New Zealand at the 1978 Commonwealth Games

New Zealand at the 1978 Commonwealth Games was represented by a team of 102 competitors and 32 officials. Selection of the team for the Games in Edmonton, Canada, was the responsibility of the New Zealand Olympic and Commonwealth Games Association. New Zealand's flagbearer at the opening ceremony was cyclist Neil Lyster. The New Zealand team finished fifth on the medal table, winning a total of 20 medals, five of which were gold.

New Zealand at the 1978 Commonwealth Games
CGF code	NZL
CGA	New Zealand Olympic and Commonwealth Games Association
Website	www.olympic.org.nz
in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Competitors	102
Flag bearer	Opening: Neil Lyster Closing:
Medals Ranked 5th	Gold 5 Silver 6 Bronze 9 Total 20
Officials	32
Commonwealth Games appearances (overview)
1930 1934 1938 1950 1954 1958 1962 1966 1970 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018

New Zealand has competed in every games, starting with the British Empire Games in 1930 at Hamilton, Ontario.

Nigeria boycotted the 1978 Games in protest at New Zealand's sporting contacts with apartheid-era South Africa.

Medal tables

New Zealand was fifth on the medal table in 1978, with a total of 20 medals, including five gold.

Medal	Name	Sport	Event
Gold	Mike Richards	Cycling	Men's individual pursuit
Gold	John Woolley	Shooting	Open skeet
Gold	Gary Hurring	Swimming	Men's 200 m backstroke
Gold	Rebecca Perrott	Swimming	Women's 200 m freestyle
Gold	Precious McKenzie	Weightlifting	Men's bantamweight
Silver	Mike O'Rourke	Athletics	Men's javelin throw
Silver	Heather Thomson	Athletics	Women's 3000 m
Silver	Kevin Blackwell Anthony Cuff Neil Lyster Jack Swart	Cycling	Men's team pursuit
Silver	David Baldwin John Malcolm Morgan Moffat Phil Skoglund	Lawn bowls	Men's fours
Silver	Penny McCarthy	Swimming	Women's 100 m butterfly
Silver	Rebecca Perrott	Swimming	Women's 200 m individual medley
Bronze	George Stankovich	Boxing	Men's heavyweight
Bronze	Bryan Purser Richard Purser	Badminton	Men's doubles
Bronze	Garry Bell	Cycling	Men's road race
Bronze	Lynette Brake Rowena Davis Kirsty Durward Deborah Hurst	Gymnastics	Women's team
Bronze	Rebecca Perrott	Swimming	Women's 400 m freestyle
Bronze	Rebecca Perrott	Swimming	Women's 800 m freestyle
Bronze	Brian Marsden	Weightlifting	Men's middle heavyweight
Bronze	Phillip Sue	Weightlifting	Men's lightweight
Bronze	Murray Avery	Wrestling	Men's heavyweight

Medals by sport
Sport				Total
Swimming	2	2	2	6
Cycling	1	1	1	3
Weightlifting	1	0	2	3
Shooting	1	0	0	1
Athletics	0	2	0	2
Lawn bowls	0	1	0	1
Boxing	0	0	1	1
Badminton	0	0	1	1
Gymnastics	0	0	1	1
Wrestling	0	0	1	1
Total	5	6	9	20

Medals by gender
Gender				Total
Male	3	3	6	12
Female	1	3	3	7
Mixed / open	1	0	0	1
Total	5	6	9	20

Competitors

The following table lists the number of New Zealand competitors participating at the Games according to gender and sport.

Sport	Men	Women	Total
Athletics	19	9	28
Badminton	4	3	7
Boxing	6	N/A	6
Cycling	12	N/A	12
Diving	1	1	2
Gymnastics	4	4	8
Lawn bowls	7	N/A	7
Shooting	10	0	10
Swimming	5	4	9
Weightlifting	6	N/A	6
Wrestling	7	N/A	7
Total	81	21	102

Athletics

Main article: Athletics at the 1978 Commonwealth Games

Badminton

Main article: Badminton at the 1978 Commonwealth Games

Boxing

Athlete	Event	Round of 32	Round of 16	Quarterfinal	Semifinal	Final	Rank
		Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result
Gaulua Folasi	Light welterweight	N/A	Cameron (JAM) W	Mwangi (KEN) L	Did not advance
David Jackson	Welterweight	Bye	Feal (WAL) L	Did not advance
Ronald Jackson	Light middleweight	N/A	Bye	Samu (SAM) L	Did not advance
Perry Rackley	Middleweight	N/A	Parkes (ENG) L	Did not advance
Dean Rackley	Light heavyweight	N/A	N/A	Smith (ENG) L	Did not advance
George Stankovich	Heavyweight	N/A	N/A	Kabegi (KEN) W	Awome (ENG) L	Did not advance

Cycling

Road

Men's road race

Athlete	Time	Rank
Garry Bell	4:22:35.06
Stephen Cox	4:23:47.91	18
Vern Hanaray	4:23:48.61	20
Blair Stockwell	4:35:08.10	30

Track

Diving

Athlete	Event	Points	Rank
Ann Fargher	Women's 3 m springboard	341.16	7
Graeme Shaw	Men's 3 m springboard	404.94	10

Gymnastics

Lawn bowls

Main article: Lawn bowls at the 1978 Commonwealth Games

Athlete	Event	Round robin															Rank
		Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score
Kerry Clark	Men's singles	Gosden  (KEN) W 21–5	Turner  (MAW) W 21–13	Woodhard  (GUE) W 21–11	Snell  (AUS) L 18–21	Bryant  (ENG) L 12–21	Evans  (WAL) L 14–21	Green  (SWZ) W 21–4	Madden  (PNG) L 20–21	Tolova’a  (SAM) W 21–13	Espie  (NIR) W 21–15	Harakh  (FIJ) W 21–6	McGill  (SCO) W 21–18	McKernan  (JER) W 21–11	Matheson  (CAN) L 18–21	Souza  (HKG) W 21–4	4
Ivan Kostanich Bob McDonald	Men's pairs	Canada L 12–28	Hong Kong L 16–23	Bye	Samoa W 27–12	England D 19–19	Australia L 17–19	Fiji W 21–14	Northern Ireland W 23–22	Wales W 21–20	Swaziland W 35–12	Papua New Guinea W 22–13	Kenya W 24–15	Scotland L 18–27	Malawi W 31–15	Bye	6
David Baldwin John Malcolm Morgan Moffat Phil Skoglund	Men's fours	Australia W 17–15	Northern Ireland L 16–25	Bye	Scotland W 23–22	England W 19–18	Fiji W 21–13	Guernsey L 23–25	Papua New Guinea W 33–17	Kenya W 27–11	Canada W 26–16	Samoa W 32–8	Hong Kong W 23–16	Wales D 19–19	Zambia W 29–14	Swaziland W 25–14

Shooting

Swimming

Weightlifting

Athlete	Event	Snatch	Clean and jerk	Total	Rank
Precious McKenzie	Bantamweight	97.5 kg	122.5 kg	220.0 kg
George Newton	Featherweight	NVL	DNF
Phillip Sue	Lightweight	115.0 kg	147.5 kg	262.5 kg
Tony Ebert	Middleweight	NVL	DNF
Brian Marsden	Middle heavyweight	137.5 kg	175.0 kg	312.5 kg
Rory Barrett	Heavyweight	150.0 kg	182.5 kg	332.5 kg	4

Wrestling

Officials

See also

• New Zealand Olympic Committee
• New Zealand at the Commonwealth Games
• New Zealand at the 1976 Summer Olympics
• New Zealand at the 1980 Summer Olympics

External links

• NZOC website on the 1978 games
• Commonwealth Games Federation website