New Zealand's Road to Rio: 12 - 18 July

The New Zealand team touches down in Rio!

Chef de Mission, Rob Waddell, has led the New Zealand Olympic Team's advance party into Rio de Janeiro, with 18 days to go until the 2016 Olympic Games begin.

Waddell will officially register the New Zealand team with the Rio 2016 organisers tomorrow, before the advance party enters the Olympic Village.

They then begin the process of bringing in three 12m-long containers filled with equipment for the New Zealand team, and start checking venues and facilities before the first athletes arrive.

Golfing trio make NZ Olympic history

World No 1 Lydia Ko, Danny Lee and Ryan Fox will tee off for New Zealand in Rio - in golf's historic Olympic return after 112 years. It will be the first time Kiwi golfers have played at an Olympic Games.

For Ko, the Olympic Games are the pinnacle event of 2016 and a medal would compare to a much coveted Major Championship.

Lee, ranked 12th in the Olympic field, has been climbing the world rankings over the past two years while Fox, the son of All Black legend Grant Fox, secured his spot with two top five finishes on the European Challenge Tour just before the qualification time ended.

Ko celebrates with Marathon victory

Lydia Ko had two reasons to celebrate today, as she claimed her 14th LPGA Tour victory after a marathon play-off in the Marathon Classic in Ohio. The victory came shortly after being selected for the New Zealand Olympic Team.

In her fourth win of the 2016 season, Ko was pushed to the fourth extra hole to stave off challenges from South Korean Mirim Lee and Ariya Jutanugan of Thailand.

Ko, who won the Marathon Classic in 2014, missed a putt for a birdie on the 18th hole which would have given her victory, but then found herself in a three-day tie at 14-under. But she kept her trademark cool with a birdie on the fourth play-off hole for victory.

Three 1500m runners for Rio

For the first time in Olympic history, New Zealand will field three starters in the 1500m - with Julian Matthews and Hamish Carson joining 2008 Olympic silver medallist Nick Willis on the start line in Rio.

Both recent additions to the New Zealand team have been in excellent form in recent months, running personal best times - Matthews setting 3:36.14 and Carson 3:36.25. This ranks them seventh and ninth respectively on the New Zealand all-time list for the 1500m.

Two other athletes now complete the New Zealand athletics team for Rio. Alana Barber has been selected for the women's 20km race walk - an event in which she finished 18th at the 2015 world championships; and Lucy Oliver (nee van Dalen) who made the semi-finals of the women's 1500m at the 2012 London games, and will this time race in the 5000m.

Val Adams cracks 20m in Monaco

Double Olympic champion Valerie Adams has let her rivals know she means business in Rio, by winning the Monaco Diamond League shot put with her best throw in almost two years.

Adam's winning throw of 20.05m - in her fifth round of the competition - was 24cm better than Germany's Christina Schwanitz, while American world indoor champion Michelle Carter was third with 19.58m.

The victory also extends Adams' lead in the Diamond League.

Kiwi tennis star falls one step short in Sweden

New Zealand doubles specialist Marcus Daniell has fallen one step short of an ATP title in Sweden.

Daniell and Brazilian partner Marcelo Demoliner lost the final of the Swedish Open in Bastad, the fourth seeds going down 6-2 6-3 to a second-seeded Spanish combination of Marcelo Granollers and David Marrero.

Daniell will team up with fellow Kiwi Michael Venus at the Rio Olympic Games.  They will both play with their regular partners in an ATP tournament in Gstaad, Switzerland - where Venus is top seed with Croat Mate Pavic.

Top 15 finishes for Kiwi triathletes in Hamburg

Rio-bound Kiwi triathletes Ryan Sissons and Tony Dodds have scored solid finishes in Germany in the final round of the ITU world series before the Olympic Games.

Sissons finished 12th, while Tony Dodds 13th in the men's sprint race in Hamburg.

Nicky Samuels, who will also compete in Rio, finished 21st in the women's race.

Burling and Tuke take bronze in Rio rehearsal

Peter Burling and Blair Tuke have finished third in the South American 49er championships in Rio, breaking their incredible 27-regatta winning streak.

The 2012 London Olympic silver medallists used the event as their last rehearsal before the Olympic regatta, which will be sailed on the same course.

Reigning Olympic champions Australians Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen won the event on countback from the Polish team of Lukasz Przybytek and Pawer Kolodzinski, with the Kiwis eight points back.