List of New Zealand rowers at the Summer Olympics

The country's earliest participant, Victor Lindberg at the 1900 Summer Olympics, was only officially recognised as New Zealand's first competitor in 2014.

The long journey from New Zealand by boat to Belgium saw him out of shape at the 1920 Summer Olympics, and he came third in the final race, winning bronze.

[8] The biggest challenge at the time was a lack of funds and in the end, the New Zealand Olympic team was made up of only four athletes, none of them rowers.

[9][10] Darcy Hadfield was a dominant single sculler at the time but he had become professional in 1922 and was thus no longer eligible to compete at the Olympics.

In 1932, seven rowing competitions were held, and New Zealand entered three boats with a total of eleven rowers: a coxless pair, a coxed four, and an eight.

[18] Bob Stiles and Rangi Thompson won New Zealand's second rowing medal, a silver, in the coxless pair.

[20] Even before the national championships, it was clear that no eight would be sent due to the cost involved and lack of previous international success.

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 trainer, Rusty Robertson, commented about them:[30] the funniest looking crew you've ever seenThere were stern discussions with the New Zealand selectors.

[30] New Zealand's eight was expected to win, and Wybo Veldman later recalled:[35] We were hot favourites but the wheels fell off.

[40] The members of the gold medal winning 1972 New Zealand eight came from nine different clubs, which said a lot about Robertson's ability as a coach to blend individuals into a strong sum.

The crew of the eight standing on the victory dais overcome with emotion and "bawling like babies" is one of New Zealand's most memorable sporting moments.

[35] Before and during the Olympic Games, the New Zealand rowing team stayed in the Bavarian village of Lenggries, where they were adopted by the locals as their own.

[46] Those rowers who had been nominated for Moscow included Tony Brook, Alan Cotter, Stephen Donaldson, Duncan Holland, Peter Jansen, Robert Robinson, Anthony Russell.

[48] Due to the Eastern Bloc boycott and the absence of East Germany and the Soviet Union, New Zealand was the strong favourite in the eight event, but came a disappointing fourth.

[64] Twin sisters Caroline and Georgina Evers-Swindell went into their double sculls as the favourites and did not disappoint; they beat the German team of Peggy Waleska and Britta Oppelt by 1 sec to win gold.

But the lasting rowing memory from the Beijing Summer Games is the gold medal by the Evers-Swindell twins, who beat their German opponents by 0.01 sec.

Mahé Drysdale in the single sculls, and Hamish Bond and Eric Murray in the pair repeated their gold medal performances from four years earlier.

The majority of the rowing crews confirmed Olympic places for their boats at the 2015 FISA World Championships in Lac d'Aiguebelette, France, while a women's single sculls rower had added one more boat to the New Zealand roster as a result of a top three finish at the 2016 European & Final Qualification Regatta in Lucerne, Switzerland.

[80] The men's lightweight double scull (LM2x) had a further chance to qualify at the May 2021 Asian & Oceania Qualification Regatta but New Zealand did not start there.

[81] The other four boat classes had a further chance to qualify at the May 2021 World Rowing Final Olympic Qualification Regatta at the Rotsee in Switzerland.

[82] Meanwhile, reigning world champion Zoe McBride (LW2−) had unexpectedly announced her retirement from rowing in March 2021 over health concerns.

A month after McBride's retirement, Rowing New Zealand withdrew the lightweight women's pair boat class from the Olympics, with Kiddle as a reigning world champion not travelling to Tokyo.

[85] The make up of the eight had initially not been determined, with ten rowers—including two pairs of sisters—who were to travel to the Olympics: Kerri Gowler and Grace Prendergast (who will also compete in the pair), Jackie Gowler, Beth Ross, Phoebe Spoors, Kirstyn Goodger, Kelsey Bevan, Lucy Spoors, Emma Dyke, and Ella Greenslade.

The following table shows the individual rowers and coxswains that make up the 274 appearances, with many athletes having attended several Summer Olympics.

[92] Six rowers or coxswains have won two gold medals: Simon Dickie,[94] Dick Joyce,[95] Mahé Drysdale,[90] Caroline and Georgina Evers-Swindell,[96][97] and Eric Murray.