Rowers Mahé Drysdale, Hamish Bond and Eric Murray, and sprint canoeist Lisa Carrington successfully defended their Olympic titles, while sailors Peter Burling and Blair Tuke ran away in the 49er class standings and secured their gold-medal victory before the final two races.

The New Zealand Olympic Committee (NZOC) confirmed a team of 199 athletes, 99 men and 100 women, to compete in twenty sports.

Also missing from the 2016 team is the men's football squad, having been disqualified after fielding an ineligible player in the Olympic qualifying tournament.

In December 2012, Rob Waddell was appointed New Zealand's chef de mission for the 2014 Commonwealth Games and 2016 Summer Olympics.

One additional spot was awarded to the female mountain biker, who won the cross-country race for New Zealand at the 2015 Oceania Championships.

[32] One dressage rider was later added to the squad by virtue of a top finish from Asia & Oceania in the individual FEI Olympic rankings.

[34] Jock Paget withdrew on 5 August 2016 after his horse, Clifton Lush, cut its cheek at the Rio stable and did not recover in time for the event.

Reserve Tim Price and his horse Ringwood Sky Boy subsequently replaced Paget in the individual and team eventing.

[43] Head coach: Tony Readings New Zealand named a squad of 18 players and 4 alternates for the tournament, which was announced on 4 July 2016.

1) qualified directly among the top 60 eligible players for their respective individual events based on the IGF World Rankings as of 11 July 2016.

Darcina Manuel earned a continental quota spot from the Oceania region as New Zealand's top-ranked judoka outside of direct qualifying position in the IJF World Ranking List of 30 May 2016.

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.

The crews had to have also competed at the NZ Rowing Championships, held in Lake Karapiro, to assure their selection to the Olympic team for the Games.

[70] On 12 March 2016, London 2012 windsurfer JP Tobin announced his decision not to compete at the Games, citing a lack of financial support from Yachting New Zealand (YNZ).

[71] On 2 June 2016, the NZ Sports Tribunal and YNZ had upheld their decision not to nominate windsurfer Natalia Kosinska and Laser Radial sailor Sara Winther on the sailing team for failing to achieve the federation's selection standards, following appeals.

[72] M = Medal race; EL = Eliminated – did not advance into the medal race New Zealand shooters achieved quota places for the following events by virtue of their best finishes at the 2014 and 2015 ISSF World Championships, the 2015 ISSF World Cup series, and Oceanian Championships, and obtaining a minimum qualifying score (MQS) before 31 March 2016.

The NZOC announced the full swimming team on 15 April 2016, including two-time Olympic breaststroker Glenn Snyders and distance freestyle ace Lauren Boyle.

[77] Open water swimmer Kane Radford earned an additional place on the NZ Olympic team, as Oceania's top-ranked representative outside the world's top ten of the men's 10 km (6.2 mi) marathon at the World Olympic Qualifier in Setúbal, Portugal, which was eventually rejected by Swimming New Zealand.

Andrea Kilday secured a spot in the women's flyweight category (49 kg) by virtue of her top finish at the 2016 Oceania Qualification Tournament in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.

Marcus Daniell and Michael Venus claimed one of ITF Olympic men's doubles places, as the New Zealand's top-ranked tennis pair outside of direct qualifying position in the ATP World Rankings as of June 6, 2016.

2 seed Andrea Hewitt became the first triathlete to secure a spot on the New Zealand team, as a result of her top 10 finish at the ITU World Olympic Qualification Event in Rio de Janeiro.

[87] New Zealand received a spare continental berth freed up by Australia to send a wrestler to compete in the men's Greco-Roman 66 kg to the Olympics, signifying the nation's return to the sport for the first time since 2000.

The berth was awarded to Craig Miller, who finished third at the 2016 African & Oceania Qualification Tournament in Algiers, Algeria, after Australian wrestler Vinod Kumar Dahiya was disqualified due to a doping violation.

[94] In a Fairfax editorial published in its newspapers, the blame for the situation was partly put to the NZOC that gave away an exclusive contract but refused to step in when Sky TV offered deals below what was allowed by law.