Madonna Harris belongs to one of the most distinguished groups of New Zealand athletes.
Harris represented her country at both Seoul 1988 Summer and Calgary 1988 Winter Olympic Games. Cyclist/speed skater Chris Nicholson is the only other New Zealander to achieve the feat, competing at Albertville 1992 and Barcelona 1992 and then he went on to compete again at Lillehammer in 1994.

Harris, born in Hamilton in 1956, was an amazing sportswoman. Long before she became an Olympian, Madonna Gilchrist, as she was, had represented New Zealand at basketball, in 1977-78, and athletics in 1977, when she ran in the 400m hurdles at the Pacific Conference Games at Canberra. She was also the Waikato pentathlon champion.

She left New Zealand in 1978, on an athletics and basketball scholarship to Utah State University. Three years later she married Utah ski instructor John Harris. This led to her becoming a professional ski instructor and taking up cross-country skiing competitively.

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Madonna's Games History