- The nations of the world celebrated the Paris Games
- They were honored by the organizers with a global work of art
- One nation considered the gesture disrespectful.
New Zealanders have gone from celebrating their most successful Olympic Games ever to being the subject of a resounding snub during the closing ceremony in Paris.
Thousands of athletes remained in France to celebrate their achievements in the French state and entered the venue in party mode on Monday morning Australian time.
That included the Kiwi contingent, who had an Olympic campaign to remember, only to discover organisers had forgotten about them.
An artistic representation of a world map was displayed in the stadium to commemorate all the athletes during the last anniversary of the Games.
The problem? New Zealand was left out.
It’s a sore point for Australia’s cousins across the ditch, who are systematically omitted from world maps.
It has even sparked a tourism campaign called ‘Put New Zealand on the Map’, featuring comedian Rhys Darby and former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.
New Zealand fans were outraged when their country was left off the world map displayed at the closing ceremony of the Paris Olympics.
This comes after Kiwis enjoyed their best Olympics to date, including gold and bronze in women’s track cycling for Ellesse Andrews (right) and Ally Wollaston.
However, the Kiwis did not see the funny side of this latest snub.
“The French have left New Zealand off their ‘world’ map, will they ever stop insulting us?” one person asked on social media.
“Another world map where New Zealand disappears,” posted another.
“No, that’s us at the lectern at four o’clock, perfectly separated from the rest of the world by a very large sea,” said another, with irony.
Others urged Kiwis to keep quiet, and only the continents were represented, excluding many nations including Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.
Others pointed out that the map was not exactly a shining example of geographical accuracy, with the UK being nothing more than a dark blob and Australia looking very different to how most Australians remembered it.
New Zealand far exceeded expectations at the Paris Olympics, claiming a total of 20 medals, including 10 gold, to cap their best ever finish at the Games, an 11th place.
New Zealand’s Ellesse Andrews celebrates her victory in the women’s track cycling sprint final before Paris Olympics organisers quickly forgot about her
That result meant the nation of just over 5 million people would have finished fourth in the rankings if based on medals per capita, behind smaller nations such as Grenada, Dominica and Saint Lucia.
Australia would have finished ninth, with Bahrain, Jamaica, Cape Verde and Hungary also above them.
“I hate to tell all those Aussies about per capita wages, but the Kiwis have us beat on that front,” posted one fan from that country.
‘New Zealand’s 10 gold medals are roughly equivalent to one for every half a million people. Australia’s 18 gold medals are roughly equivalent to one for every 1.5 million people.’
New Zealand Chef de Mission Nigel Avery praised the athletes for their performance and conduct at the Games.
“I am very proud of the way our athletes have conducted themselves both on and off the field of play,” he said.
‘There has been a huge amount of manaaki from our team towards the other nations and it has been fantastic to see them show our values and culture.
“We would also like to thank the people of New Zealand for their support of our team. We have felt it from here and we are looking forward to returning home to share in the success and continue to inspire the next generation of athletes.”