New Zealand at the 2004 Summer Olympics

New Zealand at the 2004 Summer Olympics
IOC code	NZL
NOC	New Zealand Olympic Committee
Website	www.olympic.org.nz
in Athens
Competitors	148 in 18 sports
Flag bearers	Beatrice Faumuina (opening)[1] Sarah Ulmer (closing)
Medals Ranked 24th	Gold 3 Silver 2 Bronze 0 Total 5
Summer Olympics appearances (overview)
1908 1912 1920 1924 1928 1932 1936 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016 2020 2024
Other related appearances
Australasia (1908–1912)

New Zealand competed at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, from 13 to 29 August 2004. This was the nation's twenty-second appearance at the Olympics since its debut in 1908 as part of Australasia. The New Zealand Olympic Committee sent a total of 148 athletes, 81 men, and 67 women to the Games to compete in 18 sports, surpassing a single athlete short of the record from Sydney four years earlier. Basketball and field hockey were the only team-based sports in which New Zealand had its representation at these Olympic Games. There was only a single competitor in archery, boxing, and fencing.

Thirty-four athletes from the New Zealand team had previously competed in Sydney, including Olympic bronze medallist Barbara Kendall in women's Mistral windsurfing, equestrian eventing rider Blyth Tait, sprint kayaker and former breaststroke swimmer Steven Ferguson, table tennis sisters Chunli and Karen Li, and discus thrower Beatrice Faumuina, who was appointed by the committee to carry the New Zealand flag in the opening ceremony.^[1] Tait's compatriot Andrew Nicholson participated in his fifth Olympic appearance since the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles (except 2000, in which he was not chosen), as the most experienced athlete. While Tait shared the same age with Nicholson at 43, and served as the oldest member of the team by a month difference, breaststroke swimmer Annabelle Carey, aged 15, was the youngest ever New Zealand athlete to compete at the Olympics since 1976.

New Zealand left Athens with a total of five Olympic medals, three golds and two silver, finishing twenty-fourth in the overall medal count.^[2] Four New Zealand athletes won Olympic gold medals: Hamish Carter in men's triathlon,^[3] track cyclist Sarah Ulmer in women's individual pursuit,^[4] and twin sisters and rowers Caroline and Georgina Evers-Swindell in women's double sculls.