The New Zealand Olympic Committee was represented by 80 athletes, 71 men and 9 women, and 29 officials.

In protest at a tour of South Africa by the All Blacks team early in the year, Congo's official Jean-Claude Ganga led a boycott of 28 African nations as the International Olympic Committee refused to bar the New Zealand team.

[2] Some of the nations (including Morocco, Cameroon and Egypt) had already participated however, as the teams only withdrew after the first day.

New Zealand advanced to the semi-finals, while Spain continued to the classification round for fifth to eighth places.

Neil McLeod and Les Wilson were not awarded gold medals as they did not take the field during the tournament.