# New Zealand at the 1972 Summer Olympics

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.

## 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

In the first modern archery competition at the Olympics, New Zealand entered one man in the competition.
| Athlete | Event | Round 1 | Round 1 | Round 1 | Round 1 | Round 1 | Round 1 | Round 2 | Round 2 | Round 2 | Round 2 | Round 2 | Round 2 | Total | Rank |
| Athlete | Event | 30 m | 50 m | 70 m | 90 m | Total | Rank | 30 m | 50 m | 70 m | 90 m | Total | Rank | Total | Rank |
| Robin Sampson | Men's individual | 278 | 268 | 279 | 235 | 1060 | 53 | 309 | 210 | 289 | 247 | 1055 | 53 | 2115 | 53 |

## Athletics
### Track and road

| Athlete | Event | Heat | Heat | Quarterfinal | Quarterfinal | Semifinal | Semifinal | Final | Final |
| Athlete | Event | Result | Rank | Result | Rank | Result | Rank | Result | Rank |
| Laurie D'Arcy | Men's 100 m | 10.77 | 5 | did not advance | did not advance | did not advance | did not advance | did not advance | did not advance |
| Rod Dixon | Men's 1500 m | 3:40.0 | 2 Q | — | — | 3:37.9 | 1 Q | 3:37.5 | |
| Jack Foster | Men's marathon | — | — | — | — | — | — | 2:16:56 | 8 |
| Sue Haden | Women's 800 m | 2:04.86 | 4 | — | — | did not advance | did not advance | did not advance | did not advance |
| Penny Hunt | Women's 400 m | 52.82 | 2 Q | 52.66 | 6 | did not advance | did not advance | did not advance | did not advance |
| Roger Johnson | Men's 400 m hurdles | 50.48 | 4 | — | — | did not advance | did not advance | did not advance | 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 | did not advance | did not advance | did not advance |
| Brenda Matthews | Women's 100 m hurdles | 13.81 | 5 | — | — | did not advance | did not advance | did not advance | 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 | did not advance |
| Bevan Smith | Men's 200 m | 21.17 | 3 Q | 21.04 | 4 | did not advance | did not advance | did not advance | did not advance |
| Dick Tayler | Men's 5000 m | 13:56.2 | 10 | — | — | — | — | did not advance | did not advance |
| Gavin Thorley | Men's 5000 m | 14:11.6 | 10 | — | — | — | — | did not advance | did not advance |
| Gavin Thorley | Men's 10,000 m | DNF | DNF | — | — | — | — | did not advance | did not advance |
* ↑ Ranks given are within the heat
* ↑ Ranks given are within the quarterfinal
* ↑ 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 | 18.38 | 23 | did not advance | did not advance |
| Les Mills | Men's discus throw | 59.22 | 14 Q | 55.86 | 14 |
| Robin Tait | Men's discus throw | 56.60 | 20 | did not advance | did not advance |

## Boxing

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

## Canoeing

| Athlete | Event | Heats | Heats | Repechages | Repechages | Semifinals | Semifinals | Final | Final |
| Athlete | Event | 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 | 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 | did not advance | did not advance | did not advance |

## Cycling

Eight cyclists represented New Zealand in 1972.

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

| Athlete | Time | Rank |
| Bruce Biddle | 4:15:04 | 3 |
| Paul Brydon | 4:17:03 | 50 |
| Vern Hanaray | DNF | DNF |
| Robert Oliver | DNF | DNF |
* ↑ 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 | Qualification | Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Final / BM | Final / BM |
| Athlete | Time | Rank | Opposition Time | Opposition Time | Opposition Time | Rank |
| Paul Brydon John Dean Neil Lyster Blair Stockwell | 4:35.11 | 14 | did not advance | did not advance | did not advance | did not advance |
Brent Pascoe was the reserve rider, but did not compete.

## Gymnastics
### Men's individual
#### Apparatus qualifying and all-around

| Athlete | Floor | Floor | Floor | Pommel horse | Pommel horse | Pommel horse | Rings | Rings | Rings | Vault | Vault | Vault | Parallel bars | Parallel bars | Parallel bars | Horizontal bar | Horizontal bar | Horizontal bar | All-around total | All-around rank |
| Athlete | C | O | Rank | C | O | Rank | C | O | Rank | C | O | Rank | C | O | Rank | C | O | Rank | All-around total | All-around 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 | Vault | Vault | Uneven bars | Uneven bars | Uneven bars | Balance beam | Balance beam | Balance beam | Floor | Floor | Floor | All-around total | All-around rank |
| Athlete | C | O | Rank | C | O | Rank | C | O | Rank | C | O | Rank | All-around total | All-around 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
### 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

| Athlete | Event | Pool | Pool | Pool | Pool | Pool | Repechages | Repechages | Repechages | Semifinal | Final | Rank |
| Athlete | Event | Round of 64 | Round of 32 | Round of 16 | Quarterfinal | Semifinal | Repechage | Semifinal | Final | Semifinal | Final | Rank |
| Athlete | Event | Opposition Result | Opposition Result | Opposition Result | Opposition Result | Opposition Result | Opposition Result | Opposition Result | Opposition Result | Opposition Result | Opposition Result | Rank |
| Rick Littlewood | Men's middleweight | Bye | Adamczyk (POL) W | Bijkerk (AUS) W | Sekine (JPN) L | did not advance | did not advance | did not advance | did not advance | did not advance | did not advance | =11 |

## Rowing

1972 was the last year that only men competed at the Olympic rowing events. New Zealand entered boats in four of the seven events. 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.
| Athlete | Event | Heats | Heats | Repechage | Repechage | Semifinals | Semifinals | Final | Final |
| Athlete | Event | 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 | Bye | 7:03.99 | 1 FA | 6:25.64 | |
| Warren Cole Chris Nilsson John Clark David Lindstrom Peter Lindsay | Coxed four | 6:51,76 | 3 SA/B | Bye | 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 | Bye | 6:28.40 | 2 FA | 6:08.94 | |

## 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 |
| 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

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

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

## 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 middle heavyweight | NVL | 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

| Athlete | Event | Round 1 | Round 2 | Round 3 | Round 4 | Round 5 | Final | Rank |
| Athlete | Event | Opposition Result | Opposition Result | Opposition Result | Opposition Result | Opposition Result | Opposition Result | Rank |
| David Aspin | Men's freestyle middleweight | Birajdar (IND) Both DQ | Hagilou (IRI) L | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated | Eliminated |

## Officials

* Chef de Mission – Joe McManemin
* Assistant team manager – Jack Prestney
* Team doctor – Tom Anderson
* Chaperone – Doris Fitzsimmons
* Archery section manager – Jack Richards
* Athletics
** Section manager – Graham Davy
** Coach – Valdemars Briedis
* Boxing section manager – David Tipping
* Canoeing section manager – Stan Robinson
* Cycling
** Section manager – Colin Hollows
** Coach / mechanic – Bruce Goldsworthy
* Field hockey
** Section manager – Merv Good
** Coach – Ross Gillespie
* Gymnastics section manager – Cameron A. R. Buchanan
* Judo section manager – Jack Fielding
* Rowing
** Section manager – Fred Strachan
** Coach – Rusty Robertson
** Assistant coach – Ted Lindstrom
* Sailing section manager – Hal Wagstaff
* Shooting section manager – Hong Tse
* Swimming
** Section manager – Graeme Brockett
** Coach – Pic Parkhouse
* Weightlifting
** Section manager – Peter Watson
** Coach – Paul Newberry
* Wrestling section manager – Art Pickering