Team New Zealand - Profile

Highlights:

New Zealand has sent athletes to compete at every Paralympic Games since 1968. Its most successful sports at the Games are athletics and swimming by far, but the NPC has also won gold medals in cycling, archery, dressage, lawn bowls, wheelchair rugby and shooting Para sport.

Swimmer Sophie Pascoe has won the most Paralympic gold medals of any New Zealand athlete, with nine golds between 2008 and 2016. She won all three women's SM10 200m individual medley titles in that period, with her other victories coming in the SB9 100m breaststroke, S10 100m backstroke, S10 100m butterfly, and S10 100m freestyle. In 2016 Pascoe surpassed Eve M Rimmer's eight gold medals. Rimmer won each of her golds in athletics, in addition to medals in swimming and archery, between 1968 and 1980.

At the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio, New Zealand won nine gold medals, with Pascoe contributing three of those. Athletics competitor Liam Malone claimed victory in the men's T44 200m and T44 400m, while the NPC won another three gold medals in swimming and one in athletics in Rio.

Anthem Title: God Defend New Zealand ['Aotearoa' in Maori]

Anthem Composer: English words by Thomas Bracken, Maori words by Thomas Henry Smith, music by John Joseph Woods.

Anthem Inducted: 1940

Official NPC Name: Paralympics New Zealand

Founding Date: 1968

IPC Recognition Date: 1989

Delegation President: Jana Rangooni

First OG/PG Appearance: 1968

Number OG/PG Appearances: 14 [Tokyo 2020 included]

Summary: