  7–0  Mexico
30 August 1972 (1972-08-30)
New Zealand  2–1  Great Britain
31 August 1972 (1972-08-31)
Netherlands  2–0  New Zealand
2 September 1972 (1972-09-02)
New Zealand  3–3  Poland
3 September 1972 (1972-09-03)
New Zealand  2–2  Kenya
4 September 1972 (1972-09-04)
India  3–2  New Zealand
Team Pld W D L GF GA Pts Qualification
 India 7 5 2 0 25 8 12 Advance to semi-finals
 Netherlands 7 5 1 1 20 9 11 Advance to semi-finals
 Great Britain 7 4 1 2 15 10 9 5th–8th place classification
 Australia 7 3 2 2 18 8 8 5th–8th place classification
 New Zealand 7 2 3 2 16 11 7 9th / 10th place play-off
 Poland 7 2 2 3 12 12 6 11th / 12th place play-off
 Kenya 7 1 1 5 8 17 3 13th / 14th place play-off
 Mexico 7 0 0 7 1 40 0 15th / 16th place play-off
9th / 10th Place play-off
8 September 1972 (1972-09-08)
New Zealand  2–1 (0–0)  Belgium

New Zealand finished the men's field hockey tournament in ninth place.

Judo

Main article: Judo at the 1972 Summer Olympics
Athlete Event Pool Repechages Semifinal Final Rank
Round of 64 Round of 32 Round of 16 Quarterfinal Semifinal Repechage Semifinal Final
Opposition
Result 		Opposition
Result 		Opposition
Result 		Opposition
Result 		Opposition
Result 		Opposition
Result 		Opposition
Result 		Opposition
Result 		Opposition
Result 		Opposition
Result
Rick Littlewood Men's middleweight Bye  Adamczyk (POL)
W 		 Bijkerk (AUS)
W 		 Sekine (JPN)
L 		did not advance =11

Rowing

Main article: Rowing at the 1972 Summer Olympics

See also: List of New Zealand rowers at the Summer Olympics

1972 was the last year that only men competed at the Olympic rowing events.[2] New Zealand entered boats in four of the seven events.[3] The gold medal won by the 1972 New Zealand eight is one of New Zealand's most memorable performances, and was in 2008 rated by sports journalist Joseph Romanos as New Zealand's best ever team performance at the Olympic Games.[4]

Athlete Event Heats Repechage Semifinals Final
Time Rank Time Rank Time Rank Time Rank
Murray Watkinson Single sculls 7:51.29 2 R 8:11.51 3 SA/B 8:30.88 5 FB 8:05.42 10
Dick Tonks
Dudley Storey
Ross Collinge
Noel Mills 		Coxless four 6:47.27 1 SA/B Bye 7:03.99 1 FA 6:25.64 2nd place, silver medalist(s)
Warren Cole
Chris Nilsson
John Clark
David Lindstrom
Peter Lindsay 		Coxed four 6:51,76 3 SA/B Bye 7:21.94 3 FA 6:42.55 6
Tony Hurt
Wybo Veldman
Dick Joyce
John Hunter
Lindsay Wilson
Joe Earl
Trevor Coker
Gary Robertson
Simon Dickie (cox) 		Eight 6:06.19 1 R Bye 6:28.40 2 FA 6:08.94 1st place, gold medalist(s)

Sailing

Main article: Sailing at the 1972 Summer Olympics
Athlete Event Race Net points Final rank
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Fraser Beer
Noel Everett (helm)
Ron Watson 		Dragon 14.0 19.0 21.0 15.0 3.0 0.0 C 51.0 5
Jock Bilger (helm)
Murray Ross 		Flying Dutchman 20.0 27.0 3.0 3.0 10.0 17.0 24.0 79.0 9
Bret De Thier Finn 15.0 11.7 21.0 3.0 33.0 41.0
DNF		 26.0 109.7 10
Con Linton
Steve Marten (helm)
Jack Scholes 		Soling 20.0 24.0 25.0 26.0 26.0 18.0 C 113.0 21

Jonty Farmer, Jack Hansen, Geoff Smals and Bryan Treleaven were named as alternates but did not compete.

Shooting

Main article: Shooting at the 1972 Summer Olympics

Four male shooters represented New Zealand in 1972.

Mixed 25 m rapid fire pistol
Athlete Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 Total Rank
Bruce McMillan 197 195 190 582 28
Mixed 50 m rifle, prone
Athlete Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 Round 4 Round 5 Round 6 Total Rank
Ian Ballinger 98 100 100 100 97 96 591 46
Mike Watt 99 98 100 100 99 97 593 29
Mixed 50 m running target
Athlete Slow run Fast run Total Rank
Graeme McIntyre 270 253 523 26

Swimming

Main article: Swimming at the 1972 Summer Olympics
Athlete Event Heat Semifinal Final
Result Rank Result Rank Result Rank
Heather Coombridge Women's 100 m freestyle 1:02.95 35 did not advance
Women's 200 m freestyle 2:14.78 22 — did not advance
Colin Herring Men's 100 m freestyle 54.41 =22 did not advance
Men's 200 m freestyle 2:00.29 26 — did not advance
Susan Hunter Women's 100 m backstroke 1:10.06 26 did not advance
Women's 200 m backstroke 2:28.28 21 — did not advance
Women's 200 m individual medley 2:30.29 17 — did not advance
Women's 400 m individual medley 5:14.47 9 — did not advance
John McConnochie Men's 200 m individual medley 2:15.04 15 — did not advance
Men's 400 m individual medley 4:49.89 17 — did not advance
Jaynie Parkhouse Women's 400 m freestyle 4:40.24 19 — did not advance
Women's 800 m freestyle 9:34.65 16 — did not advance
Mark Treffers Men's 400 m freestyle 4:14.10 20 — did not advance
Men's 1500 m freestyle 16:23.86 6 Q — 16:18.84 6

Weightlifting

Main article: Weightlifting at the 1972 Summer Olympics
Athlete Event Press Snatch Clean & Jerk Total Rank
Result Rank Result Rank Result Rank
John Bolton Men's middle heavyweight NVL — DNF
Tony Ebert Men's middleweight 137.5 =16 117.5 =17 155.0 =15 410.0 17
Brian Marsden Men's light heavyweight 142.5 15 120.0 =17 172.5 =9 435.0 12

Wrestling

Main article: Wrestling at the 1972 Summer Olympics
Athlete Event Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 Round 4 Round 5 Final Rank
Opposition
Result 		Opposition
Result 		Opposition
Result 		Opposition
Result 		Opposition
Result 		Opposition
Result
David Aspin Men's freestyle middleweight  Birajdar (IND)
Both DQ 		 Hagilou (IRI)
L 		Eliminated

Officials

References

  1. ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "New Zealand at the 1972 Munich Summer Games". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 13 September 2014.
  2. ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Rowing at the 1976 Montréal Summer Games". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 12 September 2016.
  3. ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "New Zealand Rowing at the 1972 München Summer Games". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 4 December 2016. Retrieved 11 September 2016.
  4. ^ Romanos, Joseph (31 July 2017). "New Zealand's rowing eight wins gold". Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
  5. ^ Skipwith, David (6 August 2014). "Athletics world mourns loss of top coach". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 9 August 2022.
  6. ^ "Prestney Games team manager". The Press. 15 December 1977. p. 31. Retrieved 9 August 2022.
  7. ^ "Sports-medicine pioneer dies". The Press. 22 June 1978. p. 24. Retrieved 9 August 2022.
  8. ^ "Secretary is Games chaperone". The Press. Vol. 112, no. 32907. 4 May 1972. p. 5. Retrieved 12 January 2023.
  9. ^ a b c d e f g "69 named for Olympics". The Press. Vol. 112, no. 32905. 2 May 1972. p. 24. Retrieved 11 January 2023.
  10. ^ "The pressures will be "tremendous": Olympic athletic coach wants N.Z. team mentally prepared". The Press. Vol. 112, no. 32942. 14 June 1972. p. 12. Retrieved 12 January 2023.
  11. ^ ""Southpaw opponent": beaten boxer surprised". The Press. Vol. 112, no. 33010. 1 September 2023. p. 6. Retrieved 11 January 2023.
  12. ^ a b c d e "47 approved". The Press. Vol. 112, no. 32929. 30 May 1972. p. 28. Retrieved 12 January 2023.
  13. ^ a b "Discussion on cycling officials deferred". The Press. Vol. 113, no. 33151. 15 February 1973. p. 36. Retrieved 12 August 2022.
  14. ^ "Errand of experience for Olympic gymnasts". The Press. Vol. 112, no. 32983. 1 August 1972. p. 28. Retrieved 11 January 2023.
  15. ^ "Plea for boxer, Byrne: late addition to Games refused". The Press. Vol. 112, no. 32972. 19 July 1972. p. 32. Retrieved 11 January 2023.
  16. ^ "4 shooters nominated". The Press. Vol. 112, no. 32910. 8 May 1972. p. 16. Retrieved 11 January 2023.
  17. ^ "Olympic tit-bits". The Press. Vol. 112, no. 32999. 19 August 1972. p. 44. Retrieved 11 January 2023.
  18. ^ "Athletes' travel plans". The Press. Vol. 112, no. 32949. 22 June 1972. p. 24. Retrieved 11 January 2023.
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