The New Zealand Team for the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games has been finalized, with a record percentage of women to represent New Zealand at the Games.
The team includes 233 athletes, from 19 sports and two Para-sports. 125 (54%) of the athletes are female and 108 male (46%). At 54% the female portion of the team ranks as the highest female representation in New Zealand Commonwealth or Olympic history.
The team members come from a wide range of cultural backgrounds, including athletes with Samoan, Tongan, Cook Islands, Fijian, Filipino, Chinese, Australian, European and African heritage. Māori athletes make up 20% of the team (46 athletes).
New Zealand’s youngest athlete heading to Birmingham is 16-year-old diver Maggie Squire who is in year 12 at Auckland’s Takapuna Grammar School. At 75-years-old, B2-B3 lawn bowler Sue Curran will become our oldest ever Commonwealth Games athlete.
“It’s fantastic to still be able to wear the fern, even though I might be slightly older than some of my teammates!” said Curran.
Auckland has produced the largest number of the Commonwealth Games athletes with 57 of the team hailing from the region. Canterbury comes in second with 32 athletes, the Waikato third with 29 and Bay of Plenty fourth with 17 athletes.
140 of the athletes will be attending their first Commonwealth Games, while the other 93 have already competed at one or more Games. Misha Koudinov (Gymnastics) and Val Smith (Lawn Bowls) are the most capped athletes, heading to their fifth Commonwealth Games. The full list of New Zealand Team athletes can be viewed here.
New Zealand Team Chef de Mission Nigel Avery says the athletes are looking forward to arriving and showing what they’re capable of.
"It's go time for us now and our team can't wait to get to Birmingham and get stuck into competing," said Avery.
“We’ve been working hard behind the scenes to create an environment which allows our athletes to perform to the best of their abilities in Birmingham.
"We saw some inspiring results from the New Zealand Team at the last Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast and we’re looking forward to creating further history in Birmingham."
New Zealand athletes have already begun arriving in the UK ahead of the Games. The women’s rugby sevens team, women’s hockey team, 3x3 basketballers, men’s artistic gymnasts and lawn bowls athletes will be the first athletes welcomed into the villages, arriving on July 22nd. The first athletes in action are the Lawn Bowls teams on the morning of July 29th.
The New Zealand Team at a glance:
233 athletes
125 Female, 108 male (54% female, our highest ever female % representation)
Sue Curran (B2-B3 lawn bowls) is our oldest athlete at 75, Maggie Squire (diving) is our youngest at 16
Average athlete age of 27
Misha Koudinov (Gymnastics), Val Smith (Lawn Bowls) are our most capped athletes, heading to their fifth Games
20% of the team is Māori
The Games:
Birmingham 2022 will welcome 4,500 athletes from 72 nations and territories for 11 days of spectacular sport, from 28 July – 8 August 2022.
The New Zealand Team will be represented 233 athletes, competing in 19 sports and two para sports.
Women’s T20 cricket and 3x3 basketball are to debut on the programme.
Able bodied and Para-athletes will once again compete side by side at the Games, as Birmingham brings the largest ever Commonwealth Games Para-programme to life.
Birmingham 2022 will make global sport history by becoming the first ever major multi-sport event to award more medals to women than men.
Athletes and team officials will be housed in three ‘campus’ villages at The University of Birmingham, The University of Warwick, and The NEC Hotel Campus.
The Games will be the largest sporting event in the UK since the London 2012 Olympic Games.
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