# New Zealand at the 1968 Summer Olympics

New Zealand at the 1968 Summer Olympics was represented by a team of 52 competitors, 47 men and five women, who took part in 26 events across eight sports. Selection of the team for the Games in Mexico City, Mexico, was the responsibility of the New Zealand Olympic and British Commonwealth Games Association. New Zealand's flagbearer at the opening ceremony was Don Oliver. The New Zealand team finished 27th on the medal table, winning a total of three medals, one of which was gold.

## Medal tables

| Medal | Name | Sport | Event | Date |
| Gold | Warren Cole Ross Collinge Simon Dickie Dick Joyce Dudley Storey | Rowing | Men's coxed four | 19 October |
| Bronze | Ian Ballinger | Shooting | Mixed 50 metre rifle, prone | 19 October |
| Bronze | Mike Ryan | Athletics | Men's marathon | 20 October |
Medals by sport :
| Sport | | | | Total |
| Rowing | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Athletics | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Shooting | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Total | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
Medals by gender :
| Gender | | | | Total |
| Male | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Female | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Mixed / open | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Total | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 |

## Athletics
### Track and road

| Athlete | Event | Heat | Heat | Semifinal | Semifinal | Final | Final |
| Athlete | Event | Result | Rank | Result | Rank | Result | Rank |
| Roger Johnson | Men's 400 m hurdles | 51.3 | 2 Q | 51.8 | 7 | did not advance | did not advance |
| Rex Maddaford | Men's 5000 m | 14:20.8 | 4 Q | — | — | 14:39.8 | 10 |
| Rex Maddaford | Men's 10,000 m | — | — | — | — | 30:17.2 | 12 |
| Evan Maguire | Men's 10,000 m | — | — | — | — | DNF | DNF |
| Dave McKenzie | Men's marathon | — | — | — | — | 2:43:36 | 37 |
| Sylvia Potts | Women's 800 m | 2:09.6 | 4 Q | 2:07.2 | 6 | did not advance | did not advance |
| Mike Ryan | Men's marathon | — | — | — | — | 2:23:45 | |
| Peter Welsh | Men's 3000 m steeplechase | 9:13.8 | 6 | — | — | did not advance | did not advance |
* ↑ Ranks given are within the heat
* ↑ Ranks given are within the semifinal

### Field

| Athlete | Event | Qualification | Qualification | Final | Final |
| Athlete | Event | Result | Rank | Result | Rank |
| Les Mills | Men's shot put | 19.00 | 11 Q | 18.18 | 11 |
| Robin Tait | Men's discus throw | 58.88 | 9 Q | 57.68 | 12 |

## Cycling

Five cyclists represented New Zealand in 1968.

### Road
#### Men's individual road race

| Athlete | Time | Rank |
| Bryce Beeston | DNF | DNF |
| John Dean | DNF | DNF |
| Des Thomson | 5:02:33.62 | 52 |
| Richie Thomson | DNF | DNF |

#### Men's team time trial

| Athlete | Time | Rank |
| John Dean Neil Lyster Des Thomson Richie Thomson | 2:25:46.47 | 23 |

## Field hockey
### Men's tournament
#### Team roster

| John Anslow Jan Borren Roger Capey John Christensen John Hicks Bruce Judge Barry Maister Selwyn Maister | Trevor Manning Alan McIntyre Ross McPherson Jim Palmer Alan Patterson Ted Salmon Bill Thomson Keith Thomson |

#### Group A

* 13 October 1968 (1968-10-13)
| New Zealand | 2–1 | India |
* 14 October 1968 (1968-10-14)
| New Zealand | 2–0 | Mexico |
* 15 October 1968 (1968-10-15)
| New Zealand | 1–1 | East Germany |
* 17 October 1968 (1968-10-17)
| New Zealand | 1–0 | Japan |
* 18 October 1968 (1968-10-18)
| New Zealand | 0–0 | West Germany |
* 20 October 1968 (1968-10-20)
| New Zealand | 1–1 | Belgium |
* 21 October 1968 (1968-10-21)
| New Zealand | 1–1 | Spain |
| Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | Pts | Qualification |
| India | 7 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 20 | 4 | 12 | Advance to semi-finals |
| West Germany | 7 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 15 | 5 | 11 | Advance to semi-finals |
| New Zealand | 7 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 10 | 8 | 10 | 5th–8th place classification |
| Spain | 7 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 7 | 5 | 7 | 5th–8th place classification |
| Belgium | 7 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 14 | 9 | 7 | 9th / 10th place play-off |
| East Germany | 7 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 7 | 10 | 6 | 11th / 12th place play-off |
| Japan | 7 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 4 | 14 | 3 | 13th / 14th place play-off |
| Mexico | 7 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 2 | 26 | 0 | 15th / 16th place play-off |

#### 5th–8th Classification matches

* 23 October 1968 (1968-10-23)
| Netherlands | 3–1 | New Zealand |

#### 7th / 8th Place play-off

* 25 October 1968 (1968-10-25)
| New Zealand | 2–0 | Kenya |
New Zealand finished the men's field hockey tournament in seventh place.

## Rowing

In 1968, New Zealand entered boats in two of the seven events: men's coxed four and men's eight. The competition was for men only; women would first row at the 1976 Summer Olympics.
| Athlete | Event | Heats | Heats | Repechage | Repechage | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Final | Final |
| Athlete | Event | Time | Rank | Time | Rank | Time | Rank | Time | Rank |
| Warren Cole Ross Collinge Dick Joyce Dudley Storey Simon Dickie (cox) | Coxed four | 7:12.19 | 1 QS | Bye | Bye | 6:48.65 | 1 FA | 6:45.62 | |
| Alan Webster Wybo Veldman Alistair Dryden John Hunter Mark Brownlee John Gibbons Tom Just Gil Cawood Robert Page (cox) | Coxed eight | 6:05.62 | 1 FA | Bye | Bye | — | — | 6:10.43 | 4 |

## Sailing

| Athlete | Event | Race | Race | Race | Race | Race | Race | Race | Net points | Final rank |
| Athlete | Event | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | Net points | Final rank |
| Jonty Farmer | Finn | 19.0 | 3.0 | 11.7 | 25.0 | 25.0 | 13.0 | 40.0 DNF | 96.7 | 11 |
| Ralph Roberts Geoff Smale (helm) | Flying Dutchman | 39.0 DSQ | 14.0 | 15.0 | 18.0 | 15.0 | 14.0 | 8.0 | 84.0 | 8 |
* Graham Mander was the reserve Flying Dutchman skipper.

## Shooting

Two male shooters represented New Zealand in 1968 with Ian Ballinger winning a bronze medal.
| Athlete | Event | Round 1 | Round 2 | Round 3 | Round 4 | Round 5 | Round 6 | Total | Rank |
| Ian Ballinger | Mixed 50 m rifle, prone | 98 | 100 | 100 | 99 | 100 | 100 | 597 | |
| Stew Nairn | Mixed 50 m rifle, prone | 99 | 99 | 98 | 100 | 98 | 100 | 594 | 12 |

## Swimming

| Athlete | Event | Heat | Heat | Semifinal | Semifinal | Final | Final |
| Athlete | Event | Result | Rank | Result | Rank | Result | Rank |
| Pru Chapman | Women's 100 m backstroke | 1:15.2 | 32 | did not advance | did not advance | did not advance | did not advance |
| Pru Chapman | Women's 200 m individual medley | 2:42.1 | =23 | — | — | did not advance | did not advance |
| Tui Shipston | Women's 200 m individual medley | 2:35.5 | 9 | — | — | did not advance | did not advance |
| Tui Shipston | Women's 400 m individual medley | 5:33.7 | =7 Q | — | — | 5:34.6 | 7 |
| Tui Shipston | Women's 800 m freestyle | 10:28.0 | 19 | — | — | did not advance | did not advance |
| Glenda Stirling | Women's 100 m backstroke | 1:10.2 | =7 Q | 1:10.1 | 8 Q | 1:10.6 | 8 |
| Glenda Stirling | Women's 200 m backstroke | 2:40.3 | 22 | — | — | did not advance | did not advance |
| Sandra Whittleston | Women's 100 m butterfly | 1:08.5 | =9 Q | 1:08.7 | 12 | did not advance | did not advance |
| Sandra Whittleston | Women's 200 m butterfly | 2:39.7 | =11 | — | — | did not advance | did not advance |
| Glenda Stirling Pru Chapman Sandra Whittleston Tui Shipston | Women's 4 × 100 m medley relay | 4:49.0 | 11 | — | — | did not advance | did not advance |

## Weightlifting

| Athlete | Event | Press | Press | Snatch | Snatch | Clean & Jerk | Clean & Jerk | Total | Rank |
| Athlete | Event | Result | Rank | Result | Rank | Result | Rank | Total | Rank |
| John Bolton | Men's light heavyweight | 137.5 | =11 | 122.5 | 16 | 160.0 | =15 | 420.0 | 16 |
| Don Oliver | Men's heavyweight | 147.5 | 13 | 142.5 | =9 | 200.0 | 5 | 490.0 | 8 |

## Officials

* Chef de Mission – Lloyd Hosking
* Assistant team manager – Don Croot
* Team doctor – Mayne Smeeton
* Chaperone – Norma Williams
* Athletics section manager – Laurie O'Keefe
* Cycling section manager – Clive Herbert
* Hockey section manager – Ray Mackinlay
* Rowing coach – Rusty Robertson
* Sailing section manager – Hugh Poole
* Shooting section manager – Neilson Rees
* Swimming section manager – Roly Webb
* Weightlifting section manager – Paul Newberry