New Zealand Women Olympic Gold Medalists

With the London 2012  Olympics happening now, we always hope that New Zealand can bring home a gold medal. According to Wikipedia, as of April 25,2012, New Zealand has so far won 55 Olympic gold medals! Six of the athletes who won the gold medals were women. They have been dubbed the golden girls and they are :

  • Yvette Williams– she is the first woman ever to win the gold medal for New Zealand. Her event was the Long Jump in the 1952 Helsinki Olympic Games.
  • Sarah Ulmer –was the first New Zealander to win an Olympic cycling gold. She also set world records at the 2004 Summer Olympics at Athens.
  • Barbara Kendall – is a boardsailor. She won a gold medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics  in Barcelona. She also went on to win a silver medal in 1996 Olympics Games in Atlanta, Georgia), and a bronze medal in 2000 in Sydney. She also finished 5th at the 2004 Games in Athens and sixth at the 2008 Games in China. She is the first, and as of 2008, only woman from New Zealand to compete at 5 Olympic Games!
  • Caroline Meyer (formerly known as Caroline Evers-Swindell)- her event is the double sculls along with her identical twin sister. She won with her sister,the double sculls gold medal in the 2004 Olympic games. At the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing, she and her sister successfully defended their title and won gold medals in the women’s double sculls.
  • Georgina Earl (formerly known as Georgina Evers-Swindell) – She competed in the double sculls with her identical twin sister Caroline Meyer, and is a double Olympic gold medalist, having won at Athens in 2004 and Beijing in 2008.
  • Valerie Kasanita Adams (formerly known as Valerie Vili)- she is a shot putter and is the reigning women’s Olympic champion and three-time World champion, two-time Commonwealth and World Indoor champion.

 The library has a book about these awesome women Olympic gold medalists Golden Girls: celebrating New Zealand’s six female gold medalists. It is a young adult and adult non fiction but you might like to try check it out.