The Most Famous

ATHLETES from New Zealand

This page contains a list of the greatest New Zealander Athletes. The pantheon dataset contains 6,025 Athletes, 168 of which were born in New Zealand. This makes New Zealand the birth place of the 19th most number of Athletes behind Brazil, and Kenya.

Top 10

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary New Zealander Athletes of all time. This list of famous New Zealander Athletes is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of New Zealander Athletes.

1. Peter Snell (1938 - 2019)

With an HPI of 57.98, Peter Snell is the most famous New Zealander Athlete. His biography has been translated into 34 different languages on wikipedia.

Sir Peter George Snell (17 December 1938 – 12 December 2019) was a New Zealand middle-distance runner. He won three Olympic gold medals, and is the only man since 1920 to have won the 800 and 1500 metres at the same Olympics, in 1964. Snell had a relatively short career as a world-famous international sportsman, 1960–1965, yet achieved so much that he was voted New Zealand's "Sports Champion of the (20th) Century" and was one of 24 inaugural members of the International Association of Athletics Federations Hall of Fame named in 2012. A protégé of the New Zealand athletics coach Arthur Lydiard, Snell is known for the three Olympic and two Commonwealth Games gold medals he won, and the several world records he set.

2. Hugh Anderson (b. 1936)

With an HPI of 54.64, Hugh Anderson is the 2nd most famous New Zealander Athlete. His biography has been translated into 15 different languages.

Hugh Robertson Anderson (born 18 January 1936) is a four-time Grand Prix motorcycle road racing World Champion and a 19-time New Zealand national champion. He is also a two-time Isle of Man TT winner. In 2022, the F.I.M. inducted Anderson into the MotoGP Hall of Fame.

3. Canada at the 2020 Summer Olympics#Field hockey (b. )

With an HPI of 53.74, Canada at the 2020 Summer Olympics#Field hockey is the 3rd most famous New Zealander Athlete. Their biography has been translated into 24 different languages.

Canada competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Originally scheduled to take place from 24 July to 9 August 2020, the Games were postponed to 23 July to 8 August 2021, because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Since the nation's debut in 1900, Canadian athletes have appeared in every edition of the Summer Olympic Games, with the exception of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow because of the country's support for United States-led boycott. Before the official postponement, the Canadian Olympic Committee and Canadian Paralympic Committee initially announced their intention not to send teams to both the Olympics and Paralympics. Following the announcement on the postponement, the COC and CPC issued a statement that says, in part, that Team Canada "will rise to the challenge to showcase our very best on the international stage," without explicitly saying that Canadian athletes will take part in the games. As part of the Canada Day celebrations held on Parliament Hill, Ottawa in 2019, former three time Olympic gold medalist in rowing, Marnie McBean was named as the Chef De Mission for the team. On July 13, 2021, the Canadian Olympic Committee officially announced the full team of 370 athletes (145 men and 225 women) competing in 30 sports, the largest team the country has sent to the games since Los Angeles 1984 and an increase of 56 from Rio 2016. 131 coaches will also accompany the team. A total of eight squads qualified in team sports, tied for the most ever with Montreal 1976. A total of 227 athletes competed at their first Olympics, and 134 of them returned from Rio 2016. On July 15, 2021, Vasek Pospisil withdrew from the tennis competitions, which reduced the team size to 370. On July 24, Annie Guglia received a reallocated spot in the women's street skateboarding event after an injury to a competitor from South Africa. This increased the team back to 371 athletes (145 men and 226 women). Due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the International Olympic Committee announced in July 2021, that travelling alternates would be allowed to compete in the following team sports: field hockey, football (soccer), handball, rugby sevens and water polo. The alternates for these team sports are listed below and consisted of a further nine athletes (two in field hockey, four in soccer, one per rugby sevens and water polo teams). However, these nine do not officially count towards the team size. Canada's Olympic team contested all sports on the Olympic program except handball, modern pentathlon and surfing. Alternates in soccer, rugby sevens and water polo competed, and are reflected in the table below. This increased the team size to 378. Two athletes in fencing and one in triathlon was added during the competition due to injury replacements. This meant the final team size was 381 athletes (148 men and 233 women). On July 19, 2021, basketball player Miranda Ayim and rugby sevens athlete Nathan Hirayama were named as co-flagbearers for the Parade of Nations during the opening ceremony. On August 8, 2021, gold medalist and Olympic record holder in the decathlon, Damian Warner was named as the flagbearer during the closing ceremony. The 24 medals won at the 2020 Summer Olympics mark the country's best-ever total medals result after the 1984 Games, surpassing the 22 medals won in 1996 and 2016, while also equalling the most number of gold medals won in 1992. At the 1984 Summer Olympics, which were boycotted by the Soviet Bloc, Canada won 44 medals.

4. Murray Halberg (1933 - 2022)

With an HPI of 53.29, Murray Halberg is the 4th most famous New Zealander Athlete. His biography has been translated into 22 different languages.

Sir Murray Gordon Halberg (7 July 1933 – 30 November 2022) was a New Zealand middle-distance runner who won the gold medal in the 5000 metres event at the 1960 Olympics. He also won gold medals in the 3 miles events at the 1958 and 1962 Commonwealth Games. He worked for the welfare of children with disabilities since he founded the Halberg Trust in 1963.

5. Yvette Williams (1929 - 2019)

With an HPI of 52.95, Yvette Williams is the 5th most famous New Zealander Athlete. Her biography has been translated into 28 different languages.

Dame Yvette Winifred Corlett (née Williams; 25 April 1929 – 13 April 2019) was a New Zealand track-and-field athlete who was the first woman from her country to win an Olympic gold medal and to hold the world record in the women's long jump. Williams was named "Athlete of the Century" on the 100th anniversary of Athletics New Zealand, in 1987.

6. Jack Lovelock (1910 - 1949)

With an HPI of 50.48, Jack Lovelock is the 6th most famous New Zealander Athlete. His biography has been translated into 24 different languages.

John Edward Lovelock (5 January 1910 – 28 December 1949) was a New Zealand athlete who became the world 1500m and mile record holder and 1936 Olympic champion in the 1500 metres.

7. Ross Collinge (b. 1944)

With an HPI of 50.06, Ross Collinge is the 7th most famous New Zealander Athlete. His biography has been translated into 16 different languages.

Ross Hounsell Collinge (born 21 November 1944) is a former New Zealand rower who won two Olympic medals. Collinge was born in 1944 in Lower Hutt, New Zealand. He trained as a pharmacist at Petone Technical College. In rowing, he attracted attention due to his strong performance at the 1967 New Zealand championships, where he rowed for the Hutt Valley team; Dick Joyce was one of his team members. For the 1968 Summer Olympics, New Zealand qualified an eight and had a pool of four rowers and a cox as a travelling reserve; Collinge was part of this reserve. Preparations were held in Christchurch at Kerr's Reach on the Avon River. The reserve rowers were unhappy with the "spare parts" tag and felt that they were good enough to perhaps win a medal if put forward as a coxed four. The manager, Rusty Robertson, commented about them that they were "the funniest looking crew you've ever seen". There were stern discussions with the New Zealand selectors. In a training run, the coxed four was leading the eight over the whole race. In the end, the reserve rowers got their way and New Zealand entered both the coxed four and the coxed eight. Collinge won the Olympic coxed four event along with Dick Joyce, Dudley Storey, Warren Cole and Simon Dickie (cox); this was New Zealand's first gold medal in rowing. At the time, Collinge had newly qualified as a pharmacist, and recently married. The crew's winning boat was sold to a rowing club to recoup costs, and ended in splinters after a road crash. At the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich Collinge teamed with Dick Tonks, Dudley Storey and Noel Mills to win the silver medal in the coxless four. He rowed with the coxed eight in the 1975 World Rowing Championships in Nottingham, Great Britain, and won a bronze medal. He is married to Valerie Collinge with whom he had two children. He has one grandson currently living in Wellington, who has announced he aspires to be a rower like his grandad to "Carry on the family tradition". Since the 1980s, they have been living in a house adjacent to the house of the Indian High Commissioner in Lower Hutt.

8. John Hunter (b. 1943)

With an HPI of 49.95, John Hunter is the 8th most famous New Zealander Athlete. His biography has been translated into 15 different languages.

John Andrew Hunter (born 8 November 1943) is a former New Zealand rower who won a gold Olympic medal in his career. Hunter was born in 1943 in Christchurch, New Zealand. At the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich he teamed with Dick Joyce, Wybo Veldman, Tony Hurt, Lindsay Wilson, Joe Earl, Trevor Coker and Gary Robertson and Simon Dickie (cox) to win the gold medal in the eights. Hunter had previously been a member of the eight which finished fourth at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City. He was also the Rowing Manager for the New Zealand team at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. Hunter was later an engineering consultant in Christchurch. He was employed by the New Zealand Ministry of Works and was involved in the expansion of Christchurch International Airport. As a rowing coach, he managed many teams including some of the teams at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta.

9. Kim Min-jung (b. )

With an HPI of 49.52, Kim Min-jung is the 9th most famous New Zealander Athlete. Their biography has been translated into 10 different languages.

Kim Min-jung or Kim Min-jeong (Korean: 김민정; RR: Gim Min-jeong; MR: Kim Minjŏng) is a Korean name consisting of the family name Kim and the given name Min-jung, and may refer to: Kim Min-jung (actress) (born 1982), South Korean actress Kim Min-jung (badminton) (born 1986), South Korean badminton player Kim Min-jung (speed skater) (born 1985), South Korean speed skater Kim Min-jung (sport shooter) (born 1997), South Korean sport shooter Kim Min-jung (TV presenter), news anchor and host for Arirang TV Kim Min-jung (curler) (born 1981), South Korean curler Kim Min-Jung (taekwondo), South Korean taekwondo practitioner, earned a gold medal for South Korea at the 2009 Asian Martial Arts Games Kim Min-jeong (synchronized swimmer), South Korean synchronized swimmer, competed in synchronized swimming at the 2002 Asian Games Kim Min-jeong (basketball), South Korean basketball player, played in the 2013 FIBA Under-19 World Championship for Women Kim Min-jeong (judoka) (born 1988), South Korean judoka Kim Min-jeong (footballer) (born 1996), South Korean footballer Kim Min-jeong (poet) (born 1976), South Korean poet and literary editor Kim Min-jeong (singer) (born 2001), South Korean singer

10. Tony Hurt (b. 1946)

With an HPI of 49.40, Tony Hurt is the 10th most famous New Zealander Athlete. His biography has been translated into 16 different languages.

Anthony John Hurt (born 30 March 1946) is a former New Zealand rower who won two Olympic medals. At the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, he teamed with Dick Joyce, Wybo Veldman, John Hunter, Lindsay Wilson, Joe Earl, Trevor Coker and Gary Robertson and Simon Dickie (cox) to win the gold medal in the eights. At the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, he again crewed the eight which this time won the bronze medal. His crewmates this time were Alec McLean, Ivan Sutherland, Trevor Coker, Peter Dignan, Lindsay Wilson, Joe Earl and Dave Rodger and Simon Dickie (cox). In both Olympic races, he was the stroke. Hurt later had a plumbing business in Auckland.

People

Pantheon has 168 people classified as New Zealander athletes born between 1879 and 2002. Of these 168, 157 (93.45%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living New Zealander athletes include Hugh Anderson, Canada at the 2020 Summer Olympics#Field hockey, and Ross Collinge. The most famous deceased New Zealander athletes include Peter Snell, Murray Halberg, and Yvette Williams. As of April 2024, 136 new New Zealander athletes have been added to Pantheon including Hugh Anderson, Canada at the 2020 Summer Olympics#Field hockey, and Ross Collinge.